Then we began to count the tanks!
Periodically on the Internet or in print, the issue of quantity is debated. tanks in the ranks of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and now also in the Airborne Forces there are tanks, and they are also part of the Marine Corps of the Navy (as part of the Coastal Forces of the Navy and were, in fact, these were ordinary motorized rifle brigades, but assigned to the Navy because of the geography of its permanent dislocation). No, everyone knows that, along with long-term storage, Russia's tank supply is such that it will be numerically enough for us, and our allied friends, and our potential opponents. But as regards tanks in linear units, there are many different assessment options, and very often they refer to different estimates of the beginning of the 2010s, when they eliminated formations and units, converted divisions into brigades. But since then much water has flowed both in the rivers and from the stands. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation gradually reorganized the brigades, then proceeded to the formation of divisions.
Let us try to estimate how many machines we should have in parts, based on the approximate states and their total number. The exact organizational structures for each part or compound in our country are secret, we have not been de facto in the CFE Treaty for a long time, so there is no exact information on this. But the typical OSHS are more or less known, so you can roughly estimate what we do.
To begin with, we will open the Military Balance 2018 reference book, published by Stockholm SIPRI. Honestly, this reference book even in the description of NATO armies sins with errors and weirdness, but when it comes to Russia, it seems that, even though the Vikings have become historyas berserks, but the art of consuming fly-agaric in Sweden is not forgotten. Although the Swedes have never-ending searches for submarines of the Russian Navy, or submersibles of the movement of submarines, even some bottom-tracked vehicles (there was something like this in the Swedish media at the time) also suggest these thoughts - obviously it doesn’t do without fly agarics.
According to this reference book, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have 2780 tanks in combat, but the fact that there is inaccurate information can be seen from the tanks and how many. For example, T-90 and T-90А are 350 machines, and in fact there are fewer of them in the troops, and T-90, apart from a few machines in combat training groups of formations and trainings, mostly stand on central base reserves (in SIPRI this is noted, but the total figure in 550 machines is not true). T-72B3 and T-72B3 UBH - total 880 machines, in their opinion, although this upgrade comes with UVZ in large quantities already from 2011, in some years and up to 300 machines came, and 200 a year passed, and all in any way they have in the reference book up to 1000 even if it’s not enough, although there it has long been more than 1000 in fact. However, a year or two ago they had everything in the directory even worse, for example, there were T-55 and T-62 in reserve. Which have long been removed from service (although, of course, the reserve bases are still there, from where the same T-62 and T-62M fall into Syria).
Some time ago, the American Insitute for the Study of War (ISW), “The Institute for the Study of War,” released a report on the Military Military Forure - Ground Forces Order of Battle. From there we will take information about the number (for about the second half of last year) and the location of the armed forces of the Armed Forces of the RF Armed Forces. We are not particularly interested in dislocation, but the connections themselves - yes. It should be understood that this directory is inaccurate, for example, in a number of divisions, fourth battle regiments (combined-arms - tank and motorized rifle) regiments were already formed, and there they are not indicated, there is something not there at all, but this is not so and important. When calculating, we take it as the basis that in separate motorized rifle brigades we have a tank battalion 41 tank - 4 companies for 3 platoon for 3 tank plus a company tank in each and plus a battalion tank. And in tank battalions of tank divisions of divisions and separate tank brigades - 31 tank, in tank battalions of motorized rifle regiments of divisions we take 41-tank state as a basis (although variants are possible) Although there is information that they switched to 42-tank and 32-tank States - another tank in the management of the battalion. In a tank brigade of tank battalions 3, motorized rifle -1, in a motorized rifle brigade, on the contrary, in a tank regiment also 3 tank and motorized rifle battalion, in a motorized rifle brigade on the contrary. The motorized rifle division has a 3 motorized rifle division and a tank regiment (we are talking only about combined-arms regiments, artillery and anti-aircraft missiles, and the rest of the economy is not interested in us), the tank division is vice versa. This, of course, about ordinary states, there are also so-called heavy ones. Accordingly, tanks in a motorized rifle brigade or regiment go 41 (42?), In a tank 94 (97?), As well as in a tank regiment, in a motorized rifle division - 217 (223?) Of a tank, in a tank 323 (333) of a tank. It is clear that the division command also has tanks, but we will not consider them. Of course, this is a full-fledged division that was fully formed until the end, but in reality there is somewhere a 3 regiment, somewhere a 3 regiment and a tank battalion, but in the process of formation there is already a regiment, and somewhere, maybe even a 2 regiment. But this, of course, is a temporary moment, and we do not take it into account.
So, according to the aforementioned report, there are now 12 armies (1 of which are tank troops) and 4 army corps in the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Coastal Forces of the Navy. In the Western Military District (ZVO) of this number 3 army (1 GVTA, 20 Gu. OA, 6 OA) and 1 Corps (11 Gu. AK in the Kaliningrad defense region), in the joint operational command of the North (North fleet) includes 14 AK on the Kola Peninsula, in the Southern Military District (YuVO) - 3 army (8 GV.OA, 58 OA, 49 OA) and 1 Corps (22 AK in the Crimea), in the Central Military District (CVO) - 2 Army (2 Gu. OA, 41 OA), in the Eastern Military District (BBO) - 4 Army (29 OA, 35 OA, 36 OA, 5 OA) and 1 Corps (68 AK on Sakhalin and Kuriles). The 1 Guards Tank Army 4-I Guards Tank and 2-I Guards Motorized Rifle Divisions, 6-I separate tank brigade, 27-I Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade (various units and units of the army and corps are not counted), this way I’m done. 675) tanks subject to the formation of the fourth regiments in 695 guards and 4 guards, but so far they are only being formed. The 2 Guards Combined Arms Army - 20 Guards. MSD and 144 MSD, as a result, 3 (434) tanks come out, provided that the divisions are completed, but it is known that so far the fourth pair of regiments is only being formed there in both divisions. However, it is possible that 446 Guards. The Moscow Armed Forces will have not one tank regiment, but two - on the basis of a separate tank battalion, a tank regiment is being formed, and meanwhile, the 144-th TP in the division already exists. That is, the division will be something like 228 MSD
In the northern and northwestern parts of the Western Military District, tanks are much worse, in 6 OA there are only 2 motorized rifle brigades (138 and 25 men’s brigades), so there are only 82 (84) tanks per army, and the army generally small. On the other hand, in potential adversaries there is only a Baltic superpower with three NATO combined battalions inside and Finland. True, judging by everything, when forming the divisions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation re-approach the issue in such a way that, as a result, each army will have at least one msd, so some similar decision in this case is not excluded in the coming years. In the Kaliningrad 11th Guards AK there are only two motorized rifle brigades (Omsbr), 7 Guards and 79 Guards, total 82 (84) tanks. There are no tanks in the Baltic Fleet’s 336th Guards brigade located nearby, but probably in the next couple of years there will be a company and then a battalion - a similar process is already underway in the Pacific navy. So far, no one is forming any divisions there, but such a solution, as it seems, suggests itself in the future. However, soon only a fairy tale from the rostrum affects, and the matter is usually done much more slowly. In total, we have 1275 (1305) tanks in the ranks of linear formations as part of the ZVO, although in reality there are fewer of them so far. If we add the 14th AK from the USS “Sever” there, then for sure there is a tank battalion of 200 men’s brigade there, maybe it will or will be in the 80 Arctic brigade, there are no tanks in 61 brigade of the Marine Corps, but they will definitely appear soon. For now, we count 82 (84 tanks).
In the Central Military District, according to the same report, the 2 Gu. OA is now a 3 motorized rifle brigade, numbered 21, 15 and 30. But they are all different. 21 ombsbr from Totsky, it seems, is the only one in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (perhaps not), formed according to the so-called 2 (2) tank goes to the "heavy state" with 82 tank and 84 motorized rifle battalions, but the 15 ombsbr is peacekeeping, the tank battalion seems to be missing in it, and before 30 omsbr, which was newly formed, was replaced after the start of launching Ukraine from this army of units and formations (which became the basis for the formation of the 144 MSD) - there is no information on its composition, except that it has a Syrian reconnaissance battalion following the Syrian tracks, seemingly planted on various light machines, starting with "Tigrov-M" and ending with the "Patriots". Probably, the tank battalion is still there. In general, we conditionally write for the army 123 (124) tank. According to the same document, the recently formed 90 Guards Tank Division is part of the 41 OA (previously there was information that it remained a district subordination, who is right here is unknown), along with 74 guards. ombsbr, xnumx gv. Omsbr and 35 mountain brigade from Kyzyl in Tuva. There are no tanks for the Tuvan "highlanders", they do not need them, but all others have them. There also includes 55 military base in Tajikistan, in which now there are three motorized rifle regiments, it seems, tanks are everywhere. In sum, there is a fairly strong fist in the 201 (534) tank, if everything is correct, of course. Total for CVO is obtained 543 (657) machines.
In VVO, despite 4 armies and corps, divisions, namely, they are the most "rich" in heavy armored vehicles, have not yet been formed, but only so far. The armies themselves are far from being all deployed, in a number of them combined arms brigade, God forbid, 1-2, and with deployed brigades and army regiments. In general, this situation is clear - at the moment China is not an enemy to us, but a friend and ally, and our potential enemies are increasingly in Europe, in NATO. Total in all these 4 armies and 1 corps there are 10 motorized rifle brigades, 1 tank brigade and 18 machine-gun artillery division in the Kuril Islands (fortified, but tank units are also in it, where without them), that is, approximately 600 tanks. In addition, in the Pacific Fleet, there are no tanks in the 155 brigade of the marine corps, but soon there will be a company in the Marine brigade of the 40 brigade, but it will be reorganized into a battalion, we will also calculate it.
In the Southern Military District, the 58 OA now has 42 Guards. MSD, 19 and 136 ombsbr, 4 Guards military base in South Ossetia. 42 Evpatoria Division is now fully deployed, but if you believe the researchers from the United States, there is no tank regiment in it or it is deployed. In total, 340 (350) machines are obtained. In 49 OA, entire 2 combined arms brigade, 205, and 34 are mountain, in which there are no tanks. Much more interesting is the newly formed 8 Gu. The OA, formed with a clear target of possible coercion to the world, of various pushing Cossacks from the territory adjacent to the Donbas republics, who adore discourse on how they "restrain Russian fascism", not forgetting, of course, shout out Nazi slogans and "greet the Sun" with a characteristic gesture. It has a 150 Idritsko-Berlin MRS, which includes the 2 tank and 2 motorized rifle regiments, which are formed by, as claimed, heavy states. That is, in it, both tanks and artillery are much more, not only in conventional artillery systems, but even in td. If we assume (and this is most likely the way it is) that the states of this division repeat the OHS of the so-called Ogarkov heavy vehicles, successfully dispersed under Gorbachev, then the tanks there eventually, upon completion of the formation, may be under 400. In those divisions in the battalions there were 4 companies (MSN 3 MSR and 1 tr, in TB, on the contrary), and all the tank companies were 13-tank, and the battalions even in the tank regiments had 40 tanks. Moreover, at the battalion level there were 122-mm ACS 2С1 and many other useful things, and in the regiments artillery served 152mm 2С3, which in ordinary divisions were artillery regiment. Also in the same army includes 20 Guards. Omsbr from Volgograd (if the Americans are not mistaken). In the Crimean 22 AK, a combined-arms brigade with tanks is still one - under the 126 number from Pereval'ny, called the coastal defense brigade, but in fact it is a motorized rifle, just naval submission. This is also 41 (42 tank). Total for the Southern Military District, 860-876 tanks are released, if all units are completed, and the estimates for the 150 divisions more or less coincide with reality.
Total for all districts is obtained 3475-3530 machines in service. In reality, there are fewer of them, for the above reasons - not all the units have been formed, on the other hand, training centers and military schools, where more than one hundred tanks are, we also do not consider, like many other things. And, of course, tanks on the bases of storage and repair of military equipment (BHiRVT), that is, bases for the formation of regiments and brigades of the first mobilization line, are not taken into account (everything else is already formed on the basis of equipment from central reserve bases). These BHiRVTs are now being reformed into the so-called MOMs (development support centers), in fact, this is the same base, but with a training and other base to support the activities of permanent reserve reservists, which has recently been officially legalized, and this is a very good and long overdue solution. We do not take into account the bases of the double-based system, where the sets of equipment are stored for the connections being transferred lightly from the depth of the country of the connections, and the central bases of the reserve themselves - after all, we considered the combat vehicles. So in total, about 15 of thousands of machines would come out, perhaps less than 12-13 of thousands.
At the same time, it must be said that in the near future the formation of divisions will be continued. Thus, according to media reports, in the Southern Military District, the formation of three masters at once (perhaps less, nevertheless) based on the 19, 20 and 136 rsbbr will be launched. There were also reports about the creation of a “coastal defense” division in the North, perhaps even two - on the Kola Peninsula and on Chukotka. The formation of divisions begins beyond the Urals, so, in the 5 of the Red Banner OA in Primorye, the 127 of the Red Banner MSD is formed. Each MSD means an increase in the order of 176 or more tanks (this is if it is formed on the basis of one motorized rifle brigade, if two - then the increase will be less significant). It is clear that with such a deployment of parts of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation it was ready to abandon the previously announced thesis about getting rid of tank assortments and intensively return the T-80BV tanks to repair and minimally upgrade while launching the modernization program of their fleet in T-80BVM. Tanks are needed a lot, and still need a lot of personnel, especially officers. And with the release of young officers there are problems - a truly normal graduation is only expected, before that officers who graduated from a small number of schools were graduated. Of course, this is not the situation before the Great Patriotic War, when 30 mechanized corps were being formed, and the shortage before the war in them reached tens of thousands of posts. But we are not in a situation like before the war. Although it is unequivocal that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are gradually unfolding, but this is not a mobilization character. The situation in the world has simply changed - priorities, goals, objectives, and requirements for structure and size, including the tank park, have changed.
In addition, we forgot about the Airborne Forces, and after all, there were formed 6 tank companies (in each of the 2 airborne assault divisions and 4 airborne assault brigades), the companies in the divisions are deployed in battalions, in brigades, like, while they remain companies or then also become a battalion. This is more than a hundred tanks.
Is it a lot or a little - more than three thousand tanks in the line-up formation? This is a lot, considering that even the US has all 10 tank brigades with 87 tanks each, 3 of the same brigade in the National Guard and several hundred (maximum) tanks in the ILC. And there is nothing to say about the various European "great powers": with the exception of the Poles, as well as the Greeks and Turks (whose almost completely outdated tank fleets are directed at each other mostly), the European powers are lucky to have two hundred vehicles in the ranks. France has 200 machines, Germany has 225 (there is a plan to deploy to 328), Britain has less than 200 and so on. But there are also parks for 32-40 machines, the absolute majority of such members in NATO. This is not related to the real combat readiness of these units, formations and armies in these countries. As well as comparing the technical level of all the machines that are in service in the Armed Forces or NATO countries. But this is no longer the subject of this material.
Let us try to estimate how many machines we should have in parts, based on the approximate states and their total number. The exact organizational structures for each part or compound in our country are secret, we have not been de facto in the CFE Treaty for a long time, so there is no exact information on this. But the typical OSHS are more or less known, so you can roughly estimate what we do.
To begin with, we will open the Military Balance 2018 reference book, published by Stockholm SIPRI. Honestly, this reference book even in the description of NATO armies sins with errors and weirdness, but when it comes to Russia, it seems that, even though the Vikings have become historyas berserks, but the art of consuming fly-agaric in Sweden is not forgotten. Although the Swedes have never-ending searches for submarines of the Russian Navy, or submersibles of the movement of submarines, even some bottom-tracked vehicles (there was something like this in the Swedish media at the time) also suggest these thoughts - obviously it doesn’t do without fly agarics.
According to this reference book, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have 2780 tanks in combat, but the fact that there is inaccurate information can be seen from the tanks and how many. For example, T-90 and T-90А are 350 machines, and in fact there are fewer of them in the troops, and T-90, apart from a few machines in combat training groups of formations and trainings, mostly stand on central base reserves (in SIPRI this is noted, but the total figure in 550 machines is not true). T-72B3 and T-72B3 UBH - total 880 machines, in their opinion, although this upgrade comes with UVZ in large quantities already from 2011, in some years and up to 300 machines came, and 200 a year passed, and all in any way they have in the reference book up to 1000 even if it’s not enough, although there it has long been more than 1000 in fact. However, a year or two ago they had everything in the directory even worse, for example, there were T-55 and T-62 in reserve. Which have long been removed from service (although, of course, the reserve bases are still there, from where the same T-62 and T-62M fall into Syria).
Some time ago, the American Insitute for the Study of War (ISW), “The Institute for the Study of War,” released a report on the Military Military Forure - Ground Forces Order of Battle. From there we will take information about the number (for about the second half of last year) and the location of the armed forces of the Armed Forces of the RF Armed Forces. We are not particularly interested in dislocation, but the connections themselves - yes. It should be understood that this directory is inaccurate, for example, in a number of divisions, fourth battle regiments (combined-arms - tank and motorized rifle) regiments were already formed, and there they are not indicated, there is something not there at all, but this is not so and important. When calculating, we take it as the basis that in separate motorized rifle brigades we have a tank battalion 41 tank - 4 companies for 3 platoon for 3 tank plus a company tank in each and plus a battalion tank. And in tank battalions of tank divisions of divisions and separate tank brigades - 31 tank, in tank battalions of motorized rifle regiments of divisions we take 41-tank state as a basis (although variants are possible) Although there is information that they switched to 42-tank and 32-tank States - another tank in the management of the battalion. In a tank brigade of tank battalions 3, motorized rifle -1, in a motorized rifle brigade, on the contrary, in a tank regiment also 3 tank and motorized rifle battalion, in a motorized rifle brigade on the contrary. The motorized rifle division has a 3 motorized rifle division and a tank regiment (we are talking only about combined-arms regiments, artillery and anti-aircraft missiles, and the rest of the economy is not interested in us), the tank division is vice versa. This, of course, about ordinary states, there are also so-called heavy ones. Accordingly, tanks in a motorized rifle brigade or regiment go 41 (42?), In a tank 94 (97?), As well as in a tank regiment, in a motorized rifle division - 217 (223?) Of a tank, in a tank 323 (333) of a tank. It is clear that the division command also has tanks, but we will not consider them. Of course, this is a full-fledged division that was fully formed until the end, but in reality there is somewhere a 3 regiment, somewhere a 3 regiment and a tank battalion, but in the process of formation there is already a regiment, and somewhere, maybe even a 2 regiment. But this, of course, is a temporary moment, and we do not take it into account.
So, according to the aforementioned report, there are now 12 armies (1 of which are tank troops) and 4 army corps in the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Coastal Forces of the Navy. In the Western Military District (ZVO) of this number 3 army (1 GVTA, 20 Gu. OA, 6 OA) and 1 Corps (11 Gu. AK in the Kaliningrad defense region), in the joint operational command of the North (North fleet) includes 14 AK on the Kola Peninsula, in the Southern Military District (YuVO) - 3 army (8 GV.OA, 58 OA, 49 OA) and 1 Corps (22 AK in the Crimea), in the Central Military District (CVO) - 2 Army (2 Gu. OA, 41 OA), in the Eastern Military District (BBO) - 4 Army (29 OA, 35 OA, 36 OA, 5 OA) and 1 Corps (68 AK on Sakhalin and Kuriles). The 1 Guards Tank Army 4-I Guards Tank and 2-I Guards Motorized Rifle Divisions, 6-I separate tank brigade, 27-I Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade (various units and units of the army and corps are not counted), this way I’m done. 675) tanks subject to the formation of the fourth regiments in 695 guards and 4 guards, but so far they are only being formed. The 2 Guards Combined Arms Army - 20 Guards. MSD and 144 MSD, as a result, 3 (434) tanks come out, provided that the divisions are completed, but it is known that so far the fourth pair of regiments is only being formed there in both divisions. However, it is possible that 446 Guards. The Moscow Armed Forces will have not one tank regiment, but two - on the basis of a separate tank battalion, a tank regiment is being formed, and meanwhile, the 144-th TP in the division already exists. That is, the division will be something like 228 MSD
In the northern and northwestern parts of the Western Military District, tanks are much worse, in 6 OA there are only 2 motorized rifle brigades (138 and 25 men’s brigades), so there are only 82 (84) tanks per army, and the army generally small. On the other hand, in potential adversaries there is only a Baltic superpower with three NATO combined battalions inside and Finland. True, judging by everything, when forming the divisions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation re-approach the issue in such a way that, as a result, each army will have at least one msd, so some similar decision in this case is not excluded in the coming years. In the Kaliningrad 11th Guards AK there are only two motorized rifle brigades (Omsbr), 7 Guards and 79 Guards, total 82 (84) tanks. There are no tanks in the Baltic Fleet’s 336th Guards brigade located nearby, but probably in the next couple of years there will be a company and then a battalion - a similar process is already underway in the Pacific navy. So far, no one is forming any divisions there, but such a solution, as it seems, suggests itself in the future. However, soon only a fairy tale from the rostrum affects, and the matter is usually done much more slowly. In total, we have 1275 (1305) tanks in the ranks of linear formations as part of the ZVO, although in reality there are fewer of them so far. If we add the 14th AK from the USS “Sever” there, then for sure there is a tank battalion of 200 men’s brigade there, maybe it will or will be in the 80 Arctic brigade, there are no tanks in 61 brigade of the Marine Corps, but they will definitely appear soon. For now, we count 82 (84 tanks).
In the Central Military District, according to the same report, the 2 Gu. OA is now a 3 motorized rifle brigade, numbered 21, 15 and 30. But they are all different. 21 ombsbr from Totsky, it seems, is the only one in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (perhaps not), formed according to the so-called 2 (2) tank goes to the "heavy state" with 82 tank and 84 motorized rifle battalions, but the 15 ombsbr is peacekeeping, the tank battalion seems to be missing in it, and before 30 omsbr, which was newly formed, was replaced after the start of launching Ukraine from this army of units and formations (which became the basis for the formation of the 144 MSD) - there is no information on its composition, except that it has a Syrian reconnaissance battalion following the Syrian tracks, seemingly planted on various light machines, starting with "Tigrov-M" and ending with the "Patriots". Probably, the tank battalion is still there. In general, we conditionally write for the army 123 (124) tank. According to the same document, the recently formed 90 Guards Tank Division is part of the 41 OA (previously there was information that it remained a district subordination, who is right here is unknown), along with 74 guards. ombsbr, xnumx gv. Omsbr and 35 mountain brigade from Kyzyl in Tuva. There are no tanks for the Tuvan "highlanders", they do not need them, but all others have them. There also includes 55 military base in Tajikistan, in which now there are three motorized rifle regiments, it seems, tanks are everywhere. In sum, there is a fairly strong fist in the 201 (534) tank, if everything is correct, of course. Total for CVO is obtained 543 (657) machines.
In VVO, despite 4 armies and corps, divisions, namely, they are the most "rich" in heavy armored vehicles, have not yet been formed, but only so far. The armies themselves are far from being all deployed, in a number of them combined arms brigade, God forbid, 1-2, and with deployed brigades and army regiments. In general, this situation is clear - at the moment China is not an enemy to us, but a friend and ally, and our potential enemies are increasingly in Europe, in NATO. Total in all these 4 armies and 1 corps there are 10 motorized rifle brigades, 1 tank brigade and 18 machine-gun artillery division in the Kuril Islands (fortified, but tank units are also in it, where without them), that is, approximately 600 tanks. In addition, in the Pacific Fleet, there are no tanks in the 155 brigade of the marine corps, but soon there will be a company in the Marine brigade of the 40 brigade, but it will be reorganized into a battalion, we will also calculate it.
In the Southern Military District, the 58 OA now has 42 Guards. MSD, 19 and 136 ombsbr, 4 Guards military base in South Ossetia. 42 Evpatoria Division is now fully deployed, but if you believe the researchers from the United States, there is no tank regiment in it or it is deployed. In total, 340 (350) machines are obtained. In 49 OA, entire 2 combined arms brigade, 205, and 34 are mountain, in which there are no tanks. Much more interesting is the newly formed 8 Gu. The OA, formed with a clear target of possible coercion to the world, of various pushing Cossacks from the territory adjacent to the Donbas republics, who adore discourse on how they "restrain Russian fascism", not forgetting, of course, shout out Nazi slogans and "greet the Sun" with a characteristic gesture. It has a 150 Idritsko-Berlin MRS, which includes the 2 tank and 2 motorized rifle regiments, which are formed by, as claimed, heavy states. That is, in it, both tanks and artillery are much more, not only in conventional artillery systems, but even in td. If we assume (and this is most likely the way it is) that the states of this division repeat the OHS of the so-called Ogarkov heavy vehicles, successfully dispersed under Gorbachev, then the tanks there eventually, upon completion of the formation, may be under 400. In those divisions in the battalions there were 4 companies (MSN 3 MSR and 1 tr, in TB, on the contrary), and all the tank companies were 13-tank, and the battalions even in the tank regiments had 40 tanks. Moreover, at the battalion level there were 122-mm ACS 2С1 and many other useful things, and in the regiments artillery served 152mm 2С3, which in ordinary divisions were artillery regiment. Also in the same army includes 20 Guards. Omsbr from Volgograd (if the Americans are not mistaken). In the Crimean 22 AK, a combined-arms brigade with tanks is still one - under the 126 number from Pereval'ny, called the coastal defense brigade, but in fact it is a motorized rifle, just naval submission. This is also 41 (42 tank). Total for the Southern Military District, 860-876 tanks are released, if all units are completed, and the estimates for the 150 divisions more or less coincide with reality.
Total for all districts is obtained 3475-3530 machines in service. In reality, there are fewer of them, for the above reasons - not all the units have been formed, on the other hand, training centers and military schools, where more than one hundred tanks are, we also do not consider, like many other things. And, of course, tanks on the bases of storage and repair of military equipment (BHiRVT), that is, bases for the formation of regiments and brigades of the first mobilization line, are not taken into account (everything else is already formed on the basis of equipment from central reserve bases). These BHiRVTs are now being reformed into the so-called MOMs (development support centers), in fact, this is the same base, but with a training and other base to support the activities of permanent reserve reservists, which has recently been officially legalized, and this is a very good and long overdue solution. We do not take into account the bases of the double-based system, where the sets of equipment are stored for the connections being transferred lightly from the depth of the country of the connections, and the central bases of the reserve themselves - after all, we considered the combat vehicles. So in total, about 15 of thousands of machines would come out, perhaps less than 12-13 of thousands.
At the same time, it must be said that in the near future the formation of divisions will be continued. Thus, according to media reports, in the Southern Military District, the formation of three masters at once (perhaps less, nevertheless) based on the 19, 20 and 136 rsbbr will be launched. There were also reports about the creation of a “coastal defense” division in the North, perhaps even two - on the Kola Peninsula and on Chukotka. The formation of divisions begins beyond the Urals, so, in the 5 of the Red Banner OA in Primorye, the 127 of the Red Banner MSD is formed. Each MSD means an increase in the order of 176 or more tanks (this is if it is formed on the basis of one motorized rifle brigade, if two - then the increase will be less significant). It is clear that with such a deployment of parts of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation it was ready to abandon the previously announced thesis about getting rid of tank assortments and intensively return the T-80BV tanks to repair and minimally upgrade while launching the modernization program of their fleet in T-80BVM. Tanks are needed a lot, and still need a lot of personnel, especially officers. And with the release of young officers there are problems - a truly normal graduation is only expected, before that officers who graduated from a small number of schools were graduated. Of course, this is not the situation before the Great Patriotic War, when 30 mechanized corps were being formed, and the shortage before the war in them reached tens of thousands of posts. But we are not in a situation like before the war. Although it is unequivocal that the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are gradually unfolding, but this is not a mobilization character. The situation in the world has simply changed - priorities, goals, objectives, and requirements for structure and size, including the tank park, have changed.
In addition, we forgot about the Airborne Forces, and after all, there were formed 6 tank companies (in each of the 2 airborne assault divisions and 4 airborne assault brigades), the companies in the divisions are deployed in battalions, in brigades, like, while they remain companies or then also become a battalion. This is more than a hundred tanks.
Is it a lot or a little - more than three thousand tanks in the line-up formation? This is a lot, considering that even the US has all 10 tank brigades with 87 tanks each, 3 of the same brigade in the National Guard and several hundred (maximum) tanks in the ILC. And there is nothing to say about the various European "great powers": with the exception of the Poles, as well as the Greeks and Turks (whose almost completely outdated tank fleets are directed at each other mostly), the European powers are lucky to have two hundred vehicles in the ranks. France has 200 machines, Germany has 225 (there is a plan to deploy to 328), Britain has less than 200 and so on. But there are also parks for 32-40 machines, the absolute majority of such members in NATO. This is not related to the real combat readiness of these units, formations and armies in these countries. As well as comparing the technical level of all the machines that are in service in the Armed Forces or NATO countries. But this is no longer the subject of this material.
- Ya. Vyatkin, especially for "Military Review"
- Vitaly V. Kuzmin (commons.wikimedia.org)
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