Russia revived its military prowess and showed its ＂chest muscles＂ and ＂fists＂ to the West.
Mass production of the new "Poplar-M" intercontinental missile, restarting the aircraft carrier, resuming the global strategic patrol interrupted by strategic bombers for 15 years, proposing to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, and testing the most powerful conventional bomb … In recent months, the Russian army has frequently "shown its sword" and showed its "military muscle" to the world, making the west, which is bent on compressing Russia’s strategic space, nervous.
Lack of funds once trapped hands and feet.
In the 1980s, former Soviet strategic bombers frequently carried out long-range patrol flights. At that time, Tu -95, Tu -22 and Tu -16 strategic bombers were mainly used to carry out global strategic patrol missions, and their patrol areas covered vast areas such as the Pacific Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, due to the economic depression and the reduction of military expenditure, the Russian army stopped its global strategic patrol activities in 1992.
Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the allocation for Russian military spending has been reduced year after year, and by 1999, the actual military expenditure was only $4.7 billion. Russian military personnel refer to this budget as the "death budget".
The funding problem has become the biggest bottleneck restricting Russian military reform and development. Due to the shortage of military expenditure, the Russian military’s equipment cost has been reduced again and again, and it can only repair the existing equipment and purchase a small amount of weapons, and the equipment situation has gone from bad to worse.
According to the statistics of the Russian Ministry of Defense at the end of 1999, the intact rate of aircraft and ships is only 50%, and the intact rate of helicopters and tanks is only 30%. Sergeyev, then Minister of National Defense, said frankly: "At least 30% of Russian weapons cannot be used on the battlefield."
Insufficient military spending has seriously affected the Russian military’s combat readiness and training activities. Due to the lack of fuel, planes lie prone at the airport, tanks are locked in the warehouse, and the training time of air force pilots is much lower than it should be, resulting in frequent flight accidents due to improper operation.
Russian troops rallied.
"Russian pilots have been on the ground for too long. It’s time for them to soar." President Putin said.
After Putin took office, he repeatedly said that he would increase military spending, so that the scale of the military budget should not be less than 3.5% of the gross national product. The improvement of Russian economy and the substantial increase of energy income have provided conditions for President Putin to fulfill his promise. In recent years, the Russian military budget has started to grow by leaps and bounds: from 411.5 billion rubles (US$ 1 is about 25.5 rubles) in 2004 to 820 billion rubles in 2007, the Russian military expenditure has increased by more than 20% every year.
The increasing military spending has made the Russian army frown slightly. With money, new weapons can be equipped. In 2006, Russia’s anti-ordering funds reached 236.7 billion rubles, an increase of 53.5 billion rubles compared with 2005. The Russian army greatly increased the procurement of advanced weapons and equipment such as high-precision weapons, efficient reconnaissance and radio electronic warfare complexes, and automated command systems. The "Baiyang -M" intercontinental ballistic missiles were deployed one after another, the first boat of the "God of the North Wind" class strategic nuclear submarine was launched, the new strategic missile "which can break through any anti-missile system" was successfully tested, and the S-400 air defense missile equipment unit, the strategic nuclear force of the Russian army and the combat readiness level of the air and space defense system were greatly improved.
The treatment of Russian soldiers is also improving. Since January 1, 2006, the salaries of Russian soldiers have increased by 15%. President Putin has also formulated the "15+15" plan for this purpose, stipulating that an additional 3 billion rubles will be allocated within two years to guarantee military housing.
With money, the equipment is no longer idle. The Russian army has increased the scale and quantity of military training, carried out long-range raids by strategic bombers, patrolled the ocean by naval formations, conducted missile tests by strategic missile units, and held joint military exercises with the armies of other countries from time to time.
Various reconnaissance activities of the Russian army resumed one after another. Zhikharev, deputy commander of Russian long-range aviation, said not long ago that Russian long-range aviation plans to conduct strategic patrol flights twice a week, covering the northeast Atlantic, Norwegian waters, the North Sea, the Sea of Japan and the area near the Arctic Circle. In fact, Russian bombers had carried out various reconnaissance flights many times before President Putin announced the resumption of strategic bomber patrols. According to reports, on August 8, two Tu -95MC bombers of the Russian Air Force went to Guam for strategic patrol and conducted reconnaissance and surveillance on US military bases and exercises.
Show "chest muscles" and "fists" to the west
Not long ago, a photo released by the media was quite eye-catching. In the photo, President Putin is fishing by the Yenisei River. The president didn’t wear a shirt, and the August sun shone on his strong chest muscles. An article on the website of The Times of England said, "Putin is showing his strength with bare arms." Indeed, President Putin showed not only hexapod muscles, but also clenched fists.
Take the global patrol of strategic bombers as an example. The Tu -160 and Tu -95 strategic bombers that perform tasks are all equipment of the last century. Although they are a little old, they are still quite easy to use. Tu -160 is an important means to destroy enemy deep targets. It can launch short-range attack missiles at subsonic low altitude, and can also carry out missile strikes and nuclear strikes at high altitude and supersonic speed. Tu -95 is equipped with advanced airborne electronic equipment, navigation system and new cruise missiles. At the same time, it is equipped with multifunctional navigation attack radar, optical aiming system, electronic jamming equipment and aerial refueling equipment, which has long-range strategic attack capability.
The west was also quite nervous about whether these bombers were cruising with live ammunition, and it was not until Russian military personnel officially said that the plane would fly with practice bombs that they breathed a sigh of relief.
On September 11th, the news that the Russian military successfully tested and exploded the most powerful conventional bomb in the world surprised the West again. It is reported that this super bomb, known as the "father of the bomb", contains 7.8 tons of new high explosive. Although the total amount of explosive is slightly less than that of the "mother of the bomb" of the US military, it is four times more powerful than its opponent because of the advanced formula, and the explosion radius reaches an astonishing 330 meters. From the TV screen, a huge crater appeared on the ground after the explosion of the "Father of Bombs", and the building near the test site was completely destroyed.
The Russian army frequently shows its "chest muscles" and "fists", which means more tit-for-tat with the West in addition to the recovery of military strength brought about by the enhanced economic strength. Taking Russia’s resumption of the global patrol of strategic bombers as an example, Colonel Alexander Drobyshevski, spokesman of the Russian Air Force, once said that Russia unilaterally stopped the long-range strategic patrol mission of strategic bombers to remote areas in 1992. However, other countries continue to carry out similar flights, which poses a certain threat to Russian national security.
For Russia, there are still many places where security is threatened. For example, despite Russia’s strong opposition and Russia’s initiative to propose alternatives, the United States insists on deploying anti-missile defense systems in the Czech Republic and Poland. Although the United States has repeatedly claimed that the deployment of anti-missile systems in Eastern Europe is aimed at countries such as Iran, its real intention should be known to everyone on earth. Since the United States can run to the door to deploy anti-missile systems, Russian strategic bombers can certainly fly out of the country to launch.
Although the west has a low-key response to the frequent "swords" of the Russian army, it has always been on high alert in secret. On September 6th, when the Russian-Tu -95 strategic bomber flew to the Atlantic Ocean to carry out strategic patrol mission, Britain dispatched four Tornado F-3 fighters and Norway dispatched two F-16 fighters to intercept it. In the future, Russian strategic bombers will cruise regularly, and it is not known whether there will be a misfire between the two sides.
When analyzing the reasons for the recent series of big moves by the Russian army, the British "Economist" magazine believes that the external reasons are secondary, and the main reason is that Putin and the Kremlin want to restore their inherent culture and rebuild Russia’s glory.
National strength is the foundation of military strength, and military strength is the display of national strength. From this perspective, the British "Economist" view is not unreasonable. (Author: Xiao Lan Editor: Zhao Ligen/Internship Editor: Gao Lili)
Editor: Cao Jin