Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Russia beefs up its strategic aviation (VIDEO)​

One of the aircraft being introduced is considered “the most important part” of the country’s nuclear triad


© UAC

Russia’s Long-Range Aviation has received a modernized Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, while two Tu-160M planes have been submitted for flight tests, the state-run United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced on Friday.

The Tu-22M3 was given a number of tweaks aimed at boosting its capabilities, the UAC said in a statement. After a test flight, the plane was delivered to the country’s long-range bomber fleet. The Tupolev-22M3 is a modern version of the iconic Soviet-era strategic bomber, which has been in service since the 1970s. This aircraft type has been repeatedly modernized, with the latest makeover, the M3M, unveiled back in 2018.

The corporation has also submitted two Tu-160M nuclear-capable bombers for flight tests. One of the aircraft is a modernized version of an existing plane, while the other has been built from scratch as part of Russia's efforts in recent years to re-start its strategic plane-manufacturing program.

“The Tu-160 is the most important part of Russia’s nuclear triad, so the modernization of the active-duty warplanes and the resumption of production of these strategic bombers is our priority,” Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec, the UAC’s parent company, stated.
The UAC shared a video showing the aircraft being rolled out from a hangar at an undisclosed location.

Belarus received four new Tor-2MK air defense systems on the MZKT-69222 chassis. A batch of weapons was received from Russia under an agreement on military-technical cooperation. In the coming days, these air defense systems will go to the military air defense units of Belarus. To r2 MK is the Tor-M2 air defense system on a wheeled chassis. The chassis was developed by the Belarusian enterprise Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant. The air defense system includes: a 9A331MK combat vehicle, two 9M334 anti-aircraft missile modules, with eight 9M331 anti-aircraft guided missiles controlled through four channels.

Radar 1RL239 entered service in 1981, the radar is placed on the chassis of the MT-LBu tractor and has a crew of 4 people. In the army, this version of the radar is no longer used much, as it has been replaced by new types of radar. The installation was used in Afghanistan, but in the conditions of rough mountainous terrain it turned out to be ineffective, besides, it was difficult to ensure safety from radio wave radiation, it was not safe to be within a radius of 600 meters from the radar. Detection range of radar firing positions: mortar up to 12 km, cannon up to 9 km, RZSO up to 16 km. The time to bring the radar to the combat position is 4 minutes, the power of the radio wave emitter of the radar is 200 kW.

Video of the use of the Russian machine for setting smoke screens TDA-2M. The principle of operation of the machine is based on the evaporation of a smoke-forming substance in a stream of hot gases, followed by condensation of the resulting vapors in the atmosphere. The TDA-2M machine is placed on the Ural-4320 chassis and can be used by chemical defense troops and for aerosol disinfection of large areas. The consumption of the aerosol-forming substance is 300-800 l/h, the total volume of the tank of the active substance is 3200 l. The time of continuous smoke release with one charge is from 3 to 8 hours, the machine can put an aerosol curtain on the move, at speeds up to 30 km / h. Calculation of the installation 2 people.

Russian tanks T-14 "Armata" are being prepared for combat use in Ukraine. There is almost no information, it is known that experienced crews are now carrying out combat coordination at one of the training grounds, where it is not specified. The T-14 Armata is a command tank and will not be used alone. The approximate price of the T-14 tank is 500 million rubles. The tank was designed for coordinated work with a group of different combat vehicles in one tactical link. Most likely, the Armata tank will lead other tanks into battle, T-72B3 or T-90S.

Minor update

I found about this through the Ukraine war thread but considering the importance I decided to put it here. It's the better thread for record keeping.

----

Transcript from the meeting of Defence Board in Moscow, 21st December 2022.


English transcript contains translation errors and gives some of the quantities incorrectly. I only list important structural changes, mostly from S. Shoigu's statement on plans for Russian armed forces in 2023 and beyond.

The biggest administrative change is re-creation of Leningrad and Moscow military districts. Kaliningrad and Baltic Fleet will become part of Leningrad MD.

----

Ground Forces, Naval Infantry, Airborne:
1. Creation of three new motor rifle divisions within existing formations, including in Zaporozhia and Kherson regions and an army corps in Karelia
2. Transformation of seven motor rifle brigades from western, central, eastern and northern military districts to motor rifle divisions
3. Creation of two air assault divisions within Airborne Forces.
4. Transformation of five Naval Infantry brigades to divisions
5. Creation of five artillery divisions and heavy artillery brigades within military districts as reserve.

Below is a simplified notional table of current formations in the Ground Forces listing the number of battalions and approximate number of combat vehicles.

T - tank, MR - motor rifle, Div - division, Bg - brigade, Rgt - Regiment, b - battalion, (T) - battalion from tank brigades/regiments, (MR) - battalion from motor rifle brigades/regiments



Similar notional table for Naval Infantry and Airborne:


Taking into account points [1] to [5] I changed the figures in the following units chosen for notional transformation to divisions:

• 25MR Bg, 138 MR Bg (6 Army / WMD) [1]
• 200 MR Bg (13 Corps / NMD) [1]
• 15 MR Bg (2 Army / CMD), 35 MR Bg (41 Army / CMD) [1]
• 36 MR Bg (29 Army / EMD), 38 MR Bg (35 Army / EMD) [1]
• 205 Mr Bg, 34 MR Bg (49 Army / SMD) [2]
• 11 AA Bg, 31 AA Bg [3]
• 336 NI Bg, 810 NI Bg, 177 NI Rgt, 61 NI Bg, 40 NI Bg [4]

I assumed two scenarios. One with transformed units receiving full composition of at least three regiments, both tank and motor rifle, and another with reduced expansion assuming only two motor rifle regiments based on the current structure of some newly reformed units like 20 Motor Rifle Division.

I prepared the table before comparing the transcripts so I'm missing one motor rifle division but this is not crucial. Artillery divisions currently do not exist so I couldn't approximate their composition.

Additional forces required for this process are as follows:

scenario with full divisions:

• Ground Forces - 1260 tanks, 1250 ifvs
• Naval Infantry - 400 tanks, 900 ifvs
• Airborne - 360 ifvs
• total - 1660 tanks, 2610 ifvs

scenario with reduced divisions:

• Ground Forces - 360 tanks, 810 ifvs
• Naval Infantry - 200 tanks, 450 ifvs
• Airborne - 180 ifvs
• total - 560 tanks, 1440 ifvs

I list only ifvs so apcs and other vehicles outside of infantry platoons are not listed.

For context - table of losses of equipment based on Oryx (30 december) with figures for inventory before the invasion from The Military Balance 2021:



My table of units shows 3270 tanks and 5030 ifvs in Ground Forces which corresponds with numbers from TMB because some of the divisions are calculated as full strength when in reality they are probably under strength because they were reformed from brigades in 2020 or 2021. TMB table has Naval Infantry and 1-2 brigades from Ground Forces (coastal defense) so numbers are close. TMB shows VDV with more tanks but I couldn't find them in the structure.

All in all, considering the losses (which are approximately at the level indicated by Oryx), the wear on surviving vehicles, and the additional requirements this will be a much longer process, probably lasting an entire year because even in the second scenario it requires restoring/repairing approximately 1-2 thousand of tanks and bringing approximately 2000 tanks out of reserve. Considering the continuation of hostilities these objectives will be difficult to achieve.

----

Air Force
1. Creation of three division commands
2. Creation of eight bomber regiments
3. Creation of one fighter regiment
4. Creation of six army aviation brigades
5. Inclusion of army aviation brigades in every combined arms army

The three division commands correspond with re-creation of Leningrad and Moscow military districts. Additionally Northern Fleet doesn't have an aviation division, all regiments are separate units subordinate to district command.

Creation of a single fighter regiment might refer to a Su-57 unit but it is not certain.

Eight new bomber regiments refer to tactical bombers in Frontal Aviation and not strategic (heavy) bombers in Long Range Aviation. However currently there is only one regiment with three squadrons that could be split into two units. Other regiments will have to be created from scratch which will require aircraft. Considering losses of Su-34 and Su-24M and the production rate there is no possibility for new aircraft to fill even a single regiment. This means that Su-24M will have to be brought back from reserve for transition period. This requires 8 x 2 (squadrons) x 12 = 192 aircraft minimum. This is not tenable in the scale of a single year and probably indicates training or reserve units. I doubt Russia has that many aircraft in reserve in condition allowing return to service. Half of it will be a success. Perhaps some recon squadrons will be reformed as bomber regiments with one bomber squadron and one recon squadron - which could be practical considering future role of Su-34M.

Six army aviation brigades will be created from existing helo regiments. Brigades have 4 squadrons - 2 attack, 1 attack-transport, 1 transport. Regiments can have as few as 2 squadrons - 1 attack, 1 transport. Currently there are 4 brigades and 8 regiments. Northern Fleet will have to receive one of those as it is currently lacking.

The inclusion of aviation brigades in all armies is confusing. This is not a translation error. There are 12 armies so unless some of them will be disbanded or demoted to corps there's not enough planned aviation brigades - ten total planned.

In 2023 air force will receive 3 more Tu-160M. In 2022 it received 1 Tu-160M and 1 Tu-95MSM. No information on other aircraft and helo delivery or production.

----

Navy:
No changes, just new vessels

In 2022 it received 1 SSBN and 6 surface ships. I assume they are:

• 1 Adm Gorshkov frigate
• 2 Karakurt corvette
• 2 Buyan-M corvette
• 1 Bykov OPV,

In 2023 it will receive 1 SSBN, 4 conventional submarines and 12 surface ships:

• 2 Lada SSK
• 2 Improved Kilo SSK
• 2 Steregushchiy corvette
• 1 Derzhky corvette
• 6 Karakurt corvette
• 1 Buyan-M corvette
• 2 Bykov OPV

Of those 1 Steregushchiy, 5 Karakurts, Buyan, both Bykovs and possibly Derzhky (proj. 20386) will go to Black Sea Fleet. However while impressive at first glance only the three large corvettes (Steregushchiy and Derzhky) will have serious impact. The rest are largely useless and serve only as coastal patrol and Kalibr lauchers.

What is important is that those corvettes were originally intended for other fleets but the failure of the invasion forced Kremlin to prioritize the reinforcement of Black Sea Fleet to the detriment of Northern and Pacific fleets.

----

Happy New Year!

It is reported that on December 29, 2022, the Russian Aerospace Forces received another batch of Su-34M (Su-34NVO) front-line bombers built at the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant (NAZ)
...
The aircraft delivered on December 29 became, presumably, the third batch of Su-34M aircraft built by NAZ in 2022, and the fourth overall batch under the new three-year contract concluded in June 2020 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with UAC for the construction of 24 modernized Su-34M bombers (Su-34NVO).
...
the total number of Su-34Ms built in 2022 amounted to ten units, and the total number of aircraft manufactured under the 2020 contract was 14 aircraft.
...
Presumably, now the total number of Su-34s built has reached 153 units, including seven experimental and pre-production aircraft.
...
In August 2022, according to available information, the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a new contract with UAC for the manufacture of a certain number of Su-34M aircraft (according to unofficial data, about 15 units).

Admiral Nakhimov appears to have finally been fitted MR-750 air search radar; the same type of radar fitted out on her sister ship; I wonder if any changes to the main masts radar suite will be made in light of the sinking of Moskva.

Admiral Nakhimov should be finished later this year and the installation of at-least one of its radars and fresh coat of paint is indicative that some progress is being made.

MarKoz81 said:

The rest are largely useless and serve only as coastal patrol and Kalibr lauchers.

Click to expand...

I am not sure what is useless about coastal patrol and missile launches. any Navy will be lucky to save ports let alone doing any thing in the seas. This boat could have travelled 1000 to 3000km depending where it created and this was two years ago. this area is considered high surveillance. Its a country that consistently overspent both on internal and external security.