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Russia

Russia Military Stats

chris.lockyer781

Author: chris.lockyer781

The dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union did not prevent political leaders to unify the Soviet Armed Forces. Defence Minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the last defence minister of the Soviet Union, was designated commander of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took the place of the Soviet Armed Forces. It was placed under the control of the Russian Defence Ministry which was created by Boris Yeltsin in 1992.

As of 2010, the Russian Armed Forces consisted of more than 1 million active troops and over 2 million reserves and former conscripts. Before the end of 2013, the Russian military reached roughly 80 percent of the compulsory manpower. Russia supposedly allocated just about $72 billion on weaponry in 2011. In fact, the Russian government is looking forward to step up military spending until the end of 2014.

Organisation

The Russian Federation’s Ministry of Defence sits as the administrative body of the Armed Forces. During the USSR’s tenure, it was the General Staff which supervised the Russian military organization. The role of the General Staff has been relegated to that of being strategic planner for the department. The Russian armed forces are composed of the ground forces, navy and air force. Independent arms of service include the airborne troops, strategic missile command and aerospace defence forces. Meanwhile, the Air Defence Troops, which used to be the Soviet Air Defence Forces, were integrated into the Air Force in 1998.

In 2010, ground forces including the Navy and Air Force were spread out among the Western, Eastern, Southern, and Central Military Districts. Said districts also make up four Joint Strategic Commands. The Navy is comprised of one flotilla and four fleets which are the Northern, Baltic, Black Sea, Pacific, and Caspian Flotilla.

Young men with ages from 18 to 27 are recruited into the armed forces by way of conscription for a term of one year service. The Armed Forces is a combination of contract and conscript forces. A reserve force is ready to reinforce permanent readiness forces if these are not capable of suppressing an armed conflict. In 2003, the Russian parliament approved a law that would have allowed the armed forces to use the services of foreign nationals (contract basis) by offering them Russian citizenship after several years of service. However, until 2010, foreigners could only serve in the military after securing Russian passports.

Defence spending continues to increase after it was announced that in 2005, military expenses reached $32.4 billion. According to approximation, overall Russian defence expenditure is now second to the United States. Former Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared four years ago that the defence budget was expected to go beyond $50 billion annually.

Key Reforms

The new defence minister (Anatoliy Serdyukov), who took over from Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, declared a massive structural reorganisation in 2009. One of the major reforms being undertaken is to reduce the strength of the armed forces to one million soldiers until 2016. It will also cut down the number of officers and downgrade the size of the military’s central command. Cadre strength formations will be abolished and restructured into reserve units. The army will be reorganised into a brigade system while the air force will become an air base system. There will be a mode of centralised officer training reducing the 65 military schools into 10 military training centres. Russia is planning to boost annual defence expenditures by 59 percent which is nearly $97 billion in 2015 from merely $61 billion in 2012.

The state defence organization was modified under the term of President Putin. Procurement of contemporary weaponry became the government’s priority in the aftermath of the Chechnya uprising. The two priority directions were assignments for nuclear deterrence forces and acquisition of traditional armaments which included guided missiles. The latest measures geared towards rebuilding of the Armed Forces were brought about by Russia's economic recovery. These were caused by the increase of oil and gas revenues together with the growth of the domestic market.

At present, the military is in the midst of a vital equipment upgrade. The government is expected to allot some $200 billion (what equals to about $400 billion for the development and production of military equipment until 2015. This is covered by the State Armament Program (2007 – 2015). This has been modified recently and extended up to 2020. With more than $650 billion apportioned to purchase of new hardware within the next decade, the objective is to achieve a growth of 30 percent for modern equipment in the army, navy and air force by 2015 and 70% percent by 2020. The Russian Defence Ministry plans to obtain 250 Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles, 800 combat aircraft, 1,200 helicopters, 44 submarines, 36 frigates, 28 corvettes, 18 cruisers, 24 destroyers, and six aircraft carriers.

Definitions

  • Air force > Combat aircraft: Number of fighter aircrafts (fixed wing aircrafts with combat capability).
  • Army > Attack helicopters: Number of attack helicopter (includes helicopters that have some attacking capabilities).
  • Army > Main battle tanks: Number of main battle tanks.
  • Battle-related deaths > Number of people: Battle-related deaths (number of people). Battle-related deaths are deaths in battle-related conflicts between warring parties in the conflict dyad (two conflict units that are parties to a conflict). Typically, battle-related deaths occur in warfare involving the armed forces of the warring parties. This includes traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities, and all kinds of bombardments of military units, cities, and villages, etc. The targets are usually the military itself and its installations or state institutions and state representatives, but there is often substantial collateral damage in the form of civilians being killed in crossfire, in indiscriminate bombings, etc. All deaths--military as well as civilian--incurred in such situations, are counted as battle-related deaths.
  • Budget: Annual defense budget in billion USD.
  • Global Peace Index: The Global Peace Index is comprised of 22 indicators in the three categories ongoing domestic or international conflicts; societal safety; and security and militarization. A low index value indicates a peaceful and safe country.
  • Military service age and obligation: This entry gives the required ages for voluntary or conscript military service and the length of service obligation.
  • Navy > Corvette warships: Number of corvettes.
  • Navy > Nuclear submarines: Number of nuclear submarines.
  • Navy > Submarines: Number of patrol boats (includes minesweepers).
  • Paramilitary personnel: Paramilitary.

    No date was available from the Wikipedia article, so we used the date of retrieval.

  • Personnel > Per capita: Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces. Per capita figures expressed per 1,000 population.
  • Service age and obligation: This entry gives the required ages for voluntary or conscript military service and the length of sevice obligation.
  • WMD > Nuclear: A description of the nation's situation with regards to the possession and manufacture of nuclear weapons
  • War deaths: Battle-related deaths are deaths in battle-related conflicts between warring parties in the conflict dyad (two conflict units that are parties to a conflict). Typically, battle-related deaths occur in warfare involving the armed forces of the warring parties. This includes traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities, and all kinds of bombardments of military units, cities, and villages, etc. The targets are usually the military itself and its installations or state institutions and state representatives, but there is often substantial collateral damage in the form of civilians being killed in crossfire, in indiscriminate bombings, etc. All deaths--military as well as civilian--incurred in such situations, are counted as battle-related deaths."
STAT AMOUNT DATE RANK HISTORY
Air force > Combat aircraft 1,900 2008 1st out of 1
Army > Attack helicopters 1,655 2008 1st out of 1
Army > Main battle tanks 22,710 2008 1st out of 1
Battle-related deaths > Number of people 359 2011 13th out of 31
Budget 93.76 US$ BN 2008 1st out of 1
Global Peace Index 3.06 2013 8th out of 162
Military service age and obligation 18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; service obligation is 1 year (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16, cadets classified as members of the armed forces 2013
Navy > Corvette warships 70 2008 1st out of 1
Navy > Nuclear submarines 33 2008 1st out of 1
Navy > Submarines 17 2008 1st out of 1
Paramilitary personnel 449,000 2013 1st out of 1
Personnel > Per capita 10.15 per 1,000 people 2005 28th out of 160
Service age and obligation 18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; service obligation - 1 year; reserve obligation to age 50; as of July 2008, a draft military strategy called for the draft to continue up to the year 2030 2008
WMD > Nuclear The Soviet nuclear weapon program began during World War II and culminated in a successful atomic bomb test in 1949. Russia, as the successor of the Soviet Union, is a nuclear weapon state party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). According to estimates by the Natural Resources Defense Council, by 1991, the Soviet Union had approximately 35,000 weapons in its stockpile, down from a peak in 1986 of approximately 45,000. Russia is estimated to now have around 20,000 nuclear weapons, although total stockpile size is uncertain because there is no accurate count of tactical nuclear weapons. However, in 2002 Russia declared it will eliminate its tactical nuclear weapons by the end of 2004. Under the START I Treaty, the Russian nuclear arsenal has been reduced to approximately 7,000 strategic warheads. The START II Treaty, which was declared non-binding in June 2002, would have reduced this number to between 3,000 and 3,500 strategic nuclear warheads. The Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (Treaty of Moscow) requires Russia to reduce the number of deployed strategic warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the end of 2012. Russia inherited a massive nuclear weapons production complex and large stocks of weapons grade fissile material. It is estimated that Russia has between 735 and 1,365 metric tons (t) of weapons grade-equivalent highly enriched uranium (HEU) and between 106 and 156 t of military-use plutonium. 2012
War deaths 339 2008 17th out of 195

SOURCES: Wikipedia: List of countries by level of military equipment (List); Uppsala Conflict Data Program, http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/UCDP/.; http://www.visionofhumanity.org/#/page/indexes/global-peace-index, Global Rankings. Vision of Humanity.; CIA World Factbooks 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013; Wikipedia: List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel (The list); World Development Indicators database; All CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 18 December 2008; The Nuclear Threat Initiative; Uppsala Conflict Data Program, http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/ucdp/.

Citation

Did you know

  • Russia ranked first for manpower fit for military service > males age 16-49 amongst Europe in 2013.

2

The dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union did not prevent political leaders to unify the Soviet Armed Forces. Defence Minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the last defence minister of the Soviet Union, was designated commander of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1991. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation took the place of the Soviet Armed Forces. It was placed under the control of the Russian Defence Ministry which was created by Boris Yeltsin in 1992.

As of 2010, the Russian Armed Forces consisted of more than 1 million active troops and over 2 million reserves and former conscripts. Before the end of 2013, the Russian military reached roughly 80 percent of the compulsory manpower. Russia supposedly allocated just about $72 billion on weaponry in 2011. In fact, the Russian government is looking forward to step up military spending until the end of 2014.

Organisation

The Russian Federation’s Ministry of Defence sits as the administrative body of the Armed Forces. During the USSR’s tenure, it was the General Staff which supervised the Russian military organization. The role of the General Staff has been relegated to that of being strategic planner for the department. The Russian armed forces are composed of the ground forces, navy and air force. Independent arms of service include the airborne troops, strategic missile command and aerospace defence forces. Meanwhile, the Air Defence Troops, which used to be the Soviet Air Defence Forces, were integrated into the Air Force in 1998.

In 2010, ground forces including the Navy and Air Force were spread out among the Western, Eastern, Southern, and Central Military Districts. Said districts also make up four Joint Strategic Commands. The Navy is comprised of one flotilla and four fleets which are the Northern, Baltic, Black Sea, Pacific, and Caspian Flotilla.

Young men with ages from 18 to 27 are recruited into the armed forces by way of conscription for a term of one year service. The Armed Forces is a combination of contract and conscript forces. A reserve force is ready to reinforce permanent readiness forces if these are not capable of suppressing an armed conflict. In 2003, the Russian parliament approved a law that would have allowed the armed forces to use the services of foreign nationals (contract basis) by offering them Russian citizenship after several years of service. However, until 2010, foreigners could only serve in the military after securing Russian passports.

Defence spending continues to increase after it was announced that in 2005, military expenses reached $32.4 billion. According to approximation, overall Russian defence expenditure is now second to the United States. Former Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declared four years ago that the defence budget was expected to go beyond $50 billion annually.

Key Reforms

The new defence minister (Anatoliy Serdyukov), who took over from Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, declared a massive structural reorganisation in 2009. One of the major reforms being undertaken is to reduce the strength of the armed forces to one million soldiers until 2016. It will also cut down the number of officers and downgrade the size of the military’s central command. Cadre strength formations will be abolished and restructured into reserve units. The army will be reorganised into a brigade system while the air force will become an air base system. There will be a mode of centralised officer training reducing the 65 military schools into 10 military training centres. Russia is planning to boost annual defence expenditures by 59 percent which is nearly $97 billion in 2015 from merely $61 billion in 2012.

The state defence organization was modified under the term of President Putin. Procurement of contemporary weaponry became the government’s priority in the aftermath of the Chechnya uprising. The two priority directions were assignments for nuclear deterrence forces and acquisition of traditional armaments which included guided missiles. The latest measures geared towards rebuilding of the Armed Forces were brought about by Russia's economic recovery. These were caused by the increase of oil and gas revenues together with the growth of the domestic market.

At present, the military is in the midst of a vital equipment upgrade. The government is expected to allot some $200 billion (what equals to about $400 billion for the development and production of military equipment until 2015. This is covered by the State Armament Program (2007 – 2015). This has been modified recently and extended up to 2020. With more than $650 billion apportioned to purchase of new hardware within the next decade, the objective is to achieve a growth of 30 percent for modern equipment in the army, navy and air force by 2015 and 70% percent by 2020. The Russian Defence Ministry plans to obtain 250 Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles, 800 combat aircraft, 1,200 helicopters, 44 submarines, 36 frigates, 28 corvettes, 18 cruisers, 24 destroyers, and six aircraft carriers.

Posted on 09 Apr 2014

chris.lockyer781

chris.lockyer781

396 Stat enthusiast

0

i am so glad to see the return of Russia and i hope the return is sustainable and will have continuity. thank you

Posted on 20 Aug 2010

ibsa ahmed

ibsa ahmed

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