Russian Ground Forces: News #1

George1 wrote:Why the army has still the red communist flag?

George1 wrote:I thought old communist guard still controls military establishment undergroundly

medo wrote:

Ural Typhoon participate in parade rehearsal and have army lycence plates. It seems army start receiving them from Ural. I wonder if they also get typhoons from Kamaz?

And what place does it have in ground forces? What is it replacing?

In February 2012 the Mapping Service of the Russian Armed Forces celebrated 200 years since its foundation. Emperor Alexander I issued a decree ordering the creation of the Military Mapping Depot on January 27 (February 8 in the modern calendar), 1812, shortly before Napoleon’s invasion. Since then the service has become an integral part of the Russian armed forces.

Soviet military mapping

Military mapping in our country reached its zenith in the late Soviet period. By the early 1990s it was on the verge of a technological revolution triggered by the arrival of digital maps and global satellite positioning. In the late 1980s the Soviet Union launched its own military geo-information systems, the Panorama and the Neva. They provided real-time information about the changing combat situation and were designed for use as part of automated command-and-control systems. The mapping service also began digitizing the existing paper maps. The plan was to deploy the Soviet Union’s own satellite navigation system and launch production of digital navigation electronics for the Army in the early 1990s. A combination of global positioning, digital geo-information systems, and new communications and command-and-control technologies would enable the Soviet Army to adopt a network-centric concept of warfare and real-time command-and-control strategies. But the economic crisis of the late 1980s and the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 put those ambitious plans on hold.

The 1990s crisis

Drastic cuts in military spending in the early 1990s and the ensuing layoffs severely undermined the mapping service’s routine operations and technology refresh programs. The first routine service to be affected was updating the maps, which is costly and resource-intensive. The consequences of that came to light shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union, during the 1994-1996 war in Chechnya. By the time the war broke out the Russian armed forces had 1:50,000 scale maps of the republic’s territory (the main type of map used by tactical-tier officers) last updated back in 1982-1984. The next update was scheduled for 1992-1994, but for obvious reasons (i.e. the general financial crisis and the fact that Chechnya was controlled by the separatists) it did not happen. The state of detailed maps of population centers was even worse. The 1:5,000 scale map of Grozny at the disposal of the Russian General Staff was last updated back in 1979. It did not show many of the key facilities which the two sides fought over during the storming of Grozny. At least some of the losses sustained by the Russian troops could have been avoided had up-to-date maps been available.

In addition to cancelling scheduled map updates, the mapping service also had to put on hold its technology refresh plans. The geo-information systems developed in previous years for military uses had passed all the tests but were not rolled out in the armed forces in the 1990s. The automated topographic systems fared no better. The most ambitious project, the GLONASS satellite navigation system, officially entered service on September 24, 1993. It had 12 satellites in orbit at the time. But apart from underfunding, the system suffered from the short lifespan of Soviet navigation satellites. By 2001 the number of working satellites in orbit had fallen to just six, and the system became inoperative. Plans to equip the armed forces with satellite navigation instruments were also put on hold; there was no money to finance the mass production and procurement of these instruments. Meanwhile, the main problem faced by the military mapping service was its inability to attract or retain specialists. The best of them were leaving in droves in search of better-paying jobs in the civilian sector. By the late 1990s the Russian military mapping service had all but lost the ability to supply the armed forces with up-to-date maps.

Maps for the army

In contrast to the military mapping service, Russia’s civilian mapping industry was going from strength to strength, buoyed by growing commercial demand. Commercial mapping companies were rapidly introducing the latest technologies. Systems initially designed for the armed forces, such as the Panorama, were adapted for civilian uses. In addition to new mapping technologies, Russian companies also started to buy high-resolution satellite imaging products from Western suppliers. Meanwhile, the military mapping service was stuck with technologies dating back to the 1980s.

At some point it became clear that civilian companies had left the military mapping service far behind in terms of their digital and 3D mapping capability. In 2005 the Russian army and security services were faced with an urgent need for up-to-date maps of the North Caucasus territories along the Russian border. The updating had to be done quickly and to high standards. The military mapping service was clearly not up to that task, so the government set a precedent by turning to civilian contractors. The project was successfully completed by the end of 2007.

That precedent, along with the obvious inability of the military mapping service to provide the armed forces with up-to-date information, set the government thinking about the future of that service. There were two obvious options. One was to spend a lot of money on restoring the service to its former Soviet glory. The other was to follow the example of the Western armies, which buy regularly updated maps from civilian contractors, and whose military mapping units are used only for sensitive military tasks. In the end, Russia chose a unique third option. The essence of it is that all mapping services for the army and other uniformed agencies will be provided by a specially created state-owned corporation. Even though the existing commercial companies already have everything it takes to keep the army supplied with high-quality maps at affordable prices, government agencies have exerted their full bureaucratic might to retain control of the mapping services for the armed forces. As a result of that bureaucratic victory, on March 12, 2012 the Russian president signed a decree ordering the creation of the Roskartografiya (Russian Mapping) joint stock company. It has been tasked with providing surveying and mapping services in the interests of Russian national security and defense. The new company will probably monopolize the provision of maps to the army and other uniformed agencies.

The current structure of the mapping service

As for the Military Mapping Service, as part of the military reform it has been transformed into the Mapping Service of the Russian Armed Forces. The tasks set before the service are as follows:

Provide surveying and mapping support to the Armed Forces

Draw up plans for surveying and mapping Russian territory in the interests of national security and defense

Develop the principles of the navigation systems used by the Armed Forces, oversee the rollout of navigation equipment to the ground troops

Build up the necessary reserves and organize the provision of topographic and other maps in digital and analogue format, as well as the source astro-geodetic and gravimetric data to the Armed Forces

The structure of the military mapping service includes the Military Mapping Directorate of the General Staff (headed by Rear Admiral Sergey Kozlov), the mapping services of the four Military Districts (each has its own district mapping unit, a mobile mapping and surveying team, and a repository of maps), and the mapping services of the individual armed services.

Technology refresh

The mapping service has been introducing new technology since the mid-2000s, albeit at a relatively slow pace. In 2005 it bought the first small batch of advanced surveying equipment made by Japan’s Topcon.1 Also in 2005 the military mapping directorate bought modern geo-information systems. These new-generation systems are versatile software packages which can build multi-layer digital maps of any scale and resolution, process bitmap and vector images, convert maps from one format to another, and compile databases. They support the Western WGS84 system of coordinates as well as the Russian SK-42 and SK-95 systems. Throughout the 1990s the Precision Instruments Research Institute was the leading developer of geo-information systems for the armed forces. Now that role has been taken over by the NIITP company, the maker of the Integratsiya geo-information package. In 2009 the MoD rolled out the Karta-2005 system developed by KB Panorama, a civilian company. In 2011 the system was upgraded to Karta-2011, the latest version designed for use as part of automated command-and-control systems and equipped with better information security measures.2 The Integratsiya package remains the geo-information component of the unified tactical-level command-and-control system now being developed by the Sozvezdiye concern. The multitude of geo-information systems being used by the Russian armed forces (for example, the MoD’s Navigation and Oceanography Directorate is using the Neva system) is an obvious drawback because it unnecessarily complicates the training programs.

The launch of the GLONASS global satellite navigation system has been a very important development for the Russian military mapping service. By the end of 2010 the number of GLONASS satellites in orbit had reached 26 and the system became fully operational. At present Russia and the United States are the only two countries in the world which have their own functioning satellite navigation systems. This makes them fully independent in terms of providing navigation services to their armed forces. In addition to the navigation satellites, Russia will soon launch several Kartograf geo-imaging satellites. Their development is now nearing completion; the first satellite of the series is scheduled for launch in 2013.3

The deployment of GLONASS satellites has been completed more or less on schedule. However, the rollout of navigation instruments across the armed forces has been very slow. MKB Kompass is now developing for the Russian army a tablet computer capable of displaying real-time tactical information and 3D models of the environment.4The product line includes a receiver-indicator for squad commanders, a tablet computer for company/battery commanders and a tablet for battalion commanders.5 The first prototypes were tested during the Center-2011 strategic exercise in September 2011. At present the Russian ROSNANO corporation and Britain’s Plastic Logic are building a 700m dollar manufacturing facility in Zelenogorsk. The plant will make tablet computers and is scheduled for launch in 2014.6The rollout of these tablets in the armed forces will probably begin shortly afterwards.

In January 2012 the MoD launched the Russian army’s first geospatial information and navigation center in Korenovsk (Southern Military District).7The center is the product of the merger of several mapping service units; the decision to set it up was made after the Five Day War with Georgia in 2008. In a certain sense the center is modeled on the Army Geospatial Center of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Its main job is to produce 3D area models for military aviation (the Korenovsk airbase will host Russia’s latest Su-30M2 fighters and the Mi-28N and Ka-52 attack helicopters). The center is equipped with the Violit-M geo-information modeling complex and several other new systems. One of them is the Volynets, a mobile digital mapping system equipped with navigation and satellite communication capability, electronic gyro-compasses, and high-volume printing devices. It is the Russian version of America’s Digital Topographic Support System and Britain’s Tactical Information Systems (TACISYS). Its purpose is to supply various digital and analogue maps to the armed forces. In addition, the center in Korenovsk has the Tompak mobile navigation and surveying system designed for topo-geodetic surveying and restoration of geodetic networks.

The military mapping service is gradually being equipped with the latest software systems, but the mass rollout of digital maps, geo-information systems and GLONASS navigation instruments to the troops is not going to happen any time soon. Besides, it remains to be seen whether the Russian army, which still relies on mass conscription, can effectively use the latest complex technology, such as navigation and geo-information systems, in a combat situation.

Human resources

One of the main problems facing the military mapping service is training, attracting and retaining specialists. As part of the ongoing reform of the military education system, the St Petersburg Higher Military Mapping Command School, which has trained military mapping and surveying specialists for a century and a half, has become the Surveying and Mapping Support Faculty of the Mozhayskiy Military Space Academy. The service is facing an acute shortage of highly trained specialists. It is losing out in the competition for them to commercial mapping companies and the recently created Kartografiyacorporation, which offer much better pay.

Neither has the military mapping service avoided the problem of corruption, which has become pervasive in modern Russia. In May 2010 the Moscow Garrison Military Court pronounced guilty verdicts in the trial of several senior officers of the MoD’s 29th Research Institute (which is in charge of military mapping research), including the chief of the facility, Maj. Gen. NikolayKonon. They have been convicted of serious fraud. Gen. Konon is one of the most senior Russian military officers to have been convicted on corruption charges.8

The problems faced by the 200-years-old Russian military mapping service are therefore typical of the Russian armed forces. They include corruption, dated technology, a lack of a consistent reform strategy and a shortage of qualified specialists. Whether it can transform itself into a modern high-tech service capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century will depend on the success of the Russian military reform as a whole. Improving the human resources system and financial management are probably the two most important priorities.

1 MoD’s Military Mapping Service being equipped with modern geodetic equipment. GIS-Assotsiatsiya // August 30,2005.

2 Karta 2011 geo-information system obtains MoD information security certificate // GIS-Assotsiatsiya, November 18, 2011.

3 Current state and future of the Russian remote Earth surveying satellite system. Report a the international conference Earth from Space — the Most Effective Solutions, December 1-3, 2009.

4 Military council with Sergey Kozlov, head of the Military Mapping Directorate of the Russian General Staff // EkhoMoskvy, October 29, 2011.

5 http://gunm.ru/news/rossijskaja_navigacija_takticheskogo_zvena/2011-09-01-496.

6 Richard Archuleta: the Zelenograd plant will be the most advanced facility // RIA Novosti, January 16, 2012.

7 Russian armed forces set up a geo-spatial navigation center // RIA Novosti, January 16, 2012.

8 Head of a military research institute and his subordinates invent a profitable scam // RossiyskayaGazeta, May 25, 2010.