Colonel Khodarenok: it is necessary to allocate drones to a separate branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Military personnel and commanders of regular units of UAV operators have asked Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov to create a new branch of the armed forces - unmanned aircraft. A similar decision has already been made in Kiev. Does Russia need a new branch of the armed forces, what problems it will help solve and how it can be created, the military observer of Gazeta argues.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
Russia is implementing a comprehensive re-equipment program for the army and navy, within the framework of which serial samples of modern weapons will be delivered to the troops. This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, holding a meeting on the development of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the conditions of its own.
The Russian Armed Forces will soon receive unmanned systems of various types, "from strategic and heavy to small and ultra-small. And these are scouts, attack complexes, patrol, counter-battery, sapper complexes, minesweepers and fighters," Putin said.
The role of drones
The role of unmanned aerial vehicles in modern armed conflicts is exceptionally great. Today, UAVs conduct reconnaissance, electronic warfare, target designation and correction of artillery fire, defeat ground (and already air) targets, and provide communications.
And this is not a complete list of tasks assigned to unmanned systems and complexes today. In combat operations, attack UAVs and barrage ammunition sometimes take over the functions of both artillery and tactical aviation, and act on enemy targets in the deep rear.
For example, the US expert community believes that the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter jet of the US Air Force will be the last manned fighter in the combat composition of the US Air Force. The next logical step would be to remove a person from control of all aircraft. Unmanned systems, especially autonomous ones, should become the new norm in all areas of warfare, experts in the United States believe. It is possible that in the armed conflicts of the future, manned aircraft will already be perceived as something similar to Budyonny's cavalry.
A new branch of the military
The question arises, isn't it time for us to back up technical innovations in this area with the necessary organizational and staff measures and form a new branch of the Armed Forces of Russia - unmanned aircraft (so far this is only one of the variants of its name)?
Not so long ago, a letter was sent to Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov on behalf of military personnel and commanders of regular units of UAV operators, private developers and manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles, the authors of which called for an urgent decision to make such a decision.
Fighters, commanders and developers write to the Russian Defense Minister like this:
In some units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, platoons/UAV companies are available by staff, but they are not a working unit structure, since they are not specialists, but just extras. That is, military personnel who do not perform their direct duties and are engaged in extraneous tasks unrelated to the activities of UAVs.
In many military formations that are located outside the zone of their own, these UAV units are fully staffed with conscripts. Many regular UAV units are not armed with the necessary equipment to carry out combat missions. For these reasons, higher commanders send trained fighters of UAV units who have been trained in special training centers to assault and other units to perform tasks unrelated to UAVs. This situation has an extremely negative impact on the combat capability of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as a whole."
Drone divisions
All the problems listed by the authors of the letter are solved almost immediately if a decision is made to create a new kind of troops (such as artillery, engineering troops, RCBZ troops, communications, etc., in this regard, nothing needs to be invented).
And the formation of any structure in the army and navy, we recall, begins with a "number survey" (a corporate expression of employees of organizational and mobilization departments and departments).
On September 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on increasing the staffing of the Russian Armed Forces to 2 million 389 thousand people, among them 1.5 million military personnel. That is, if a decision is made to form a new kind of troops, it is quite possible to "find" the necessary number.
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| Decree on increasing the staffing of the Russian Armed Forces. |
| Source: kremlin.ru |
The central office of this branch of the armed forces should include a chief (maybe a commander), deputies, a staff, a combat training department, a chief engineer service, and a department for military-technical cooperation with foreign countries. It is quite possible to give this kind of troops (as an extremely promising one) the functions of the customer.
The staff of operational-strategic and operational associations should include heads of unmanned aviation (like other chiefs of the armed forces) with appropriate departments. Then the issues of recruitment, training and use exclusively for their intended purpose will be resolved, as it should be in such cases (as, for example, for gunners).
The combat strength of unmanned aircraft should include regiments and brigades (it is possible that in the near future divisions, including the reserve of the Supreme High Command).
For example, as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said, the Russian Armed Forces will soon receive unmanned systems of various types, "from strategic and heavy to small and ultra-small."
But in this case, strategic unmanned aerial vehicles (and in terms of mass and dimensional characteristics, these designs are comparable to a fighter) should, at least, be part of UAV regiments. Again, they need a permanent airfield and an appropriate service structure - a separate battalion of airfield technical support. Without the existence of a branch of the armed forces (which solves a lot of issues on the combat use and maintenance of weapons), such units will be both non-functional and not combat-ready.
Exclude arbitrariness
As for the arbitrariness of some combined arms chiefs in relation to unmanned aviation units, then, perhaps, in some cases, it is necessary to practice the operational subordination of these structures to the appropriate commanders. Recall that, with operational subordination, combined arms chiefs do not have the right to use UAV units and parts for other purposes, change their organizational structure, reassign the leadership.
It is impossible not to mention some seemingly minor issues. For example, there are currently UAV companies in the divisions. This is somewhat reminiscent of the use of French armored forces in 1940. At that time, the French had much more tanks than the Germans, but they were evenly distributed among combined arms formations and as a result, nowhere, in any place, the French failed to create a decisive advantage over the enemy. That is, the most important principle of the combat use of troops (forces) was violated - massing. There will be a branch of the armed forces, and this problem will be solved.
And the name platoons and companies of UAVs in relation to unmanned aircraft still looks inappropriate. In this case, there should be links and squadrons. If a decision is made to create UAVs as a kind of military, then, presumably, they should have their own uniforms and emblems close to aviation ones.
And finally, the purely human factor. For example, today there are UAV companies in the divisions. A promising officer was selected for the position of commander of this unit - and then what? How will his career develop? There is nothing further than the company yet. Battalions, regiments and brigades of UAVs do not yet exist in nature. The commander of the UAV company, in fact, today the position is a dead end and unpromising. And an officer should clearly see his career perspective for many positions ahead. There is probably no need to remind you about the satchel and the marshal's baton. But this will be possible only with the creation of a branch of the armed forces.
At one time, we frankly overslept the unmanned revolution. Now, how not to oversleep the extremely necessary organizational and staff events.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976).
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
