WEAPONS IN THE RUSSIAN MILITARY

WEAPONS IN THE RUSSIAN MILITARY

Notable Russian weapons include T-90 tanks, which shoot laser-guided missiles and have a new system that protects tanks from missile and grenade attacks. The Uralvagonzavod T-90 is the descendant of the T-55 Communist-era tank. The Russian military is capable of delivering tanks to battlefields by dropping them out of the back of transport planes with parachutes. Soldiers are carried in BTR-80 armored personnel carriers.

In the early 2000s, large numbers of major equipment items had outlived their service life, and replacement occurred at a much slower rate.In 2005 the army had 22,800 main battle tanks; 150 light tanks; 2,000 armored reconnaissance vehicles; 15,090 armored infantry fighting vehicles; 9,900 armored personnel carriers; 30,045 artillery pieces, including 6,010 self-propelled pieces, 6,100 mortars, and 4,350 multiple rocket launchers; 200 nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missiles; and 2,465 surface-to-air missiles. The navy had 46 tactical and 15 nuclear submarines, 1 aircraft carrier, 6 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 19 frigates, 26corvettes, 41 mine warfare vessels, 22 major amphibious vessels, and 72 patrol and coastal combat vessels. The navy also had 266 combat aircraft. The air forces had 1,013 fighter aircraft, 677 bombers and ground-attack fighters, 119 reconnaissance aircraft, 293 military transport aircraft, and 1,520 helicopters. [Source: Library of Congress 2006 **]

The strategic missile force had 570 launchers with 2,035 nuclear warheads. In 2006 the missile force added a first unit of advanced mobile Topol–M missiles. According to plans, that missile was to be the basis of significant new reliance on the missile force for conventional and antiterrorist defense in the period 2007–11. The nuclear submarines were equipped with a total of 252 missiles. In 2006 two new nuclear submarines carried Bulava missiles, Russia’s first new intercontinental ballistic missile model in the post-Soviet era. [Source: Library of Congress, October 2006 **]

Finnish soldiers invented the Molotov cocktail in 1939 when they stuck vodka and rag-filled bottles in the exhaust of Soviet tanks. The soldiers named the home-made bombs after Molotov when he was the foreign minister of the Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Molotov.

See Air Force, Navy, Nuclear Weapons, Chemical and Biological Weapons.

Mines and Weapons Sold the Streets

Russia has 60 million stored mines, compared to 11million in the United States. Myanmar and Russia are the only two countries that are still use mines on a regular basis. China, Russia, the United States and Israel haven’t signed the anti-mine treaty. Since a major issue was made about mines after Princess Diana died and the Nobel prize was given to an anti-mine group, the Russians have used mines in their campaign against insurgents in Dagestan and apologized to Georgia because some of the devices were accidently placed in Georgian territory.

Mine casualties in 2003: 1) Iraq, 2189; 2) Afghanistan, 847; 3) Cambodia, 772; 4) Columbia, 668; 5) Angola, 226; 6) Chechnya, 218; 7) Burundi, 174; 8) Democratic Republic of Congo, 152; 9) Also, 118; and 10) Sri Lanka, 99.

In the 1990s, grenades were sold for $5 a piece on the streets of Moscow. Among the Russian-made weapons sought by enemies of the United States are night vision goggles (an advantage the U.S. has over many adversaries is its ability to fight at night), electronic equipment that can jam global positioning devises and inhibit the targeting ability of smart bombs; and anti-tank missiles that can knock out the U.S.’s mighty Abram tanks.

New Russian Weaponry

Despite the general crisis besetting the defense industry, examples of highly advanced military technology continued to emerge from Russia's defense plants in the mid-1990s. In 2005, $6.8 billion, more than a third of the total defense budget, was earmarked to buy new weapons. Much of the money would be spent on new missiles, new plans and new tanks.

The S-300 air defense system is one of the prides of the Russian military. It is sometimes compared to the U.S. Patriot System except it relies on technology that dates back to the 1960s. In the 1990s it was operated by a main frame computer with magnetic tape instead of hard drive and was powered by a noisy diesel generator.

The T-90 main battle tank, the most modern tank in the army arsenal, went into low-level production in 1993, based on a prototype designated as the T-88. The T-90 was developed by the Kartsev-Venediktov Design Bureau at the Vagonka Works in Nizhniy Tagil. Initially seen as an entirely new design, the production model is in fact based on the T-72BM, with some added features from the T-80 series. The T-90 features a new generation of armor on its hull and turret. Two variants, the T-90S and T-90E, have been identified as possible export models. Plans called for all earlier models to be replaced with T-90s by the end of 1997, subject to funding availability. By mid-1996 some 107 T-90s had gone into service in the Far Eastern Military District. [Source: Library of Congress, 1996 *]

Information about the funding of Russia's defense R&D programs remains hard to obtain because many such programs are secret. The official budget allocation of US$1.4 billion, even with the addition of the Security Council's supplemental funding in February 1996, seems extremely modest in an era of rapid technological advances. Most of the acquisition programs of the mid-1990s do not have known R&D follow-on programs; instead, they are products of R&D programs started in the early 1980s. *

The MiG-MAPO 1.42 R&D program has been advertised as the Russian response to the United States Air Force's F-22 advanced tactical fighter (ATF) program. The MiG-MAPO 1.42, a single-seat, multirole stealth fighter, is projected to reach operational capability between 2005 and 2008. The air force R&D funds also reportedly have been shifted to a high-priority program to field highly accurate precision-guided munitions (PGM) in response to the United States success with that type of weapon in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. A shift of funds to the PGM program may further delay the MiG-MAPO 1.42 program. *

Beginning in 1993, the defense industry had an influential spokesman at Yeltsin's side to lobby for improved support. First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, long a top metallurgy industry executive in the Soviet era, was a forceful proponent of bolstering the existing complex with minimum privatization or conversion to civilian production. However, Soskovets, who was chiefly responsible for increasing Russia's defense budget by 3 trillion rubles in 1996, was dismissed unexpectedly in June 1996 when Yeltsin ousted most of the hard-liners from his inner circle in preparation for the second round of that year's presidential election.

Russian Ground Force Weapons

In 2005 the army had 22,800 main battle tanks; 150 light tanks; 2,000 armored reconnaissance vehicles; 15,090 armored infantry fighting vehicles; 9,900 armored personnel carriers; 30,045 artillery pieces, including 6,010 self-propelled pieces, 6,100 mortars, and 4,350 multiple rocket launchers; 200 nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missiles; and 2,465 surface-to-air missiles. [Source: Library of Congress, 2006]

Notable Russian weapons include T-90 tanks, which shoot laser-guided missiles and have a new system that protects tanks from missile and grenade attacks. The Uralvagonzavod T-90 is the descendant of the T-55 Communist-era tank. The Russian military is capable of delivering tanks to battlefields by dropping them out of the back of transport planes with parachutes. Soldiers are carried in BTR-80 armored personnel carriers.

The T-90 main battle tank, the most modern tank in the army arsenal, went into low-level production in 1993, based on a prototype designated as the T-88. The T-90 was developed by the Kartsev-Venediktov Design Bureau at the Vagonka Works in Nizhniy Tagil. Initially seen as an entirely new design, the production model is in fact based on the T-72BM, with some added features from the T-80 series. The T-90 features a new generation of armor on its hull and turret. Two variants, the T-90S and T-90E, have been identified as possible export models. Plans called for all earlier models to be replaced with T-90s by the end of 1997, subject to funding availability. By mid-1996 some 107 T-90s had gone into service in the Far Eastern Military District. [Source: Library of Congress, 1996 *]

Kalashnikov Rifles

A ballet dancer in Moscow once said that the three Russian words that every non-Russian knows are vodka, Bolshoi and Kalashnikov. The later is an assault rifle with effective range of 325 yards and firing rate of ten rounds a second. The Kalashnikov is named after its inventor—General Mikhail Kalashnikov— and is also known as the AK-47. The AK stand for Automat Kalashnikova. The number “47" refers to the year it was invented. New models could be purchased for around $250 in Russia in the 1990s. The generally cost double or more overseas.

Kalashnikovs are a symbol of revolution and straggle. They have been the weapon of choice of Palestinians, Al-Qaida members, North Vietnamese, Afghans, Angolans, Algerians and child soldiers in Africa. In Moscow's Museum of Armed Forces you can see a Kalashnikov used by a North Vietnamese soldier to kill 78 Americans on April 7, 1968. A silhouette of a Kalashnikov is emblazoned on the Mozambique flag. Many soldiers who fought in that country’s freedom struggle named their son’s Kalash. The Kalashnikov is also on seal of Hezbollah.

Kalashnikovs have been made by at a factory in Izhevsh in central Russia since 1949. Around 12,000 workers worked there in 1991 when the Soviet Union broke up. Order have sharpy fallen off since them. Now roughly 7,000 people work there. The factory is run by a company called Izhmash. The guns are sold internationally by Rosoboronexport. Most of the Kalashnikovs sold around the world are used.

Advantages of Kalashnikov Rifles

Light, easy-to-use and reliable, the Kalashnikov is one the world's most popular weapons. Over 100 million of them have been produced and they are the issued weapons in state armies in 55 nations. Jane’s Infantry Weapons described it as the “most important and widespread weapon in the world. The United States has purchases them for guerilla fighters in Afghanistan and peacekeeping forces in Sierra Leone.

The Kalashnikov’s design has changed little since they were first manufactured. Soldiers like them because they are powerful, tough, reliable and rapidly fire 30 rounds. Kalashnikovs don’t have great distance accuracy but they can release a high volume of fire. It is said they almost never fail, which is important to a soldier on the battlefield. In tests, AK-47s perform even after being immersed in mud, water and sand.

Imitation is best form of flattery. Knock-off versions of Kalashnikovs have floodedthe market. Some are produced by tribesmen in small workshops in Pakistan. Some are made in the United States. Most are produced in Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria and sell for as little as $60 each. Some are produced by factories that were authorized to make them in the Soviet era, when the Soviets provided facilities in 18 countries with the technical know-how to make them at a time when the Soviet were interested in stirring up revolution around the world.

Russian weapons makers insist that official Kalashnikovs are only made in Russia. Buyers often have difficulty determining real ones from fake ones. The problem has gotten so out of hand as far as officials in the Russian government are concerned that it has become a intellectual property rights issue. Patents have only been recently acquired.

General Mikhail Kalashnikov

The Kalashnikov assault rifle is named after General Mikhail Kalashnikov, a retired general who received three Order of Lenin, one the Soviet Union's highest military awards. "Ever since I first took apart a pistol as a small boy, I felt that my fate would be linked with guns," Gen. Kalashnikov told the Moscow Times. He told AFP: "I know that many people in the world had fallen [dead] with the Kalashnikov. But why you are blaming me. It was not me who fired at them."

Kalashnikov was one of 18 children born into a single family and one of six to survive. He was a tank commander in World War II. He once was wounded when a German shell blasted part of his tank into his body. Kalashnikov has made no money from the sale of the weapons he designed. In the 1990s, Kalashnikov lived in Russia off his $600 a month pension and money he made from making appearances at weapons shows, where he often made pleas for world peace. He was still doing appearances when he was in his mid 80s. He also had a deal with a German company to attach his names to variety of products including razors and umbrellas., which he promised would just as reliable as his guns. Kalashnikov’s son is also a weapons designer.

Kalashnikov got the idea for the weapon named after him after he was wounded in a mission in which many of his troops were wiped out by the Nazis with Schmeisser machine pistols— automatic weapons that fired much faster than the bolt-action rifles the Soviet soldiers were using. While recuperating from his wounds, he sketched out the basic design of the AK-47. Kalashnikov told the Independent: “I was in hospital and a soldier in the bed beside me asked: ‘Why do our soldiers have only one rifle for two or three men where the Germans have automatics?’ So I designed one. I was a soldier and I created a machine-gun for a soldier.”

Kalashnikov worked on his own, with no government support, for years designing prototypes and perfecting his designs. In 1947, he won a design competition to select new weapons for the Soviet army. Stalin approved plans to mass produce the weapon, named Automatic Kalashnikov-1947, or AK-47 for short. Over the years, the AK-47 has been modified. There are several versions, including a sports model that sells for $500.

Russian Military Planes

In 2005 The air forces had 1,013 fighter aircraft, 677 bombers and ground-attack fighters, 119 reconnaissance aircraft, 293 military transport aircraft, and 1,520 helicopters.

Russian air force aircraft includes long-range Su-24 Fencer bombers, Tu-95 Bear bombers and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers and ground-attack and fighter aircraft suhc as the Su-17, Su-24, Su-25, Su-27, and MiG-29 classes. The top of the line Russian plane, the MIG-29, resembles an American-made F-16. It has two powerful engines that allow it to take off almost vertically like a rocket. Pilots have sight-and-shoot helmets which allow them to fire laser-guided missiles under the wings by simply staring at the enemy target for two seconds.

The Bear is a long-range subsonic turboprop bomber modeled after the United States World-War-II-era B-29. Although still serviceable, it is an obsolete combat aircraft by modern military standards. Its operational range would carry it over the United States, however. The Blackjack is a modern, high-performance aircraft that has a shorter range than the Bear. The Blackjack can reach long-range targets in the United States with the aid of midair refueling. For this purpose, the strategic bomber force has several dozen tanker aircraft in its inventory. [Source: Library of Congress, 1996 *]

In the mid-1990s, the first priority for the air forces was the Su-T-60S multirole bomber, which had been designed to replace the Tu-22M and the Su-24. The Su-T-60S is a long-range supersonic tactical/operational nuclear-capable bomber with built-in stealth technology developed by the Sukhoy Design Bureau. Although its development was officially secret, the Su-T-60S was reported to be in the prototype stage and ready for flight testing in mid-1996. *

The second priority for the air forces was the Su-27IB tactical fighter-bomber being built for the Frontal Aviation Command. A naval aviation version was designated the Su-32FN. This side-by-side, two-seat aircraft was in serial production in the mid-1990s at the Sukhoy Chkalov Aircraft Plant in Novosibirsk. In its bomber mode, the Su-27IB was expected to be armed with the AA-11 Archer short-range air-to-air missile, and in its fighter mode with the AA-12 Adder mid-range, air-to-air, fire-and-forget missile. *

Russian Helicopters and Transport Planes

The Mi-26 helicopter is a giant Russian helicopter. Nicknamed the cow, it is used widely as a transport vehicle and is a workforces in battlefield zones. It is designed to carry 22 tos of cargo or 80 combat-equipped soldiers but routinely carries double that. Observers have seen it flying with a full load of passengers plus 10 tons of weapons. In the late 1990s the military was ordered to stop using the helicopters to stop carrying people. The orders were ignored. In 2002, 116 people were killed in an accident in Chechnya.

Russia and Ukraine make the world's largest cargo planes. The Ukraine-made Antonov An-124 has the largest wingspan of any plane (240 feet and 5¾ inches). The Antonov-124-100 has a 120 ton capacity. It carries a large share of super heavy and oversized air cargo, a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Antonov’s newest aircraft, the six-engine Mriya, has a wing span as long as a football field and carries twice the payload of a Lockheed C5-A.

The enormous Antonov-225 is the world's largest plane. It has the highest take off weight of any plane (661 tons). In 1989 one An-225 lifted 344,582 pounds to a height of 40,715. The heaviest commercial load ever carried was three 47.4 ton transformers from Barcelona to New Caledonia in 1991.

The Antonov-225 has three engines on each wing and a tail that looks an extra set of wings. Its wingspan is 88.4 meters and the cargo bay measures 43 meters long, 6.4 meters wide and 4.4 meters deep. It can hold 80 cars or 160 universal freight containers. A modified version of the plane designed to carry the Soviet space shuttle, took off from the Hostomel Aerodrome in Ukraine in May 2001 and made its first successful test flight.

Russian Navy Vessels

In 2005 the navy had 46 tactical and 15 nuclear submarines, 1 aircraft carrier, 6 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 19 frigates, 26corvettes, 41 mine warfare vessels, 22 major amphibious vessels, and 72 patrol and coastal combat vessels. The navy also had 266 combat aircraft.

In the mid 2000s, the Russian Navy had 171,5000 active personnel, 70 submarines, 1 aircraft carrier, 8 cruisers and 17 destroyers. By contrast the United States Navy had 367,679 active personnel, 73 submarines, 12 aircraft carrier, 27 cruisers and 55 destroyers. Because of lack of funds few of Russian naval vessels go out to sea much anymore. Russia needs a lot of money to upgrade its navy. **

In the 1990s the Russian naval forces included about 200,000 sailors and marines, about 20 percent of whom were conscripts, and 500,000 reserves. Of the active-duty personnel, about 30,000 were in naval aviation and 24,000 in coastal defense forces.

One of the world's largest battle cruisers, the 823-foot, $1-billion atomic-powered Petr Velikiy (Peter the Great) was finally delivered to the Russian navy in 1998 after 12 years of work. The last of four ships in there class, it is the largest vessel other than an aircraft carrier built since World War II. Built to be an aircraft carrier killer and ssigned to the Pacific Fleet, 28,000-ton vessel carriers 20 SS-N-19 anti-ship missiles designed to destroy enemy aircraft carriers. It is supported by a crew of 610. By 2004, it was so poorly maintained that there were worrites it could explode anytime

Russian Submarines

At the height of the Cold War the Soviet had more than 300 submarines and 83 missile-carrying submarines in service. These days few Russian submarines even leave their bases because it is simply too expensive to maintain them and keep them running.

The Soviet Union produced the world's largest submarines—29,211-displaced ton, 562-foot-long typhoon class vessels— and the world's fastest submarines—Alpha class nuclear powered vessels, which attained 40 knots. Featured in the film and book “Red October”, typhoon class submarines carried 20 multiple-warhead SS-NX-20 missiles, each with 10 warheads—meaning that a single submarine carried 200 warheads, each capable of hitting a different target, with more firepower than all the explosives used in World War II. The Five-story high Delta and Yankee class submarines were also enormous.

Soviet submarines were among the most feared weapons delivery systems in the Soviet arsenal. Armed with dozens of nuclear warheads they were able to pass undetected through American defenses to within a few miles of the United States coast. Both the United States and the Soviet Union risked collisions as they looked for and followed each other’s submarines. Billions of dollars was spent on technology to listen for submarines moving through the sea and to make submarines quiet.

Russia's submarine technology developed faster in the mid-1990s than Western experts had expected, as the fleet underwent reduction from its 1986 total of 186 vessels to ninety-nine. According to one intelligence estimate, more than half of the 1996 fleet was capable of moving undetected into Western sea-lanes. In mid-1996 the navy scheduled four submarines for production, including one upgraded addition to its existing fleet of Akula-class vessels and three of the new Severodvinsk class, which were expected to go into service in 2000. The Severodvinsk is a state-of-the art submarine that allegedly is so quiet that it eliminates the United States technical lead in this area, and it is armed with the new 650mm Shkval rocket that travels at 200 knots underwater. [Source: Library of Congress, 1996 *]

Russian Missiles

Russia produces a large array of missiles, including ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) and cruise missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, short range Iskander-M missiles, anti-tank missiles that can knock out the U.S.’s mighty Abram tanks, and powerful shoulder-fired SA-7 missiles that can bring down an airliner.

In 2005, the strategic missile force had 570 launchers with 2,035 nuclear warheads. In 2006 the missile force added a first unit of advanced mobile Topol–M missiles. According to plans, that missile was to be the basis of significant new reliance on the missile force for conventional and antiterrorist defense in the period 2007–11. The nuclear submarines were equipped with a total of 252 missiles. In 2006 two new nuclear submarines carried Bulava missiles, Russia’s first new intercontinental ballistic missile model in the post-Soviet era. [Source: Library of Congress, October 2006 **]

The new modification of the SS-25 ICBM, the Topol M-2, is a three-stage, solid-fuel rocket designed to carry a single warhead. A permitted modernization under START I terms, the Topol M-2 went into production in the late 1990s. It can be deployed in a fixed silo or made mobile. Because it is earmarked for the elite strategic rocket forces as a replacement for missiles being destroyed under START I, the Topol is a high-priority project protected from cutbacks in the acquisitions budget. [Source: Library of Congress, 1996 *]

SA-7 Strela shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles are similar Igla missiles which are capable of bringing down a commercial jet. S-5 57mm, S-8 80mm missiles can be modified into shoulder-fired weapons.

Strategic Rocket Forces

In the Soviet era, the strategic rocket forces (SRF) were established as the elite service of the nation's military because they have the vital mission of operating long- and medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads. They remained so in the mid-1990s. In 1996 the SRF had about 100,000 troops, of which about half were conscripts; the SRF has the highest proportion of well-educated officers among the armed services. The SRF also is the only service with an active force modernization program. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]

Russia's report for the CFE Treaty indicated the existence of ten SRF missile bases within the European scope of the treaty, including sites at Plesetsk (north of Moscow), Kapustin Yar (near Volgograd), Vladimir (east of Moscow), Vypolzovo (northwest of Moscow), Yoshkar Ola (in the Republic of Mari El), Kozel'sk (southwest of Moscow), Tatishchevo (north of Volgograd), Teykovo (northeast of Moscow), and Surovatikha (south of Nizhniy Novgorod). Indicating the priority given air defense of the European sector, Russia listed only four additional missile bases outside the CFE Treaty reporting area, at Nizhniy Tagil, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, and Kansk. There is a training regiment at the missile test facility near Plesetsk and another at the Kapustin Yar test facility. Russia has continued the reduction in strategic missile inventory required under START I, although at a pace slower than the United States would like. By mid-1996 all nuclear warheads on former Soviet SRF missiles in Kazakstan and Ukraine had been returned to Russia or destroyed, and all missiles were scheduled to leave Belarus by the end of 1996. *

The Russian SRF missile inventory not only is shrinking in response to treaty requirements but also is changing in character. The new SS-25 Topol is the only system suited to Russian strategic requirements and acceptable under the requirements of START I, so rocket production efforts will concentrate on this model for the foreseeable future. *

The Topol is fielded in SRF regiments comprising three battalions totaling nine launch vehicles. In 1996 forty such regiments were operational. Several older operational ICBM systems also remained in the field. These included an SS-17 regiment of ten silos, six SS-18 silo fields totaling 222 missiles with multiple warheads, four SS-19 silo fields totaling 250 missiles with multiple warheads, and ninety-two SS-24 missiles of which thirty-six are mounted on trains. All except the SS-24 were being phased out in favor of the SS-25 Topol. Two remaining SS-25 regiments without warheads were scheduled for redeployment from Belarus to the Perm' region in 1996. *

Image Sources:

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, U.S. government, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.

Last updated May 2016


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