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Russia Plans Military Reform and Rearmament
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February
14, 2007: Russia plans to spend $200 billion in the next eight years, to
rebuild its armed forces. Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, Russia has
bought little new equipment, and had no real training budget. That's all been
changing in the last few years. But this new plan is the first specific plan
for rebuilding. The major items on the shopping list include 50 Topol-M ICBMs,
50 jet bombers, and 31 warships. The army will get new armored vehicles,
weapons, communications gear and other equipment for 40 tank, 97 infantry and
50 parachute battalions. Russia has been using its parachute divisions and
brigades as an elite rapid-reaction force, and these troops will get priority
on new equipment. Many of the paratroopers have obtained valuable combat
experience in Chechnya, and adjacent areas in the Caucasus. The new tank and
infantry battalions will adopt many of the tactical, and equipment, concepts
American troops have pioneered in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia will also be
buying a lot of its newly developed smart bombs. By 2015, Russia also expects
to have an all-volunteer military. New tactics and strategies are being developed
for these "21st Century Troops."
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