Tag: Russia modernizes military

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government concludes its three-part examination of Russia’s extensive military modernization program with a look at how the latest U.S. defense budget is responding to the threat. 

The House Armed Services Committee  specifies how the latest National Defense Authorization Act—the defense spending bill—responds to Moscow’s strengthened armed forces:

Strengthens U.S. Defenses Against Russian Warfare

The NDAA invests in the following capabilities to reassure allies and counter and deter Russian military aggression:

• A new aircraft carrier, increasing the number of carriers to 12, allowing the Navy to project power and counter Russia more often around the world.
• 13 battle force ships for the Navy, continuing to grow the surface fleet and project power around the world.
• 2 Virginia Class submarines, growing the Navy’s subsurface fleet, which counters Russia around the world.
• Modernization of the nuclear triad by authorizing $250 million for expansion of the submarine industrial base, which supports the development and building of the Columbia class, a key to deterring Russian nuclear aggression.
• 77 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, 5th generation fighter-attack aircraft to counter Russian air and ground forces.
• Efforts to modernize Army Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT), including 135 M1 Abrams tanks, 60 Bradley fighting vehicles, 197 Armored multi-purpose vehicles, and 3,390 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles.
• 45 of the most modernized Paladin self-propelled howitzer artillery systems.
• 69 Stryker Combat Vehicles.
• Maintaining the maximum production rate for critical munitions to support deterring Russia.
• Increased funding to accelerate two key Air Force nuclear modernization programs, the ground based strategic deterrent and the long range stand off cruise missile.
• Significant funding to research and development for the next generation of missile defense technology.
• Funding to develop and field low yield nuclear weapons to counter Russian nuclear weapons.

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Strengthen U.S. policy against Russian military aggression:

• Requires the President to designate an NSC employee to coordinate the interagency fight against malign foreign influence operations, including election interference.
• Requires the NSC to submit to Congress a strategy for countering malign foreign influence operations.
• Requests a report on an updated strategy for the Arctic and its defense.
• Authorizes a total of six polar icebreakers to assure U.S. commercial access to expanding Northern shipping lanes.
• Directs the Department of Defense to assess its Russian language needs and abilities and develop a plan to address any deficiencies.
• Strengthens the Global Engagement Center in the State Department by affirming it’s funding for the next two years, increasing its hiring authority, and increasing its responsibilities.
• Provides for active defense and surveillance against Russian Federation attacks in cyberspace.
• Requires U.S. based foreign media outlets like RT to register their sources of funding with the FCC.
• Establishes a DOD initiative to work with academic institutions who perform defense research and engineering activities to protect intellectual property, controlled information, key personnel, and information about critical technologies from malign foreign influence.
• To get ahead of Russia’s malign influence activities, the NDAA requests reports on Russia’s military relationships with Iran, and Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
• Requires a report with quarterly updates describing those persons that the President has determined under 2017’s CAATSA sanctions have knowingly engaged in significant transactions with the defense and intelligence sectors of Russia.

 Helps Our Allies Defend Themselves Against Russian Aggression.

• Authorizes $250M for security assistance and intelligence support to the Government of Ukraine, including lethal defensive weapons.
• Provides flexibility for strategic partners and allies to move away from the use of Russian military equipment to American equipment through a modified waiver under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.
• Includes $6.3 billion for European Deterrence Initiative to reassure U.S. partners and allies, increase U.S. military presence in Europe, and continue training and exercise throughout Europe to deter Russian aggression.
  • Contributes to the build out of a permanently positioned set of equipment for an ABCT in Europe.
• Expresses Congress’ strong support for enhanced U.S. presence in and support for our Central, Eastern, and Southern European allies and the NATO alliance.
• Requires a report on efforts to strengthen U.S. collaboration with NATO’s project to build a comprehensive, cross-domain cyber-defense and deterrence capacity.
• Commissions a report that examines the consequences of increased Russian interest and destabilizing in Afghanistan.

Limits Contact and Assistance to Russia

• Extends the limit on military-to-military cooperation with Russia.
• Prohibits the Department of Defense from spending any funds (authorized in this bill) on activities that would recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
• Prohibits funds for atomic energy defense activities from being used to enter into a contract with, or otherwise provide assistance to, Russia.

Forces Russia To Comply with Treaties It Is Breaching

• Restricts the Administration from voting to approve new sensor requests under the Open Skies Treaty and withholds funding for upgrades or recapitalization of U.S. Open Skies Treaty aircraft and sensors
• Funds research and development to counter non-INF Treaty compliant systems being deployed by Russia

Those are positive steps, but they may not be adequate.  Defense News  warns that “America’s 2018 military is a smaller, more expensive force largely operating Desert Storm vintage equipment. The lack of a serious conventional foe in either Iraq or Afghanistan masks the real state of the U.S. military. For example, the Air Force went into the first Gulf War with 134 fighter squadrons in its arsenal; of that, 32 deployed and fought. The average age of those fighters was 10 years. Today, the Air Force has only 55 fighter squadrons, average age of 27 years…Because of readiness gaps, the Air Force couldn’t deploy 32 fighter squadrons today without destroying airplanes and risking aircrew lives… most American’s believe our nation enjoys the same defense-industrial base that served as the “arsenal of democracy” in World War II, capable of scaling up production and innovation when truly needed, or the so-called military-industrial complex that powered the United States through the Cold War. Today, instead of a robust bench of large and mid-sized companies and their myriad small-business suppliers competing and producing new capabilities at the speed of information-age innovation, our defense industry has shrunk to a few standout corporations. This has obscured fragile supply chains that are hampered by a risk-averse government acquisition system that takes 10 years to field a replacement handgun for the services. Should a real national emergency occur, our industrial base does not have the capacity to surge, leaving our defense at significant risk.”

Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government contiues its three-part examination of Russia’s extensive military modernization program .

Earlier this year, the Russia Beyond publication discussed Russia’s most hotly anticipated new weapons, which included:

1. Sarmat Nuclear Missiles. “This will be the biggest and most devastating system in the world … It’s the only missile in the world able to cover 17,000 km before eliminating everything in its path. Every missile will have at least 15 multiple reentry vehicles (MIRV), each with a yield of between 150 and 300 kilotons, enough to blow a crater the size of the Grand Canyon. Hypersonic missiles: Another super hot addition to Russia’s weapons store: The first ever missiles able to hurtle towards their target at 2.5 km/s (eight times faster than the speed of sound). 3. Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets: Experimental machines of this type have already been baptized in Syria to test their devastating power, and the new missiles and bombs specially created for them. 4. The fastest military helicopter in the world: This army chopper will be able to fly at speeds of up to 500 km/h with eight men on board armed to the teeth with devastating weaponry. 5. AK-12 assault rifle: This is the most hotly anticipated rifle, not only in Russia, but all over the world. It’s reminiscent of the AK-74 model and is chambered with the same 5.45 mm rounds, yet the AK-12 models have integrated Picatinny rails top and bottom. This means even regular soldier, not to mention the Special Ops guys, will get advanced optics and flashlights to effectively operate in any conditions.

The article omits discussion of Russia’s massive investment in highly advanced new tanks, such as the Armata. The Task and Purpose publication notes that “Russia’s next-generation battle tank can reportedly out-stick the American armor in a heartbeat — and it’s coming to battlefields sooner than expected..”

Also missing from the article is a review of Moscow’s Borei-A submarines. Sputnik News reports that “Russia’s latest and finest strategic missile-carrying submarine, the Knyaz Vladimir has tactical and technical characteristics that surpass those of the Ohio-class nuclear subs, which constitute the backbone of the US naval deterrent.”

Think tanks and specialized sources have warned of the danger. A Brookings study notes:

“Russia is in the midst of a major modernization of its armed forces… The modernization programs encompass all parts of the Russian military, including strategic nuclear, nonstrategic nuclear and conventional forces.

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“Moscow’s nonstrategic nuclear weapons are more worrisome. To begin with, there is Russia’s violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile to intermediate range. While such a missile likely will not pose a direct threat to the United States, it constitutes a treaty violation and would threaten U.S. allies, as well as other countries, in Europe and Asia.

“The outside world has less visibility regarding Russia’s nonstrategic arsenal than Russia’s strategic forces. It appears, however, that the military has developed a range of nonstrategic nuclear capabilities, including cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles and aircraft. By contrast, the United States has steadily reduced the number and types of weapons in its nonstrategic nuclear arsenal, which now consists solely of the B61 nuclear bomb.

“Of particular concern is Russia’s apparent focus on low-yield nuclear weapons—which one official has referred to as a ‘nuclear scalpel’—coupled with its nuclear ‘de-escalation’ doctrine. That doctrine envisages escalating to de-escalate, that is, using low-yield nuclear weapons as a means to terminate a conventional conflict on terms favorable to the Kremlin.

“Russia’s unclassified national security strategy says that nuclear weapons would be used only in the event of an attack with weapons of mass destruction on Russia or one of its allies, or in the event of an attack on Russia with conventional forces in which the fate of the state is at stake. The “de-escalation” doctrine, Putin’s references to nuclear weapons in his public statements and the broad modernization of Russia’s nonstrategic nuclear forces suggest that the classified strategy could envisage use of those weapons in wider circumstances.

“That risks lowering the nuclear threshold. And once a nuclear weapon—any nuclear weapon—is used, the possibility of catastrophic escalation would increase dramatically.”

The Report Continues Tomorrow

Illustration: Russian Air Defense System (Russian Defense Forces)

In most of the world’s freely elected governments, officials explain their defense budgets almost apologetically. There is a media inclination to frame spending on military needs as an unwanted diversion of funds from civilian programs.

It is startling, therefore, when one reads the pronouncements from Russia and China that boast with considerable pride of their new weapons programs. Much of that language and the related facts are given little air or print space in western news coverage, since it contradicts the political inclinations of broadcast, internet, and print media.

As the United States, under the Obama Administration, limited its defense spending, Moscow and Beijing moved vigorously and rapidly ahead.  That fact alone disproved the oft-stated argument by isolationists and opponents to adequate defense budgets that Russian and Chinese military moves are a response to American actions.

A National Interest article by  Dan Goure notes: “Since the end of the Cold War, chronic under-funding resulted in a [American] military that today is relatively unready, particularly for high-end conflict, and increasingly obsolescent. It also forced many companies to make the painful decision to reduce their research and development (R&D). During this same period…competitors were investing in both traditional defense products and advanced technologies designed to achieve superiority vis-a-vis the U.S. military. Russia, for example, has been engaged in a decade-long, comprehensive program to modernize its conventional force structure. Now it poses a credible threat to NATO. According to the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Mark Milley, ‘U.S. ground forces are  out-ranged by Russian tanks and artillery… we are technically outranged and outgunned.’ Much attention focuses on Russian and Chinese investments in next-generation platforms and weapons designed to give them decisive superiority over the U.S. and its allies.”

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Many of Russia’s technological advances are startling. A Spacewar report revealed that Russian military expert Viktor Baranets specifically touted the unprecedented damage range of Russia’s next-generation S-500 Prometey missile system, “which is currently undergoing state tests.… Pavel Sozinov, chief engineer of the Russian defense corporation Almaz-Antey, said that Russia’s next-generation S-500 surface-to-air missile system would be able to engage targets in the upper layer of the atmosphere, 100 kilometers [62 miles] above the Earth’s surface.… The system can simultaneously intercept up to ten ballistic and hypersonic missiles traveling at a speed of up to 7 kilometers per second. Speaking to Sputnik, Viktor Baranets pointed, in particular, to the unique performance characteristics of the new Russian missile system.According to him, among other things the S-500 system is also designed to destroy combat blocks of hypersonic missiles. He noted that in terms of its characteristics, the S-500 will significantly exceed Russia’s S-400 missile system and its American competitor, the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile system.”

The Russian news source RT proudly states that “Russia has floated its new state-of-the-art nuclear-powered multipurpose submarine called Kazan as its fleet returned to Soviet-era operational levels in terms of sea patrols, according to the Russian Navy chief.  ‘The Yasen-M class nuclear-powered submarine cruisers are some of the most advanced battleships that amassed all cutting-edge submarine shipbuilding technologies,’Admiral Vladimir Korolev, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, said as the most advanced Russian nuclear attack submarine, Kazan – the second submarine of the Yasen-M class – was launched in the northern Russian port of Severodvinsk…Korolev also said that Russian submarines have reached Soviet Union-era levels in terms of the combat patrols as the vessels had spent some 3,000 days at sea in 2016, adding that ‘it is an excellent level…Last year, we returned to the level we had before the post-Soviet era in terms of the days at sea. Russia’s submarine fleet has spent 3,000 days at sea,’ the admiral said.

The Report Continues Tomorrow

Illustration:  Sukhoi-35 (Russian Ministry of Defense)