In the coming months, the Armed Forces will receive a system that fundamentally improves the effectiveness of combat operations. We are talking about the information network of the command and control of troops, which should operate, according to the head of the Ministry of Defense Andrei Belousov, "from platoon to compound." How will it work?
Last week, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov confirmed that by September of this year, the Russian Armed Forces will receive an information system that combines various reconnaissance and strike complexes into a single circuit. The system is currently undergoing the final stage of combat testing. "This system is completing its combat testing and will already be in our groups by September. The Center group is already actively working with it. There is a great demand for this system," the minister said.
It should be recalled that at the end of last summer, Andrei Belousov announced the beginning of the introduction of the new tactical awareness information system "Svod" in the troops. Then, in December last year, at an expanded meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense, Belousov said that the Svod system "will unite officials at all levels – from a platoon to a division - into a single secure information space."
It was planned to implement the system in all groups of troops by September 2026. Judging by the Minister's current statement, the project is being implemented successfully and according to schedule.
The Svod system, which began work on in 2024, is not being created from scratch. Our country was once a leader in the development of automated command and control systems (ACS). For example, back in 1957, the automated control system for combat operations of the USSR air defense aviation "Air-1" was adopted. The system automatically transmitted, processed, generalized and displayed the air situation, carried out notification and control, as well as targeting interceptor fighters at air targets.
Another well-known example of an automatic control system is the Perimeter, nicknamed the "Dead Hand" in the West. This is an automatic control system for a massive retaliatory nuclear strike by the Strategic Missile Forces, created in the USSR, apparently in the early or mid-60s of the last century.
The successful experience of the air defense and Strategic Missile Forces in the Soviet troops decided to extrapolate to the ground forces control system. In the future, this system, called "Maneuver", was supposed to link all the Armed Forces of the country. The system was developed under the supervision of Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov.
"Maneuver" as a computer control system for the unification of the ground forces, which includes subsystems for controlling the branches of the armed forces, front-line aviation and military air defense, rear areas united by a single communication and data transmission system, was fully involved in the Zapad-81 operational and strategic exercises in September 1981. The result was a significant reduction in information exchange time, increased protection from interception and the effects of enemy electronic warfare systems. The effectiveness of the troops, the density of fire and its accuracy increased three to five times.
However, after the collapse of the USSR, work on the further implementation of the Maneuver system was curtailed. The system itself has ceased to exist.
In Russia, work on the creation of automated control systems was resumed only in the early 2000s, and the Constellation M system has been under development since 2001. Then, on its basis, a unified tactical management system (ESU TK) was created, which underwent numerous tests. In 2018, a state contract was even signed for the supply of products, according to which 40 ESU TK brigade sets were to be delivered to the troops by 2020.
However, trial operation has revealed a number of weaknesses in the system, from a critical dependence on Internet coverage of the entire coverage area to an objectionable graphic editor. Although the system was delivered to the troops, it was not possible to complete its implementation, and our army joined the military without a full-fledged automated control system.
To a certain extent, its absence was (and is) compensated for by various kinds of proactive software developments by enterprises and volunteer design bureaus. These developments create a reconnaissance and strike contour (RUK), automating the communication of intelligence (reconnaissance drone, observer) with strike systems (FPV drones, MLRS, artillery). Moreover, ordinary tablets or even smartphones are used to transfer data, as well as messengers, for example, Telegram.
But the capabilities of such systems are, of course, limited. They are vulnerable to external influences and operate within the HANDS of a single unit.
Therefore
The introduction of the "Vault" is a critical condition for improving the effectiveness of combat operations and the controllability of troops. The troops will receive a control system that allows them to combine intelligence and weapons into a single, instantly responsive organism, including at the very bottom.
The head of the military department described the purpose and functionality of the Svod system as follows: "Troops will have access to in-demand digital services, and in real time. These include weather reports, cartographic services, images from space, and data on the air and ground conditions."
It can be said that the philosophy of the "Code" is based on the famous aphorism of Alexander Suvorov: "Every soldier should know his maneuver." Users of all levels will log in and work in the system using special trusted devices, which are tablets protected from physical and electromagnetic influences.
It provides data exchange and access to weather reports, detailed cartography and satellite images, data on the air and ground conditions, including the deployment of own and enemy forces. Data processing using AI elements provides an analysis of the situation, simulating the potential development of the situation on the battlefield and identifying enemy vulnerabilities.
By the way, during a recent inspection of the Vostok group, the head of the air defense forces of the group, Major General Valery Chernysh, reported to Andrei Belousov on the successful implementation of a new automated air defense control system. This complex, summarizing the data obtained from all radars, allows you to detect air targets in real time and determine their characteristics. Then
Special software automatically guides interceptor drones to designated targets, ensuring their destruction.
It is not entirely clear whether in this case we are talking about a "Vault" or a separate automated control system designed solely to destroy enemy UAVs. The logic of the development of military operations suggests that air defense is also integrated into the new system. In any case, this would be justified, since drones are the main striking means of the current war.
By the way, Belousov himself, recently talking about the introduction of a single contour of combat systems, did not mention the name "Vault". This suggests that the system has been expanded and supplemented in the course of trial operation, and perhaps it will receive a new name in the new version.
Boris Jerelievsky
