<\/p>\n
\n
The shape of Russia\u2019s military in 2035 will largely be determined by how successfully Moscow can transition from projects originally conceived by the Soviet Union.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n U<\/span>ltimately,\u00a0Russia is not the threat that the Soviet Union once was. But nor is Moscow quite as weak as it was in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union where the Kremlin had to rely solely on its nuclear arsenal for deterrence. Modern Russia has the means to strike back conventionally against potential threats. \u201cRussia now has a really decent conventional standing force,\u201d\u00a0Kofman\u00a0said. \u201cThey no longer depend on nuclear weapons as their only deterrent.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n Imagine your\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Ad<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0placed\u00a0here<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div><\/span><\/p>\n The shape of Russia\u2019s military in 2035 will largely be determined by how successfully Moscow can transition from projects originally conceived by the Soviet Union into efforts that originated in today\u2019s Russian Federation. Many of Russia\u2019s most modern weapons such as the\u00a0Kalibr-NK\u00a0cruise missile or\u00a0Iskander-M\u00a0ballistic missile are actually projects that were on the drawing board in the late\u00a01980s\u00a0when the Soviet Union began to falter.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThese are actually late\u00a0\u201880s\u00a0Soviet designs\u2014almost all of it,\u201d Michael\u00a0Kofman, a Russian military affairs specialist at the Center for Naval Analyses said during a presentation at the\u00a0Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on May 24.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re going to transition\u2014we\u2019re going to see the real next-gen Russian stuff that this program can deliver.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n (This first appeared in May.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n True next-generation Russian weapons\u2014that don\u2019t have their origins in the Soviet-era\u2014include the developmental S-500 air and missile defence system<\/a>,\u00a0Zircon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Tupolev\u00a0PAK-DA stealth bomber<\/a>. Other next-generation systems include the operational\u00a0izdeliye<\/em>\u00a0129 engines for\u00a0the\u00a0Sukhoi\u00a0PAK-FA fifth-generation stealth fighter<\/a>. It\u2019s not clear how much of a learning curve Russia will face in developing those new motors since the country has not developed a new fighter engine since the Soviet-era. \u201cEngines are really hard,\u201d\u00a0Kofman\u00a0noted. \u201cIf they weren\u2019t, China wouldn\u2019t still be buying Russian engines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the future, Russia is likely to focus \u201cnon-contact\u201d warfare\u2014that might include long-range strike capabilities, long-range air and missiles defence systems and precision-guided weapons. The idea is to be able to punish a potential aggressor at long-ranges\u2014striking back directly against a potential aggressor. \u201cThey\u2019re working on deterrence by punishment, which is what all this long-range strike potential is about,\u201d\u00a0Kofman\u00a0said. \u201cThe ability to retaliate and to strike with conventional weapons, not nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Russians are also developing unmanned systems in a completely different way than Western militaries. Russia is currently behind the West in terms of unmanned technology, but the Kremlin and the Russian defence industry is dumping money into such systems. As such, Russia is rapidly moving forward in the area of robotics. \u201cThere is a rapid proliferation of drones across the Russian military,\u201d\u00a0Kofman\u00a0said.<\/span><\/p>\n Compared to Western forces, there is much less focus on large medium altitude unmanned aircraft and much more focus on tactical systems for the Russian Ground Forces. Thus, the Russians are focused on cheap, plentiful and disposable drones that can be used as reconnaissance assets to provide targeting capability for heavy artillery. \u00a0The Russian \u201care trying to enable our surface-to-surface long-range fires,\u201d\u00a0Kofman\u00a0said. \u201cThere, they very quickly started adapting drones to the way the Russian Army would like to fight. And the Russian Army would like to fight with face-melting firepower.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Tomas\u00a0Malml\u00f6f, a political scientist with the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI), added that Russia is also investing very heavily in electronic warfare. Moreover, in terms of cyber-warfare,\u00a0Kofman\u00a0said that Russia is very likely either a peer or near-peer competitor to the United States. But cyber capabilities are difficult to measure\u2014some information comes via intelligence while the rest is discovered once it has been used. \u201cIt\u2019s a different challenge to study that particular set of tools,\u201d Olga\u00a0Oliker,\u00a0CSIS\u2019s\u00a0director for its Russia and Eurasia program, said. \u201cEven with all the talk, it\u2019s still very poorly defined.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Basically, long-term, the Russian military is moving from a force that relies on mass towards one that has the ability to strike precisely while retaining its capability to cause area effects. But\u00a0Oliker\u00a0noted that Russia has not completely integrated precision-guided weapons into its doctrine and that is very much a work in progress. In Syria, for example, precision-guided weapons are not used in a particularly well thought out manner. However, Russian precision-guided weapons doctrine is evolving as the Russian military learns to use its new tools. \u201cThat\u2019ll be worth watching,\u201d\u00a0Oliker\u00a0said.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Cargo-Ad-2-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"