"Rusty equipment from the 1960s" Topic

…The Chief Intelligence Directorate found out that during April, the following equipment was withdrawn from Russian Federation storage bases:

18 Msta-S self-propelled artillery units from the arsenal of missile and artillery weapons of the Eastern Military District (Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai);

28 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery units from 94 Main Missile and Artillery Control arsenal (Omsk);

15 Msta-S self-propelled artillery units, 5 Akatsiya self-propelled artillery units and 20 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units from the complex storage arsenal (Gagarinsky, Sverdlovsk region);

15 Uragan [Hurricane] MLRS and 11 Tochka-U Tactical Operational Missile Systems from the 109th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (Batareyna, Irkutsk region)…

Ukrainian Pravda: link

More interesting will be if Ukrainian intelligence can identify when or indeed if any the kit comes into operational use….

Perhaps some land leased Shermans left somewhere?

Raise you a Valentine, Matilda or an M3 Lee!

I'd think most of those US & UK tanks from WWII are in museums somewhere in Russia. Regardless the Russian crews wouldn't be any better in WWII tanks then they are with their modern versions.

Headline misleading, most of this equipment is from the 90's.

More likely some T-34/85s.

I wonder when those will be rolled out?

Dream on, Guys. Russia has plenty left… and loads of Cold War kit in 'storage' that could easily be refurbed to some effectiveness. If T90 can be destroyed, might as well bring out T55 with some improvements?
Do NOT underestimate Russia… Hitler did.

I recently read that the Russians have around 10% of their stored equipment that is drive-away ready, with the rest requiring various levels of overhaul/repair. So "easily refurbished" may actually be a relative term…

And they need crews to man them as well.

Damon.

How long did Russia train tank crews in WWII? I bet they can crank out tank crewmen in 3 or 4 weeks. They may even do two levels of training; one to be a stop gap, and the other to have a higher degree of proficiency.

I talked to a guy who was an infantry draftee during the Korean War. I asked him how long he trained before he was shipped out. He said that they received 3 weeks of basic training, plus whatever they could learn the troop ship while heading over.

And look at Soviet tank losses as a ratio in WWII. Sure you can give them basic enough training to operate a tank, but it takes more than a few weeks to become proficient. And this is not WWII: the reason the Soviets could churn out tanks the way they did was thanks in part to Lend-Lease, that didn't require them to churn out trucks to support their troops. Add into this the fact that currently Russian arms manufacture is at a halt, due to lack of sufficient parts, & the need to overhaul & refurbish their reserve stocks, & things are not so simple…

So far Putin has declined to declare this a war, limiting him legally on how he can recruit troops. Sure, he can do things illegally too, but time is on Ukraine's side. As long as the Western Powers can keep supplying them with arms, and they do not lose, then Russia has an uphill battle to climb.

Damon.

You forgot that Russia has a draft army. Almost all men fit for military service have already served in the army for one (previously – two) years and received a military profession. All that will be needed is to refresh the acquired knowledge.
Military equipment removed from the reserve can be sent to Syria, or it can be transferred to the DPR and LPR. This still means little.
The losses of Russian tanks during the Second World War only mean that it was often cheaper to produce a new tank on an assembly line than to take it to a factory in the rear for serious repairs. You have all seen the photos of the huge fields lined with damaged German equipment, intended for repair. And we have never seen such fields with Russian technology. Think why.

How Many Tanks Does Russia Really Have? And Where Are They?

YouTube link

@Garand. Yep, I get what you are saying. The tank crew training question wasn't rhetorical. Do we know how long Russia trained its crews as compared to other countries? I am guessing for less time than everyone else. If they have the tanks, I don't think they are worried about training crews to a "proficient" level if they need them (in all, or in part) in action quickly.

Headline misleading, most of this equipment is from the 90's.

Yeah, a bit click baity – the earliest thing I found was very late 60's SPG (I forget which) though the units in storage were probably manufactured much later!

The other issue with pulling AFVs out of storage is who's going to fix them? Russia has a fairly large arms industry but I doubt is awash with idle tank mechanics. Its manufacturing rates are fairly slow. I assume those in uniform are busy keeping existing kit operational. If they want to refurbish large numbers of stored vehicles that could potentially impact on production.

As I and others have said before. Much of the equipment the Russians are using were around during the Cold War. When I was on Active Duty, '79-'90, much of their weapons are pretty old. But again, a weapon system is only as good as the trooper/crew behind it. Plus capable leadership … The Russians are rolling snake eyes when it comes to this.

Length of training is only one thing. Quality of training is quite another. Number of months does not matter if the training quality is low or type of training is bad/wrong type of training.

Training has to be relevant, students must be allowed to think for themselves and make mistakes and learn from mistakes.

Quality training & gaining experience is critical. Seems the Russians don't do that very well …