Russians With Rusting Rockets: Difference between revisions

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[[File:BomberScrapyard.jpg|frame|Dammit, that's the third time this week!]]

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On the other hand, much of his reform (which is not actually his, but a concerted governmental effort) is, as noted above, based on the solid reasoning, however bad its execution went, and the whole affair is a controversial thing, which [[Base Breaker|breaks the base]] among both the serving soldiers and [[Armchair Military|civilian military buffs]] like there's no tomorrow. The reform proponents claim that a lot of what is perceived as dumb moves is actually a sort of bitter medicine that was sorely needed, but no one has the heart and means to do. Whether that's really so is mostly the matter of personal opinion.

For example, the old Soviet doctrine envisioned a massed land war not unlike the [[World War II]], which, frankly, [[Blatant Lies|isn't likely nowadays at all]]-- cue the establishment of joint regional commands and a shift to the brigade structure as a way to improve coordination and control. After all, the Russian military was for the most part still structured around WWII expectations, just as the Soviet one was.

It assumed a mass mobilization of the conscripts in the time of war, and thus in peacetime its rank structure was ''incredibly'' top heavy -- in Russian Army captains did the stuff for which [[Sergeant Rock|professional master sergeants]] would suffice, because NCOs were mostly conscripts and would leave after a year or two, leaving a hole in the ranks, while officers were career soldiers and were expected to stay. Thus, claim the reform proponents, with the creation of the professional NCO corps a lot of officer positions simply become obsolete, leading to the mass discharges -- which, understandably, angered the people discharged.

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So when the money appeared again it was the [[Sadistic Choice|tough choice]]: either invest into the mostly dead industry, which will give results some 20 years down the way, while letting soldiers continue to use rusting and obsolete equipment in the increasingly high-tech environments; or buy equipment abroad, giving soldiers the chance, but driving a nail into the industry's coffin. MoD tries as it might to find a [[Take a Third Option|Third Option]], but not always succeeds, and industry complains. Loudly.

In the end, the current reform is a very fluid, ambivalent affair that could be seen from several radically different angles, and it's simply too early to give it a conclusive overview. Though at least there's enough fuel for training again, and the ships, both old and new, gets to chase them some pirate off the coast of Africa. On the other hand, even Putin and Medvedev do acknowledge the reform as rather poorly executed and Serdukov himself as a failure, though he managed to keep his position in the recent government reshuffle, while Interior Minister Nurgaliev got the boot. On the other hand, Nurgaliev failed much more spectacularly.

'''Rockets Repainted'''

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As said above, the situation has been improving ever since the early Nougties, with something finally being visible by the beginning of [[The New Tens]]. There's been a number of large-scale maneuvers, something that hasn't happened since the Soviet times, the long-range air patrols were re-instituted, and the Navy finally got a bit of love is so missed since Gorshkov's times. The [[Ruthless Modern Pirates|Horn of Africa]] became a training grounds for the Russian Navy, with rotating squadrons from different fleets staying there pretty much all the time.

New equipment finally starts to get out of the pipeline, initially starting small, such as with project 22350 corvette, dubbed ''Stereguschy'' (''Vigilant'') class. Relatively small, just 2500 tons of displacement, it is nevertheless extremely heavily armed for its size, as is in Russian tradition, and is a smallest warship in the world to carry an integral helicopter. Three are commissioned, and five are on the slips, with the plans to eventually built 20 to 30 of them.

Its larger counterpart, the project 20350 frigate of ''Admiral Gorshkov'' class (named after Soviet admirals) would be better designated a destroyer, hadn't that moniker been grabbed by the essentially light-cruiser sized vessels nowadays. 4500 tons and bristling with the guns and missiles, the lead ship is undergoing a testing, to be commissioned in late 2012. Two more are building, with around ten projected overall. They are to be supplemented by six or nine projected ''Admiral Grigorovich'' (Tsarist admirals this time) class ships, of the 11356 project (the same Russia build for India), a tried and true design, which would give the Navy a respected frigate force.

On a heavier side there's the plan to repair and refit the three mothballed ''Kirov'' battle-cruisers (probably cannibalizing one in the process, as a lot of parts aren't produced anymore), and there's half-finished ''Slava''-class cruiser that Ukraine has on sale. The new heavy destroyer project (12-14 kilotons) is also in the works, this time probably nuclear-driven, armed with [[BFG|4x6" guns]] in addition to the loads and loads of missiles, and probably even armored, essentially a scaled down ''Kirov''. The new aircraft carrier is considered, but probably won't be started until 2020. Two ''Mistral''-class LAPDs are ordered from France, mostly for their tech, with the two more to be license-built in Russia.

Two new classes of nuclear subs are entering service, the project 955 ''Borey''-class boomer, armed with the infamous, but (when all the kinks were finally ironed out) pretty capable ''Bulava''("Mace") missile, and a multipurpose 885 ''Yasen'' ("Ash tree") boats, essentially a ''Sea Wolf'' counterpart (and similarly hellishly expensive). Two of the former and one of the latter are already commissioned, with the plans to build around ten of each. Older boats are repaired and modernized, and there's also a thriving diesel boat program, supported by the brisk export sales.

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You see, the MoD decided to introduce a new, modern synthetic uniform, rather closely modeled after the American ACU, with a new digital camo pattern (unofficially dubbed ''Tsifra'', "Digit"), which theoretically was much better than the old natural fabric (mostly wool and cotton, with some sheep furs) one, but in fact the quality was a hit-and-miss, and, in a stellar example of [[Poor Communication Kills]], the upper echelons failed to adequately inform and train the line officers, who in Russia decide the details of the wearing, such as issuing the hats and warmer coats in a cold weather, that it has the completely different wearing directions than the old one.

This has lead to several high profile cases of the soldiers contracting pneumonia (with some deaths) due to improperly issued uniforms, which cemented the ill reputation of ''Yudashkin's uniform'' (after a famous fashion designer, even though he wasn't really involved in its design<ref>He designed a ceremonial parade uniform of the Presidential Regiment's Honor Guard and most other dress uniforms</ref>) in the minds of many. Now there's a second iteration in the works, now basically a carbon copy of the ACU in cut and structure, that's being tested and deployed, with much more intensive training on its wearing.

Another matter of note is the armor. A several major development programs were initiated to create three unified platforms for most armored vehicles: heavy, up to 60 tons, tracked -- this will become [[Tank Goodness|new tanks]], SPGs, etc, it was dubbed "Armata"; medium tracked one, up to 25 tons, mainly for the future [[Awesome Personnel Carrier|IFVs]], designated "Kurganets-25"; and two wheeled ones, medium, for the future APC, and light, as a mine-protected Humvee counterpart -- current armored light truck, GAZ Tigr, has pretty limited mine resistance.

For the meantime, the military decided to bid its time, refusing to buy new tanks and haggling incessantly with the industry. The plants (whose [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|managers]] often tend to pad their prices) threaten the unrest of their unemployed workers, while the military threatens to buy abroad, and sometimes does, as it was with the Italian "Lynx" armored truck and "Centauro" wheeled tank destroyer, or a bung of Israeli UAVs.

In the end, everything is still rapidly changing, and only future will show whether the fresh paint on the rockets won't start to peel again.

'''Tricolours in fiction'''

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** The ''[[Battlefield (series)|Battlefield 2]]'' mod ''[[Project Reality]]'' includes the Russian Army as a playable faction.

** ''[[Battlefield Play4Free]]'' pits the US against the Russians as well.

** Ditto with ''[[Battlefield 3]]''.

* ''[[Modern Warfare|Modern Warfare 2]]'' features {{spoiler|the Russian Army, after some fancy electronic trickery, attempting to invade and occupy Washington DC}}. The Russians here have been tricked via a [[False-Flag Operation]] into believing that {{spoiler|America is responsible for a terrorist attack against civilians on Russian soil, to which they respond with a "one thousand of you for every one of us" mentality}} and are ultimately turned back.

** ...But not before {{spoiler|blowing big, messy chunks out of Washington and basically wrecking all the government facilities not built into bunkers}}. If it weren't for {{spoiler|Captain Price's improvised, rogue EMP strike}} and poor Ramirez doing bloody well EVERYTHING on the ground, they probably would have levelled the place before the US could put them down.

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[[Category:Forces With Firepower]]

[[Category:Useful Notes]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/Russia]]

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