Russian Ground Forces: News #1

Austin wrote:Surprise Check Reveals ‘Systemic Problems’ in Russian Military

MOSCOW, February 22 (RIA Novosti) - A series of random checks in the Russian Armed Forces this week revealed a number of systemic shortcomings, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said on Friday.

Combat alert checks were carried out in the Central and South Military Districts, the Airborne Assault Forces (VDV) and military transport aviation units.

Alert duty officers in some military units demonstrated an insufficiently prompt and ineffective response in processing orders via automated combat command and control systems, especially in VDV troops and at the 201st Military Base in Tajikistan, Gerasimov said during a teleconference.

He also criticized the level of cooperation between the 201st Military Base command and the local Tajik authorities.

Military vehicle drivers, mechanics and operators showed insufficient handling skills, leading to delays and disruptions on the march and during the fulfillment of combat training missions, particularly in the 28th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Central Military District, he said.

Other problems included low-accuracy shooting and shelling results, especially by tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

“The majority of subunits only received 'C' grades,” the General Staff chief said, adding that many officers commissioned last year failed to demonstrate good overall results.

Gerasimov ordered military commanders at all levels to analyze the causes of their problems, draw up remedial plans and follow them meticulously.

The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday the checks were carried out for the first time in the past 20 years and will now be conducted on a regular basis.

GarryB wrote:Buying off the shelf foreign stuff does not teach Russian makers to build suitable weapons.

It serves a purpose, but is very short sighted in my opinion.

I agree there is very little in the way of match 12.7mm ammo in Russia and has not been for some time, but then with no 12.7 x 108mm sniper rifles there is hardly a market for such ammo in the first place.

Russian military snipers are spoilt for choice... from .22lr (5.6mm) (SV-99 based on a biathlon rifle called Sobol), through selected AK-74s with scopes in 5.45mm calibre and including 9 x 39mm VSK-94 and VSS rifles, through Mosin Nagant rifles and SVD rifles of several types and calibres (SVDS, SVDK etc) through to modern bolt action designs like SV-98, MTs116, through the anti material rifles like AVSK, OSV-96, and now ASh-12 and VSSK. That does not even include the new SV-388 and 388 LM calibre SVD, as well as the ORSIS rifles and LOBIEV rifles.
A lot of these weapons are not proven in service designs but if Russia keeps buying foreign rifles how will they get proven? Where will the funds come from to further develop them?

Of course the ammo production sector also needs a lot of investment, and there have been articles about reducing the number of ammo making companies in Russia to a smaller number and then investing in upgrading their products and production capacity and quality.