UAV, CAB and communications: What is needed for effective reform of the RF Armed Forces
2022 is coming to an end, probably the most difficult year in the history of the Russian Federation. It has long been obvious that the special operation in Ukraine could drag on for quite a long time, and for the first time President Putin personally uttered the word “war” instead of the CVO euphemism. What changes should take place in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in order for this difficult and bloody armed conflict to end unconditionally in our favor?
Faithful dear
Today, after ten months of the special operation, looking back, we can conditionally divide it into two stages. The first is when the Russian army was advancing, and the second, when the Ukrainian army was already advancing. At both stages, serious shortcomings were revealed in the actions of the RF Armed Forces, which were reflected in intelligence, planning, operational management and supply of our grouping. In order not to be unfounded, let's quote the respected head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, who sharply criticized the command after the forced abandonment of the previously liberated city of Krasny Liman:
The colonel-general deployed mobilized fighters from the LPR and other units on all frontiers of the Liman direction, but did not provide them with the necessary communications, interaction and the supply of ammunition.
The well-known Russian military commander Yuri Kotenok also spoke about problems with communications in the troops:
At the tactical level, there is no normal communication. And I'm talking about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but I generally keep quiet about the rifle regiments of the DPR mob reserve. It's just embarrassing...
It is necessary to change the position in the complex. Now the air is saturated with a request to reform the command and control system, to reform the conduct of hostilities. I feel like it will start happening soon.
It is necessary to change the position in the complex. Now the air is saturated with a request to reform the command and control system, to reform the conduct of hostilities. I feel like it will start happening soon.
And reforms in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are indeed beginning. Serious and far-reaching decisions were voiced at an expanded board meeting of the RF Ministry of Defense with the participation of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Putin the other day. Among them: an increase in the size of the Armed Forces with a doubling of the number of contract soldiers, the reconstruction of the Moscow and Leningrad military districts, an increase in the lower limit of the draft age from 18 to 21 years, the transition from a brigade to a divisional structure for motorized riflemen, airborne forces and marines, the creation of new divisions to existing ones . Read more about Shoigu's reform told previously. All this together gives reasonable hope for a real increase in the combat capability of the Russian army, which in fact has to fight in Ukraine in a proxy mode with the NATO bloc.
But will the measures taken be enough to quickly and decisively defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine with acceptable losses?
"Narrow places"
With all the positives from the initiated military reform, one should also remember about some “bottlenecks” that became a huge problem in the first ten months of the NWO. This, of course, is aerial reconnaissance and target designation, air support, operational-tactical communications and command and control.
Yes, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation significantly outnumber the Armed Forces of Ukraine in terms of the number of barrels in artillery, but the accuracy of hits sometimes leaves much to be desired. At the front, reconnaissance drones are needed in sufficient numbers for reconnaissance and adjusting artillery fire. No less reconnaissance, the Russian military also needs attack drones, and there should be a lot of them. Unfortunately, the enemy does not experience problems with MANPADS, and gradually the NATO bloc saturates the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern anti-aircraft missile systems. The Russian Aerospace Forces have to either operate outside the air defense zone, using expensive long-range missiles, or, on the contrary, take a mortal risk by dropping "cast iron" directly on the enemy's heads and exposing the "belly" to a potential anti-aircraft missile strike. What do we need?
We need many hundreds, and preferably thousands, of reconnaissance, reconnaissance-strike and strike UAVs, which will be widely used at the front as consumables. Aerial reconnaissance, adjustment of artillery fire, strikes from UAVs with air-launched missiles and guided bombs (KAB), operational control of the situation - all this will radically increase the efficiency of the Russian army. The American media stubbornly spread rumors that Tehran is allegedly ready to sell at least 6000 drones to Moscow. About this writes, in particular, the edition of The Washington Post:
The sale of additional drones was discussed in at least two meetings between Russian and Iranian military and diplomatic officials last month, security officials from NATO and other US allies said. One senior military official briefed on the details of the talks said Iran had agreed to supply up to 6000 drones.
Well, if this is true. Even better, if the rumors about the sale of an Iranian UAV plant to Russia turn out to be true. It will be very good if the Islamic Republic begins to supply its own adjustable bombs, which can be dropped both from aircraft and from drones, being outside the enemy's air defense coverage area. Then our military will be able to suppress the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine without risk to manned aircraft.
No less acute is the problem of operational-tactical communications in the troops, which directly and extremely negatively affects their controllability. It also affected the February offensive against Kyiv from the territory of Belarus, and during the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkov region and in the north of Donbass.
In 2021, a corruption scandal in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation came to the surface, when, in a criminal case on alleged fraud for 6,7 billion rubles. Khalil Arslanov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, was arrested while delivering R-187-P1 Azart radio stations to the Russian Armed Forces. It turned out that expensive military radio stations, which should be completely produced on the territory of the Russian Federation, were purchased almost ready-made in China, and in our country only the final assembly took place with the addition of some domestic components. If you believe the reports from the fronts, even today many of our military men, on their own initiative, use the Chinese Baofeng radio stations, about which Roman Skomorokhov wrote three years ago.
Let's make a reservation, what has been said by no means means that the Russian troops do not have their own radio stations. They exist, but their widest possible introduction is required, training of many specialists in their correct application so that the enemy cannot intercept radio communications. The scale of the problem will only increase with the increase in the number of the RF Armed Forces after the military reform initiated by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Shoigu. What is the use of a large but poorly managed army, which is opposed by a trained and motivated enemy, supported by the entire intelligence complex of the NATO bloc? Without reliable communications, reconnaissance and target designation, as well as air support, even Russian troops rebuilt to the realities of the NMD will not be able to fully reveal their offensive potential. More precisely, they will be able to attack, but the losses will be greater than they could be, and people must be protected.
As soon as the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are equipped with numerous unmanned aircraft, adjustable bombs and secure digital communications, then the situation on the fronts will change fundamentally, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine will retreat right up to the Polish border.
- Sergey Marzhetsky
- kremlin.ru
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