Russian army to become more mobile
The Russian Armed Forces are going through radical reforms to become more mobile and more capable to solve local conflicts with neighbouring states.
Last year’s war in Georgia became the catalyst for the start of the most radical reforms of the Armed forces since the 1950-60’s, when the army was totally mechanized and armed with nuclear weapons. After the five days long war in Georgia, it became clear that the army needs to be ready not only for military-political operations like in Chechnya, but also for local conflicts with neighbouring states.
By 2016, the number of personnel will be reduced from 1,1 million to 1 million in peace time and 1,7 millions in war time.
Ground forces are going to be most affected by the changes. Instead of the 24 existing 10 000 men strong divisions, 81 brigades of 4000 men will be established. There will be no regiments – the brigades will consist of battalions and other units and will be joined through operational commands. The brigades will be lighter equipped and more mobile than today’s divisions.
The air force will also be affected by the reforms. Instead of today’s over 100 regiments with low readiness, there will be fewer, but lager, air bases in a high state of readiness.
Since the beginning of the 1990’s, the Russian Armed Forces have gone through larger changes than those that now have been planned. In 1992-1994 the forces were reduced from 2,5 to 1,5 million men, and 500 000 officer positions were cut.
