New details of the reform of the armed forces
At the end of last year, it was announced that in the medium term, the Ministry of Defense will increase the size of the armed forces and improve their organizational structure. Some plans and alleged measures of this kind have also been disclosed. Recently, the department discussed the tasks and clarified plans for the future.
Common Tasks
According to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense, a meeting on the issues of increasing and improving the armed forces was held on January 17. It was held by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu; the event was attended by deputy ministers, commanders-in-chief of the branches of the armed forces and commanders of the armed forces.
The minister recalled that the president had set the task of increasing the size of the armed forces to 1,5 million people. In this regard, it is proposed to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for building up the army, combining various measures. S. Shoigu also pointed out the need to synchronize the growth in numbers with the construction of infrastructure, the supply of weapons and equipment, etc.
To ensure the military security of the state, incl. to protect critical facilities and new actors, it is proposed to strengthen or supplement a number of key components of the armed forces. Part of the existing connections will be re-formed taking into account new threats and challenges. In addition, there will be new structures and parts.
As it was reported last year, the size of the army will be increased mainly at the expense of military personnel under the contract. According to the minister, it is necessary to pay special attention to the recruitment of contract soldiers and ensure their training. In addition, the system of military universities, training grounds in the troops, etc. require development.
The implementation of a comprehensive plan to increase the size and development of the armed forces will begin this year and will take several years. Thus, the transformation of the military-administrative structure is planned to be completed by 2026. The timing of other transformations has not yet been announced. It is likely that they will be implemented within the same time frame or with a slight deviation from them.
Earlier, speaking about future reforms, S. Shoigu mentioned the need to change the draft age. Thus, it is proposed to call on recruits at the age of 21, instead of the current threshold of 18 years. The press release from the Ministry of Defense does not mention the discussion of such issues at a recent meeting.
Structural transformations
In December, the Minister of Defense announced the need for structural changes in the armed forces. New military-administrative units and formations will be created. In addition, the restructuring of existing formations is required. All this will make it possible to more effectively protect strategically important areas from current threats.
On January 17, S. Shoigu confirmed that two new military districts, Moscow and Leningrad, would be created in the near future. They are formed on the existing territory of the Western Military District. The task of the new units will be to protect two strategically important regions from threats from the west and north.
It is planned to create a number of new units and formations. Thus, an army corps will appear in Karelia. The ground forces will be reinforced with three motorized rifle divisions, and the airborne troops with two airborne assault divisions. Locations of new divisions are not reported. In addition, self-sufficient groupings of troops and forces will be created on the territory of the annexed subjects. Their composition and potential are still unknown.
In the Western, Central and Eastern military districts, as well as in the Northern navy seven motorized rifle brigades will be expanded to divisions. This will increase their combat effectiveness and have a positive impact on the capabilities of the districts.
In his new report, the Minister of Defense mentioned the need to strengthen the navy, aerospace forces and strategic missile forces. This time, the Minister did not touch upon the issues of changing the structure of the Aerospace Forces.
It should be recalled that other planned changes in the troops were mentioned in the December report. Thus, the minister spoke about the future formation of five artillery divisions and brigades of special power in the ground forces. In the Coastal Forces of the Navy, five brigades of marines will be increased to divisions.
Provides for the creation of each combined arms (tank) mixed army aviation divisions and brigades of army aviation. In addition, new air division directorates, eight bomber regiments, one fighter regiment, and six army aviation brigades should appear in the Aerospace Forces.
Updated plans
Thus, our Ministry of Defense is fulfilling the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to increase the number, improve the structure and generally improve the combat capability of the armed forces. Appropriate plans are being developed, various proposals are being made, and so on. In addition, the Ministry of Defense already considers it possible to publish the main ideas and decisions of the new reform.
The Minister of Defense twice spoke about new plans and announced very interesting information. At the same time, his two reports, December and the new one, complement each other and together form a more complete picture. In addition, it cannot be ruled out that the latest report reflects all the innovations and adjustments made in recent weeks. Accordingly, in the future we should expect new reports that complement and change the already known picture.
The updated and revised version of the plans still provides for strengthening the defense in the strategic western direction - where there is a threat from NATO. The north and center of this direction will be strengthened by two new military districts, an army corps in Karelia and, probably, new divisions in other regions. In addition, attention was paid to the southern borders - the recently annexed subjects of the federation will receive their own groups.
However, not only units and formations near the western borders will grow and increase their indicators. A similar restructuring is planned in other regions and military districts. It is possible that the scale of such processes in different areas will differ due to their priority for defense.
Of great interest are proposals for the creation of new artillery and aviation formations and units. The special operation in Ukraine once again confirmed the potential of artillery, incl. high power. In addition, conclusions were drawn about the need to create artillery formations with special capabilities. They will also increase the potential of aviation and improve its ability to interact with ground forces.
The strengthening of the armed forces and the change in the organizational structure impose additional requirements on the number of personnel. In this regard, it is planned to increase the number of servicemen, mainly at the expense of contractors. A larger number of military personnel, in turn, requires additional infrastructure, makes higher demands on the training system, and so on.
New reform
In general, it is not just about changes in the armed forces. In fact, a full-fledged reform is planned, aimed at improving all the main indicators and bringing the army in line with current military and political requirements. The situation in Europe has seriously deteriorated, and our armed forces must respond to this.
A full-fledged comprehensive reform plan is being drawn up and corrected, affecting a lot of different issues. Its full implementation will take several years, and after that the Russian army will acquire the desired look and capabilities. At the same time, the first results of such an update may appear in the very near future.
- Ryabov Kirill
- Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Information