The Moscow Times reported Friday that Russian Air Force would get an additional five fighter jets as part of an effort to modernize the army. These additional Sukhoi T-50 jets were announced by Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev and will be joining an already flooded fleet with 20 Su-30SM fighter jets, Mi-28 and Ka-52 attack helicopters, Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic missile carriers.
The deputy commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces announced that by 2020, the air force will have under its wings 900 new helicopters and planes. All these purchases have already been given a go ahead despite a late last year report that advised in budget cuts. But the budget cut is nothing coming anytime soon considering the steps President Putin is taking is all inclined to his goals – boost Russia’s global military reach. Russia has set aside $335.7 billion for just upgrading the military.
Expand global military reach
It seems as though Putin has the target of ensuring his country gets to reach the entire world in terms of military might. In 2016, Russia build a permanent military base in Syria and this week saw the Russian Navy announce it would bring on board 100 new airborne vehicles before the end of 2020.
This is an announcement that has been made barely a day after the Ministry of Defense in the United Kingdom laid out plans to design laser weapons that would be used on aerial and ground defense. The current estimates are that these weapons will only be out by 2019 and their development is not as a result of any given threat. Neither did the decision by the United States to develop laser technology in the last few years trigger this development.
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Russia has made the additions which are a contradiction of a 2015 report which suggested Moscow would cut down on military expenditure in 2017. In the classified report unearthed by The Financial Times,Russia was expected to lower its military expenditure to $45.6 billion, down from $61.69 billion. Had such a decision been actualized, then Russia’s military budget would equal that of the United Kingdom. The report went on to explain that between 2015 and 2019, Russia’s budget would dip by roughly 15 percent.
Russian Army Note ready for Modern War
Independent Russian analyst, Pavel Felgegauer, was quoted sometimes back saying that Russian forces are not yet ready for “modern war.” If they were to go to a war with NATO, they “would suffer much the same fate as the Zulus against the British army.” The analyst goes on to explain that the unpreparedness for modern war does not mean the Russian forces are unable to hold another campaign such as one in Ukraine, it only implies that “if they got into a war, they cannot defeat NATO in the field.”
But with the trend Russia is setting in military upgrades and training programmes, the “world must be ready for world war by 2025,” says the Felgengauer via The National Security News.
Is the Pentagon preparing for a tank war with Russia?
But even as the military upgrades take place in Moscow, the National Security News questioned in Mid-July 2016 whether the age of the tank had just come to an end. With new weaponry taking effect including the missiles and fighter jets, it seemed as though the tank may be a history.
But that thinking is no longer dominant and, in fact, the Pentagon is actively developing plans for a tank war against Russia, says the National Security.
The Defense Department is visibly raising concerns over the recent attempts by Moscow to grow its military prowess. It is now more than 25 years ever since we bid goodbye to cold war but a major war may just be looming around the corner. As reported by Politico Magazine, there is a plan called The Russia New Generation Warfare whose target would be Moscow in case any major war broke out.
The project is under the leadership of 53-year-old Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, credited for having developed U.S. tactics against Iraqi in the 2003 invasion.