"4 Ways Russia's Military Is More Advanced Than ..." Topic

…You Might Think.

"Vladimir Putin is not a man to back down from provocation, especially a direct, lethal provocation like the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 aircraft by Turkey on Tuesday. Such an attack raises the possibility of a direct military confrontation, and makes you wonder just what Russia could do if you rattled its cage. How dangerous are they?

Russia's defense complex may be just a shadow of the old Soviet Union, with defense spending only about 12 percent of the USA's. As such, many in the West tend to see Russian hardware as second-rate—stuck with 1970's electronics, crude manufacturing standards, and no money to improve matters. If the Russians make anything good, the thinking goes, they must have copied it from the West. The poor performance of the Russian-equipped Iraqi army in 2003 (and Russian-supplied Arab forces against the Israelis) reinforces the idea of inferior Russian military tech.

In reality, Russia can be innovative in weapons design, and sometimes ahead of the West. Occasionally the country pursues crazy ideas than cannot work, like mind control weaponry. Yet just as often they develop weapons with no counterparts in the U.S…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Who has ever thought that Russian tech was poor?

Different, maybe – and often with a different approach – but certainly not 'backward' in some way.

Only an idiot would think that: "all we have to do is kick down the door and the whole crumbling structure will collapse…"

Can't quite remember who said that in 1941…

John T

Does the Russian tank have everything the M1 has? No, but when they can field 4 or more of the T-90s for the same price eventually their numbers will matter. The new Armata will be an interesting one. Is it a PR move to make countries think that Russia is stepping up the game or is it really a newly improved tank?

There are too many "curious onlookers" wanting to see whose military is "better". That is a dangerous hobby. I doubt that converting the modern militaries into war gaming pieces and playing "it" out will satisfy either….

We should never underestimate the Russians … regardless …

War is like sports. You can never account for all the variables. What looks easy may turn into the most difficult or impossible task. Looking at the Russians and laughing is probably why many EU countries have cut spending to below 2%. Russia still exists and their arsenal is still there. New stuff is coming out. How good it is will only be found out the hard way.

We shouldn't underestimate the Russias. Reckless!

But remember that weapons are only as good as the troops that use them. Their equivalent of GPS is not ready for prime time. Their NCO core is comparatively pathetic, and sergeants make everything work. The maintenance issues with their aircraft are well known, because aircraft fly all the time – what are we going to find out about their missiles if those start flying?

Some of their latest fighters, SAMs, and other missiles have impressive stats on paper. But they still have corruption and state control of the media, so things are not going to work as advertised.

They should be taken seriously, but I don't think they're as scary as they want people to think.

The key is not to invade Russia. They tend to fight well on the defensive and not so well on the offensive. WW 2 was an anomaly if you look at the historical record.

Well well, they went to Paris twice, others three times yes I know.
Then offensively not ok, ask the Turks, about 23 (?) wars only really lost once. And the border went one way mostly.

They should be taken seriously, but I don't think they're as scary as they want people to think.

Agreed … but they are still a threat .. with nucs …

All I know is that there is a "Vodka Gap" between their troops and ours. We must take serious steps to increase our troops' ability to consume large quantities of vodka. The fate of the YouTube dashcam footage industry may well depend upon it.

They have more focus on their military spending with less lobbyists and more direct lines of development. So 12% spending is probably more like 50% of the US budget if the US was more efficient. Just my opinion though. Some might argue that the US system is extremely efficient and competitive with very little corruption in comparison.

Russia is certainly trying to play catch-up, they spent a long time with a shitty economy during the 1990s.

For that matter, even the Chinese are trying to shift to an American-style professional military instead of the conscript army.

Not denying that conscripts *can* do a lot (look at the US in WW2), but it's been shown that it takes almost 18 months just to train an infantryman up to combat-ready. 6-9 months just to get the basics down, the rest of the time is unit training as opposed to just individual training. Other combat arms are about the same. Hell, I was an admin clerk on a submarine, I spent 7 months in the training pipeline before I showed up at my sub, and almost another year before I was officially qualified in submarines.