04
Military
RUSSIA INDIA REPORT
BOOKMARKS www.mil.ru/eng Ministry of Defence
http://en.fondsk.ru Strategic Culture Foundation online magazine
IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA, RUSSIA
http://warfare.ru Russian military analysis
THE ECONOMIC TIMES WEDNESDAY_MARCH 18_2009 www.rusarmy.com Russian Army technics
Army While Russia celebrated Army Day on February 23, the country’s military had mixed feelings about unprecedented reform
High time for radical reform
The 1.2 mn Russian armed
forces are to be overhauled for
the first time since the end of
World War II, but the
IVAN EGOROV IVAN EGOROV
economic crisis has thrown
proposed timescales into
doubt and the plans still carry
considerable controversy.
IVAN EGOROV
RIR
According to proposals out-
lined by Defence Minister
Anatoly Serdyukov, wide-
spread reform will include
major personnel cuts – such
as reducing the
355,000-strong officer corps
to just 150,000. Before Ser-
dyukov took the post in Feb-
ruary 2007, the cuts were
projected to begin after 2016.
On October 14 2008, Serdy-
ukov declared the ministry
had only three years to com-
plete the programme, but
President Medvedev recent-
ly admitted the reforms may
not be completed within this
time.
The number of Russian army
officers will match interna-
tional standards. “Global
experience shows that offic-
ers account for 7-20pc of
army personnel,” Serdyukov
said. The entire officer train-
ing system will also change.
“We now have 65 higher mil-
itary education establish-
ments, including 15 acade-
mies, four military universi-
ties, 46 military schools and
colleges. Instead, we want to
set up 10 comprehensive
higher education establish-
The history of the Russian warrant offi cers
From divisions to
ments,” the minister contin- brigades
ued. His plan is to establish It has been decided to dis-
New Suvorov-
three military research and The first Russian warrant offic- a regular army. In 1712, he in- the reserve started receiving with a higher or secondary ed- band divisions and set up bri-
educational centres, six mil- ers appeared in the mid-17th troduced the rank of warrant this rank. ucation to warrant officers for gades, with tactical units
itary academies and one mil- century. In 1649, Tsar Alex- officer as the first (junior) in- In 1914, thousands of re- their heroic exploits. having more personnel than
type generals in
itary university. The new ei Mikhailovich signed a de- fantry and cavalry officer rank. serve warrant officers, who The rank of warrant officer a regiment but less than a di-
centres will have territorial, cree on renaming colour-bear- Previously, this rank was were mobilised after the start was abolished in the Red Army vision. This is the most curi-
rather than armed service, ers, who were appointed from called “fendrik”, a distorted of World War I, usually com- in 1917. ous and drastic aspect of the
demand
affiliation. among the bravest, strongest version of the German rank manded platoons and were Warrant officer and sub-lieu- current military reform; cur-
and battle-hardened soldiers, “Fahnrich” derived from the appointed to other equal po- tenant ranks were reinstated rent tables of organisation
Warrant officers will as warrant officers. word “Fahne” also meaning sitions. on January 1, 1972. They are based on the divisional con-
IGOR PUZANOV,
Experience shows that the
have to go The Russian word “praporsh- “banner”. Before 1917, only those indi- a separate military personnel cept evolved during the 1945-
ARMY GENERAL AND STATE DUMA
Russian armed forces are
The Tsarist Army and White chik” meaning “warrant of- In 1811, warrant officers al- viduals graduating from military category having a similar sta- 1946 post-war reform, and
DEPUTY, FORMER COMMANDER OF THE
unable to overhaul them-
Army of the 1918-1922 Rus- ficer” is derived from the an- so started serving with artil- and warrant officer schools tus as junior officers. They are have remained virtually the
MOSCOW AND LENINGRAD MILITARY
selves.
sian Civil War had warrant cient Slavic word “prapor”, lery units. Starting with 1884, ahead of schedule and passing the closest assistants of jun- same since then.
DISTRICTS
Russia’s army, which num-
officer and sub-lieutenant which means a pennant on a they started promoting mili- specific exams could be pro- ior officers and also command “We now have a four-tier Defence capability is an af- bers a million officers and
positions, which were rein- flagstaff. tary personnel to warrant of- moted to warrant officers. In soldiers, sailors, sergeants, troop control system compris- fair of the state, rather than men, guards its own instal-
stated in the Soviet armed In the early 18th century, Pe- ficers only in wartime. Starting wartime, it was allowed to pro- petty officers and leading sea- ing military districts, armies, purely military business. The lations, garrisons and nu-
forces in 1971. Apart from ter the Great moved to create with 1886, junior officers of mote non-commissioned officer men of their respective units. divisions and regiments. We state cannot afford to imple- merous depots. I do not think
commanding military units, are switching over to a three- ment cheap defensive pro- we need such a bloated army.
warrant officers and sub- tier system that will be made grammes. It takes time and Let’s face facts: we cannot
lieutenants also head most up of military districts, tacti- money to train professional afford to maintain such a
warehouses, petroleum, fuel to four years, and provide Administration, also known ministration bodies would time, the number of lieuten- cal commands and brigades,” soldiers and to win wars. huge army even after a dec-
and lubricant depots, can- housing and jobs to dis- as the “Arbat Military Dis- remain the same. The Minis- ants and senior lieutenants Serdyukov said. We must preserve a profes- ade of sustained economic
teens, etc. charged officers. Serdyukov trict” or the “brain of the ter said it was intended to will swell from 50,000 to He believes this will help sional officer corps during growth.
Their status is lower than of- claims all officers will be army”, will be halved. “The eliminate the disparity be- 60,000. Moreover, it is in- eliminate multi-tier systems our reforms because it is ex-
fi cers, but this does not mean discharged in accordance Central Administration and tween the number of senior tended to reduce the number and ensure rapid troop con- tremely difficult to restore
they are less competent. Ex- with existing social security military administration and junior officers by 2012. of units ten-fold and to get trol. Moreover, each military this potential in the future.
VLADISLAV SHURYGIN ,
MILITARY JOURNALIST:
perience shows that 40-year- standards: “Naturally, we bodies now employing The Russian armed forces rid of undermanned units. district will receive one air- The Red Army sustained ter-
old warrant officers with will provide them with civil- 10,523 and 11,290 people, re- now have over 1,100 gener- Serdyukov said only perma- borne brigade subordinated rible losses during the 1941- The 2007 Russian armed
over 20 years' service often ian jobs and training.” spectively, will be pruned to als, which will be reduced to nent-readiness units and to district commanders. 1945 Great Patriotic War forces have changed signifi -
infl uence the judgement of 8,500 by 2012,” said Serdyu- 900 by 2012. There are also only those officers in charge The famous Tamanskaya and against Nazi Germany be- cantly since 1995, the time of
colonels and generals. The The army’s brain kov. He stressed General plans to reduce the number of specifi c units, rather than Kantemirovskaya divisions cause its officer corps had the fi rst Chechen campaign,
popularity of warrant offic- The General Staff and the Staff functions and those of of colonels, lieutenant-colo- warehouse attendants, stationed near Moscow will been decimated in the late and even since 2003. This
ers is proved by numerous Defence Ministry’s Central other central military ad- nels and majors. At the same would remain. be the fi rst to go. The Taman- 1930s and because young August, Russia’s special
army jokes, such as this one: skaya Division, which com- commanders require experi- forces and airborne troops
“Don’t try to convince a war- prises six regiments, two bat- ence for troop control. were the last to enter Geor-
rant officer that the earth is talions and logistics support gia because the high com-
round, or he will make you
Russian military will slash spending due to fi nancial crisis
units, has always tested new mand made mistakes. The
flatten it out.” The Russian weapons systems. North Caucasian Military
navy has 50,000 sub-lieu- The division will be disband-
MIKHAIL BARABANOV
District got around this
tenants; other armed servic- The Russian Defence Ministry velopment of weapons, 32 pc ed and converted into two or
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF MOSCOW DEFENCE
BRIEF MAGAZINE
oversight by deploying sev-
es and service branches have will have to reduce arms and (460 bn roubles) for pay to three motorised-rifle bri- eral regiments in the re-
90,000 warrant officers, military equipment purchases personnel and severance pay- gades of the Moscow Military The conversion from divi- gion.
10,000 of which are women. due to budget problems amidst ments to commissioned offic- District. The new brigades sions to brigades implies pre- Instead of across-the-board
This makes up for 140,000 the financial crisis. ers and NCOs to be laid off as will retain all honorary divi- paring the army for local con- cuts, the army needs states-
warrant officers and sub- In December last year, the Rus- part of military reforms, and 8 sional titles. fl icts, rather than large-scale men and generals like Alex-
lieutenants. Under the re- sian government instructed all pc (115 bn roubles) for military In 2009-2012, 23 combined operations against a power- ander Gorchakov and Alex-
form, all warrant officers ministries and departments to pensions. arms divisions will be dis- ful adversary. ander Suvorov, who under-
and sub-lieutenants will be cut unprotected spending by Spending on rearmament and banded and 12 motorised-ri- The new three-tier troop con- stood its requirements. Un-
replaced by professional ser- 15 pc in 2009. The Defence social payments would not be fl e brigades will be reorgan- trol system comprising of derstanding its requirements
geants serving on contract. Ministry will cut spending by affected, with the overall budg- ised. It is intended to estab- military districts, tactical is vital. The conversion of all
The government has already 8 pc, Deputy Defence Minister et to be reduced through cuts lish over 80 service branch commands and brigades was divisions into brigades is an
approved a federal target Lyubov Kudelina told journalists ANTON DENISOV_RIA-NOVOSTI to spending on construction, brigades on their basis, in- tested during the recent con- expensive and not always
programme for their train- recently. The KA-52 Alligator, a chopper for the new generation, has just repair and other items. cluding 40 combined arms flict with Georgia [over the feasible project.
ing. The Defence Ministry’s spend- gone into serial production However, Mikhail Barabanov, brigades, 20 missile and artil- breakaway province of South
In effect, the Defence Minis- ing this year had been planned an analyst with the Moscow- lery brigades, over 10 signal Ossetia]. The headquarters of
try will reinstate non-com- at 1,439 bn roubles ($39.72 based Center for Analysis of corps brigades, as well as ar- the North Caucasian Mili-
LEONID IVASHOV
COLONEL-GENERAL LEONID IVASHOV,
missioned officer positions bn), so 8 pc amounts to 115 bn planning to slash spending by ministry’s draft budget stipu- Strategies and Technologies, my-level air-defence and ra- tary District set up a special
VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF
that had existed in the Tsar- rubles. 125 bn roubles, with the right lated the allocation of 36 pc of said the ministry, which can- dio-electronic warfare bri- group for directly controlling GEOPOLITICAL SCIENCES AND FORMER
ist Army until the beginning An official from a socio-eco- to choose which areas to cut. its planned expenditures (as not cut spending on social pay- gades. The only remaining Russia’s regimental task forc-
HEAD OF THE RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINIS-
of World War I in 1914. But it nomic department at the De- Kudelina said in late February much as 520 bn roubles) for ments, would have to reduce machine-gun/artillery divi- es in South Ossetia.
TRY’S INTERNATIONAL MILITARY COOP-
ERATION DEPARTMENT
is unclear how to train so fence Ministry said it was that the initial wording of the the purchase, repair and de- weapon purchases. sion will be stationed in Rus- However, they criticise the
many NCOs in the next three sia’s Far East.
-
introduction of the brigade The Russian armed forces
system because it would al- have been overhauled with-
legedly be unwise to modify out respite since 1988. Two
the current system which has years ago, [then Defence
Proposed personnel reduc- Previous and future numbers Planned reductions in
been operating more or less Minister] Sergei Ivanov said
effectively for the last 60 the reforms were over. But
tions in the Russian army in formations and units number of offi cer positions
years. But Russia cannot re- now we can see that the new
main in the 20th century at a defence minister has started
time when sophisticated mil- implementing new re-
itary equipment, troop con- forms.
trol systems and telecommu- There are plans to discharge
nications networks are being over 50 pc of all officers. It
introduced. will be impossible to replace
them with civilians or con-
tract soldiers. This will spell
KONSTANTIN MAKIYENKO ,
trouble. The plans now being
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR
ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIES AND TECH-
implemented by Serdyukov
RATION MINISTRY OF DEFENSE RATION MINISTRY OF DEFENSE RATION MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
NOLOGIES do not solve the problem of
our military security.
Although Anatoly Serdyuk- Most importantly, the rear-
ov is the civilian defence mament programme has
minister, this does not mean failed. Modern, or combat-
that the military reform will ready, weapons systems ac-
SOURCE: THE RUSSIAN FEDE SOURCE: THE RUSSIAN FEDE SOURCE: THE RUSSIAN FEDE fail. On the contrary, this count for just 20 pc of all mil-
factor may facilitate success. itary equipment.
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