Russians Admit Their Stuff Sucks

[ErnstBlofeld]

The Strategy Page:

The recent Russian decision to buy four Mistral amphibious assault ships from France is just the beginning. According to the Russian Defense Minister, Russia will seek more Western weapons and military equipment. Russia is planning to spend over $600 billion in the next decade to replace aging Cold War gear. The Defense Ministry insists that the Mistral deal is but the first of many. Russia already has a deal with Israel, to build a factory in Russia to build Israeli UAVs under license. This arrangement may be aborted because the Israelis apparently expect Russia to stop selling advanced weapons to Syria and Iran in return for Russo-Israeli cooperation in building weapons for Russian forces.
Russia is going to the West for military gear because Russian defense industries do not produce high quality stuff. This is a difficult admission to make, but it's what the Russian Defense Minister said (and a lot of Russian military personnel believe.) While Russia is still a major supplier of arms, they produce the same old Cold War era stuff. It's cheap and reliable. But for reequipping the Russian armed forces, the Russian brass want the best. That means going to the West. This was unthinkable during the Cold War, and for two decades thereafter. But now, times have changed.

[ErnstBlofeld]

Its nice to be vindicated.

[ErnstBlofeld]

85 percent of the Russian Army gear still uses the analog system

[ErnstBlofeld]

Russia’s efforts to transform its Soviet-legacy military into a smaller, lighter and more mobile force continue to be hampered by an ossified military leadership, discipline problems, limited funding and demographics.Even though the weaknesses of the 1990s are gone, Russia as a major power is gone.