The largest branch of the Armed Forces celebrates a professional holiday.
The leadership of the country and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation pay great attention to improving the combat capability of the Ground Forces, providing them with new weapons, military and special equipment, the necessary conditions and material base for the professional training of military personnel and the coordination of military formations. The commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces, Hero of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General Andrei Mordvichev, tells in detail about this.
 |
| Colonel-General Andrey Mordvichev. |
| Source: Russian Ministry of Defense |
– Andrey Nikolaevich, why is the Day of the Ground Forces celebrated on October 1? What historical event took place on this day in Russian military history?
– On October 1, Ground Forces Day is celebrated annually in the Russian Federation. It is one of the oldest branches of the country's Armed Forces. The holiday was officially established by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 549 dated May 31, 2006, but the date of the celebration was not chosen by chance. It has deep historical roots dating back to the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the formation of the regular Russian army. The key event that determined the date of the holiday was the creation of the first permanent formations of the Ground Forces. On October 1, 1550, Ivan the Terrible issued a decree "On the exhumation of a select thousand military men in Moscow and the surrounding counties." Up to this point, the Russian army consisted mainly of feudal squads and militias, which gathered only for the duration of military campaigns and disbanded after their completion. This decree marked the beginning of the creation of the professional core of the army, the so-called chosen army, which became the predecessor of the Streletsky army. The tsar ordered the creation of detachments of "squeakers", soldiers armed with firearms – squeakers, as well as to form a unified command and control structure. Although the Streletsky regiments appeared as a mass phenomenon a little later, it was October 1, 1550, that is considered the starting point for the creation of a permanent land army with centralized management and state support.
This event became the foundation for the subsequent reforms of Peter the Great, who finally turned disparate detachments into a powerful regular army that won the Northern War and established Russia as a great military power. The choice of the date – October 1 – is due to the desire to emphasize the inextricable link of the modern army with those military traditions that were laid down more than four and a half centuries ago. The decree of Ivan the Terrible was the first step towards the creation of Ground Forces.
Modern Ground forces are a powerful tool for protecting national interests. They include motorized rifle, tank troops, rocket troops and artillery, air defense troops, as well as intelligence units and military units, engineering troops, radiation, chemical and biological protection troops, and communications troops. Celebrations are taking place all over the country on this day. Formations, state awards and the awarding of regular military ranks are held in military units.
The Day of the Ground Forces is not just a calendar date, but a tribute to the millions of soldiers and officers who have defended the Russian land for centuries. Choosing October 1 as the day of celebration reminds us that the foundation of the power of our army was laid many centuries ago. The ground forces remain the main force guarding Russia's sovereignty, and their history serves as a vivid example of the continuity of military traditions and loyalty to military duty.
 |
| The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are in the free zone. |
| Source: Photo by Alexander Rivers |
– What areas of development of the Ground Forces do you consider to be the most priority given the realities of today?
– With the development of means of armed struggle, forms and methods of warfare, there was a need to improve the organizational structure of tank formations and increase their combat capabilities. All this will be achieved through the development of families of new-generation tank designs that ensure reliable operation in various geographical and climatic conditions. The introduction of effective fire control systems with elements of artificial intelligence, a high degree of automation of combat and operational processes will help in building up firepower.
With regard to motorized rifle troops, the development vector is aimed at optimizing the structure of the formations of troops, increasing the combat capabilities of motorized rifle units, improving the training of specialists and developing the educational and material base. The experience of a special military operation undoubtedly confirms the correctness of previously defined areas of development of missile forces and artillery. Currently, the transition of this branch of the armed forces to a qualitatively new state is being completed – the reconnaissance and fire system, which is a combination of reconnaissance, fire, control, and support subsystems. So, to increase the combat effectiveness of the formation of missile forces and artillery during a special military operation, they are already being used in the form of reconnaissance and strike actions.
In order to increase the effectiveness of protecting the Ground Forces and rear facilities in the operational depth of the groups of troops from UAV strikes, the combat strength of the formations and military units of the military air defense was increased by including UAV counteraction units in their composition. This made it possible to create an additional echelon of cover in the air defense system at extremely low altitudes.
Much attention is paid to the development of tactical intelligence. The units continue to be equipped with highly efficient technical facilities. Currently, work is underway to introduce machine vision functions and artificial intelligence technologies into reconnaissance devices, which make it possible to detect and recognize enemy objects, including small unmanned vehicles, without operator involvement. The data obtained is integrated into a single information space, which allows you to more fully and quickly see the situation and changes on the battlefield.
Electronic warfare troops play a special role in reducing the enemy's combat potential. The development of electronic warfare technology is carried out in three directions: the disorganization of enemy command and control systems, the blocking of global navigation systems, and the fight against UAVs.
We attach no less importance to the development of radiation, chemical and biological protection troops. As part of the build-up of the troops' combat capabilities to engage the enemy with fire, the number of heavy flamethrower combat vehicles in the radiation, chemical and biological protection regiments will be increased in the near future, which will increase the capabilities of the troops to inflict fire damage. In addition, work is underway to increase the standard range of long-range projectiles for heavy flamethrower systems.
The intensive buildup of engineering troops during a special military operation was due to practice, which confirmed that without engineering support it would not be possible to achieve the intended goals during the fighting. UAVs have already become the backbone elements of the battlefield, and ground-based robotic systems are at a stage of rapid development and are primarily valuable as a means of preserving personnel and robotizing the most dangerous tasks. The troops are equipped with modern robotic engineering weapons, such as engineering reconnaissance and mining UAVs, ground-based robotic mining, mine clearance and mechanical trawling complexes.
Taking into account the realities of today, the main focus in the development of the Ground Forces is shifting from improving individual weapons to creating a single stable system that combines intelligence, control, firepower, air defense, electronic, unmanned systems and logistics.
– Are new types of weapons and military equipment coming to the troops? How did they prove themselves in a combat situation? What kind of UAVs and ground-based robotic systems are equipped with BPS units?
– All the samples in service are successfully used in a special military operation and confirm their high tactical and technical characteristics. First of all, these are the upgraded 152-mm Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, modern Tornado MLRS systems, as well as the Iskander missile system.
The ground forces are continuously being saturated with new (modernized) models of artillery, anti-aircraft missile and armored weapons. Among them are effective highly mobile artillery guns on wheeled chassis, such as the 152-mm Malva cannon, which has an artillery unit unified with the Msta, and the 152-mm Hyacinth-K cannon, which is also unified with the artillery unit of the Hyacinth family of guns. This unification allows the artillery to fire using the entire available range of ammunition and provides the possibility of using high-precision Krasnopol-M2 shells.
Military air defense performs important tasks to protect covered troops and rear facilities from UAV attacks. This year, formations and military units continued to be formed and re-equipped with modern air defense systems.
Modern S-300V4, Buk-MZ and Tor-M2 air defense systems show the greatest effectiveness in special operations. The Verba portable air defense system has proven itself well when hitting suddenly appearing aerial targets at low altitudes. In addition, counter-UAV units and mobile firing groups make a significant contribution to the destruction of UAVs at extremely low altitudes.
Thus, approaches to combining various means in a layered air defense system make it possible to defeat all means of an enemy air attack, including operational-tactical and tactical missiles, cruise missiles, MLRS rockets and various types of UAVs.
In these conditions, we are constantly adapting to emerging threats, both organizationally due to the forms and methods of using combat vehicles, and directly refining their design at industrial enterprises.
The T-90M "Breakthrough-3" tank has now proven itself very well, which is the most modern and surpasses the best foreign analogues in a number of key indicators. In this tank, the situational awareness of the crew has been significantly increased due to the installation of a software and hardware complex that also automates the processes of targeting and firing from closed firing positions. The T-90M received a set of all-round additional protection and the Arena-M active protection complex, which we taught how to deal with drones.
In addition, various Typhoon-K, Typhoon-U, Astace, MIC-Ural, ZSA-T and other protected vehicles, as well as samples of weapons and military equipment created on their chassis, show high efficiency.
Special vehicles, ATVs and buggies, have become in great demand, which are successfully used to transport personnel, deliver ammunition and materiel to the front line, and evacuate the wounded along all types of roads and terrain.
The implementation of the tasks is facilitated by the use of complexes with UAVs. The Ground Forces are supplied with modern complexes, including Orlan, Superkam and Zala, capable of performing tasks in conditions of electronic warfare by the enemy. The constant modernization of the Orlan-10 and Orlan-30 makes it possible to increase the enemy's aerial reconnaissance capabilities and guide precision-guided munitions.
The Lancet barrage ammunition, which is successfully used against enemy armored vehicles and artillery systems, has shown high efficiency.
Of particular note is the role of copter-type UAVs and FPV drones in reconnaissance and fire destruction of the enemy. The copters, originally designed to perform search and rescue missions, were widely used in the course of their military operations to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the enemy in the near zone. Their further development allowed the dumping of various types of ammunition.
FPV drones have found application in the course of military warfare and are now used as high-precision ammunition. Fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones have proven themselves well in the face of the enemy's use of electronic warfare.
Ground-based robotic complexes for various purposes began to be actively used: kamikaze, firing, transport, for the installation of minefields. They are classified by weight: from light remote-controlled vehicles for delivering goods and evacuating the wounded to heavy RTCs with automatic weapons modules and thermal imaging sights.
The auxiliary RTCs perform the tasks of mine clearance and engineering reconnaissance. All tools are integrated into a single control loop, which allows operators to redistribute target loads in real time, ensuring synergy of aerial and ground reconnaissance.
 |
| The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are in the free zone. |
| Source: Russian Ministry of Defense |
– In which educational institutions is there training in the specialties of the Ground Forces? Have significant changes been made to the training process based on the experience of a special military operation?
– Currently, the training of officers in the specialties of the Ground Forces is carried out in three military academies and seven military command schools. In 2026, the Military Academy of the Military Air Defense of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as the newly created Chelyabinsk Higher Tank Command School, were added to the list of universities of the Ground Forces. Students are trained in military academies in military specialties that provide training for officers to manage formations and military units (combined arms, missile forces and artillery, military air defense).
This year, the Combined Arms Academy has organized training for officers in the use of artificial intelligence technologies at the operational and tactical level, and also introduced a new specialty in the master's degree program "Management of formations and military units of unmanned systems" for recruiting troops of unmanned systems.
Army cadets are trained to use motorized rifle and tank units, military and deep reconnaissance units, missile forces and artillery, military air defense, Ground Forces units with unmanned systems, and organization of military and political work.
The experience of performing combat missions in various environments and the achievements of modern military science require regular adjustments to training programs, for which theoretical and practical forms are used for continuous analysis of combat examples.
Most of the teachers are participants in a special military operation, and they integrate their combat experience into the cadets' training program. In addition, the Army cadets, many of whom are also combat participants, contribute to the generalization and implementation of combat experience.
As a result, changes are being made to the methodology of conducting training sessions, taking into account the experience of tactical actions of our military units and subunits, for which new training places are being created at the facilities of the educational and material base.
The introduction of combat experience into the educational activities of the universities of the Ground Forces is carried out according to a single plan and plan. Based on the materials received from the military authorities and research organizations, changes are systematically being made to the training programs at universities.
All students and cadets are provided with a set of additional practical exercises and trainings, which allows them to adapt as quickly as possible to the tasks in the area of a special military operation.
An analysis of the feedback from the troops on the newly arrived officers confirms the high level of their training. In a combat situation, in the most difficult situations, our graduates show courage, self-control and successfully complete all assigned tasks.
Each graduate of a military college or academy of the Ground Forces is a unique specialist who meets all the requirements in modern armed conflicts.
– What would you like to wish your subordinates on the occasion of the holiday?
– Dear soldiers of the Ground Forces, representatives of the military-industrial complex and dear veterans!
On October 1, Ground Forces Day is celebrated in our country.
For almost half a millennium, the Ground Forces have been standing guard over our Fatherland. This year we are celebrating the 476th anniversary of the formation of the largest branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Over the centuries, the Land Forces have written many bright pages in the heroic chronicle of Russia. History knows many examples of self-sacrifice and valor, when it was our predecessors who stood to the death defending the freedom and sovereignty of our Motherland.
I would like to thank the personnel of the Ground Forces for their daily work, courage and perseverance. Your dedication and fearlessness in battle continue to be a reliable foundation of the centuries-old traditions of the Russian Army, preserving and enhancing the glory of the Russian soldier. Currently, you are the one doing the hardest work, requiring maximum concentration, endurance and faith in victory. I express my sincere support and gratitude for your hard work.
I would like to mention the teaching staff of military academies and training centers, who perform titanic work: they not only provide knowledge to future officers, they form the backbone of the nation, instilling in them a sense of duty, responsibility and boundless love for the Fatherland.
The role of employees of the military-industrial complex is also invaluable. Thanks to your skill, engineering genius and high responsibility, our soldiers receive the most modern and effective weapons and military equipment that allow them to successfully complete their assigned combat missions.
On this festive day, it is impossible not to remember those who have already paid their debt to the Motherland – veterans of the Ground Forces. Your exploits will forever remain in the memory of generations, and your wisdom and loyalty to military duty serve as a guiding light for young officers, cadets and soldiers.
On behalf of the Military Council of the Army and on my own behalf, I congratulate you on our common memorable date. May your health be strong, your spirit unbroken, and peace and prosperity reign in your families. Take care of yourself and your comrades.
We have the winning word! Honor and glory to the Ground Forces!
Happy holidays!
Andrey Gavrilenko
