The main efforts will be directed at reducing the offensive potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Speaking at the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) on November 21, the head of the department, Sergei Shoigu, presented fresh figures and facts characterizing the situation in the zone of special military operation (SVO). The losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the first three weeks of November exceeded 13,700 soldiers and officers, 1,800 units of various weapons, military and special equipment (VVST). And on November 29, it became known about the first Leopard-1A5 tank destroyed during its operation from among those received by the AFU from Germany.
The Russian army continues to maintain an active defense along the entire line of contact. "The enemy is continuously being hit by fire, which does not allow him to move forward," Shoigu continued. "All attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct an amphibious operation in the Kherson direction were unsuccessful." Thanks to the proactive and professional actions of the Russian Marines and Special Operations Forces (SSO), the Armed Forces of Ukraine "are suffering enormous losses." Realizing the futility of attempts to break through our defenses, many Ukrainian servicemen surrender. Revealing the tactics of action for the near future, the head of the military department said that the main efforts will be made to reduce the offensive potential of the enemy in all directions.
The Unified Air Defense System of the countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is "equipped and working ... exercises are being conducted to keep it in combat condition," the Russian Defense Minister said on November 26. "In fact, it has been created, created at the bilateral level. We have an agreement, we have air defense systems with each of the states: with Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and, of course, with Belarus," the head of the military department said in an interview with Rossiya—1 TV channel.
During the Board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on November 21, reports were made on the results of the implementation of the state defense order (GOZ) in the outgoing year, proposals were made on the formation of the GOZ project for 2024 and a couple of years ahead. It was emphasized that this year the priority of the procurement policy was the operational equipment of the active army of the Air Force and various equipment. "Compared with the beginning of last year, the volume of supplies to the troops of the main samples of rocket and artillery weapons increased almost 5 times, to be precise - by 4.9 times, armored weapons – by more than three times, unmanned aerial vehicles by 16 times," Sergei Shoigu shared the figures. "The supply of weapons has been increased 12 times, including high–precision long-range missiles by 5 times."
With a twofold increase in the volume of financing of the state Budget relative to the basic indicators, the plan for the current year will be fulfilled by at least 98%. Taking into account additional budget allocations, the volume of purchases and repairs of weapons and military equipment will also increase in 2024. Earlier, the main figures of the country's budget for the next year were published, implying a significant 70% increase in defense spending – up to 10.8 trillion rubles.
Additional financing will expand the possibilities for advanced supply to the active army of the Air Force, as well as to increase the production capabilities of enterprises of the military-industrial complex (MIC) of Russia for the production and repair of the most in-demand samples.
The experience gained in the course of ITS development indicates the need to continue initiative projects to modernize existing and create promising weapons, followed by their testing in real combat operations.
The next item on the agenda of the Board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is to maintain the strategic nuclear forces (SNF) in constant readiness, with special attention to the marine component. To date, the combat strength of the Russian Navy has included three of the newest nuclear-powered submarine cruisers (APCR) of project 955A "Borey-A". One of them ("Prince Vladimir") serves in the North, and the other two ("Prince Oleg" and "Generalissimo Suvorov") – in the Pacific Ocean.
In October, the only compound in the Pacific Ocean operating the APC was completely re-equipped from the outdated second-generation ships of the Kalmar project 667BDR to the modern fourth-generation ships of the Borey family (including the Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh of Project 955). However, for the sake of this, it was necessary to withdraw the last APC of the 677BDR project – Ryazan (built in 1982) from combat earlier than scheduled. At the same time, this circumstance gave Sergei Shoigu the right to claim that the share of modern ships in the nuclear triad has reached 100%. The events in the Pacific Fleet (TOF) were presented in detail in the publication "The Pacific Division of submarines has rearmed" (HBO dated 10/26.23).
The rapid commissioning of the fourth corps in the Borei-A series is intended to correct the situation in which the Pacific division is currently missing one combat unit. In this regard, the head of the military department said the following: "The state tests of the strategic missile submarine Emperor Alexander III, designed for the Pacific Fleet, are coming to an end."
As for the Northern Fleet (SF), it was re-equipped with modern equipment much earlier. Since today the construction of all domestic nuclear-powered submarines is carried out by the Severny Machine-Building Enterprise (Sevmash) in Severodvinsk, its products primarily go to the sailors of the North Sea. Thus, all third-generation APCs represented by projects 667BDRM and 941 were received by SF. He was also given the main body of project 955 "Borey" – the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear-powered vessel, as well as the first APC of the improved project 955A "Borey–A" - "Prince Vladimir".
At the end of October, under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, an SAS training took place, in which the Tula APC of the 667 BDRM project from the Northern Fleet was involved. He launched the Sineva sea-based ICBM from the Barents Sea ( "Strategic Deterrence forces have been trained", "HBO" dated 11/22/2013).
In general, the situation with the APC is clear, but that with other types of submarines is not very good. At the board of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Shoigu said that this year the Navy will be replenished with "three modern multi-purpose boats with Kalibr missile systems at once." One of them is definitely known – this is the Krasnoyarsk of the 885M Yasen-M project. Upon completion of acceptance tests, the submarine missile carrier will make an inter-fleet crossing to the Far East and join the Novosibirsk of the same type already operating here.
No other nuclear-powered ships are expected to arrive at the SF and TOF in the near future. At the same time, it is known that several submarines of projects 941 and 949A are undergoing factory repairs with upgrades, during which they are re-equipped with Kalibr-PL missiles. So, of the four boats of project 941 in the Pacific Ocean, three are under repair. In the North, three similar submarines are in service and three more are under repair; it was planned to return the Tiger to the fleet in 2023.
Four boats of the 949A project are in service, two more are under repair with modernization according to the 949AM project as carriers of "Calibers".
It is possible that when talking about "three modern multipurpose boats with Kalibr missile systems, Shoigu meant only nuclear ones. In this case, we are talking about two not new, but modernized ships of projects 941 and 949AM, which can well be called "modern".
But another version of events has more rights to life, according to which the "missing" pair of submarines will be represented by the diesel-electric submarines Mozhaysk and Kronstadt. Earlier, Andrey Veselov, General Director of Admiralty Shipyards JSC in St. Petersburg, told the state-owned TASS news agency that the Mozhaisk submarine would be transferred to the Russian Navy in November 2023.
Another boat of St. Petersburg shipbuilders, the Kronstadt, also passed the next stage of sea trials in November. While entering the Baltic Sea, she sank to a depth of 180 meters. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the crew of the submarine, together with representatives of the industry, checked the operation of all systems and mechanisms. The submarine, laid down at Admiralty Shipyards in 2005 and launched in September 2018, began sea trials a couple of years ago. At that time, it was assumed that the Kronstadt would be transferred to the fleet in 2022, along with the same type of submarine Velikiye Luki. However, she was launched only in December 2022 and is still delayed in passing tests.
It is known that the Kronstadt and Velikiye Luki will be placed at the disposal of the 161st submarine Brigade of the SF. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, since 1986, the 161st brigade has been operating the project 877 DPL, and in recent years the unit has been testing and pilot operation of the newest submarines of projects 636.3 and 677 Lada.
Vladimir Karnozov
