Russian Anti-Terror troops deployed to Syria

[Dinner]

BTW IMHO they should ignore the navy for now, concentrate on the Army (they are a land power after all so Army modernization should be job 1), Air Force should be second in line but will be expensive and take time, with the Navy being last on the list.

[regexcellent]

Kuzya is a diesel-guzzling piece of junk. For ship-to-ship warfare we need submarines with lots of cruise missiles, Mistrals will help us with patrolling the neighboring coasts.

I heard something about Kuznetsov getting a nuclear power plant, or at least a new set of gas turbines to replace her crappy boilers. Russian military doctrine as I understand is to use the surface fleet to support subs, in particular with aircraft carriers and anti-air surface combatants providing air cover against ASW helicopters and maritime patrol planes, which is exactly the place Kuznetsov falls into.

[PLATO]

Gas Turbine conversion I could buy, but I think there would have to be way to much changed to install a reactor plant. Probably easier to just build new if you need nuclear.

[onodera]

I heard something about Kuznetsov getting a nuclear power plant, or at least a new set of gas turbines to replace her crappy boilers. Russian military doctrine as I understand is to use the surface fleet to support subs, in particular with aircraft carriers and anti-air surface combatants providing air cover against ASW helicopters and maritime patrol planes, which is exactly the place Kuznetsov falls into.

It's still a very sub-par carrier. I'd stuff it full of SAMs instead, it can't use its planes for force projection anyway. Also, I can't get over the fact that a ship is a she even when it's named after a man.

[kentonio]

Sure, they need to modernize their equipment and changing the force structure to a professionalized volunteer force from a conscript force would improve things

Definitely, although first they need to concentrate on removing the corruption. When volunteer troops are getting ripped off by officers for part of their wages and generally treated like ****, thats going to undermine the whole system. They need a big clean out, and procedures put in place to ensure a zero tolerance corruption policy.

..but they have plenty of time to achieve that before there are any major threats. There is literally nothing on the horizon to threaten them in any way.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Things can change very fast in Asia, and with an unstable middle east, Afghanistan and Pakistan chaotic, a twitchy India and a resurgent China there is the potential for all sorts of trouble.

BTW IMHO they should ignore the navy for now, concentrate on the Army (they are a land power after all so Army modernization should be job 1), Air Force should be second in line but will be expensive and take time, with the Navy being last on the list.

Russia is probably watching Chinas naval expansion and recent sabre waving over the China Sea and not liking what it sees. If China get too far ahead, then Russian influence in the east is going to weaken substantially.

[PLATO]

Russia is probably watching Chinas naval expansion and recent sabre waving over the China Sea and not liking what it sees. If China get too far ahead, then Russian influence in the east is going to weaken substantially.

This is the thing I don't really understand in Russia's recent love affair with the Chinese. They have given China HUGE amounts of help with developing their navy, but in the end the result could be a loss of influence in the region for the Russians...something very out of Character for Moscow.

It is almost as if they realize that they cannot counter the U.S. Navy Pacific fleet on their own and see China as the lesser of two evils.......

[kentonio]

I don't understand that calculation though, in their shoes I'd see the US as easily the lesser of the two evils. Considering the history they have you'd think their worst nightmare would be a Chinese superpower over the border.

[PLATO]

I agree. The only thing that comes to mind is that China is set to become Russia's best energy customer with the new oil pipeline. It begs the question of if Russia;s energy sector is what is really controlling Russia's politics.

[Dinner]

I don't understand that calculation though, in their shoes I'd see the US as easily the lesser of the two evils. Considering the history they have you'd think their worst nightmare would be a Chinese superpower over the border.

Yeah, wouldn't the devil next door be more of the threat then a devil halfway around the world?

[regexcellent]

For a few years in there Russia was refusing to sell certain jet fighters to China after China came out with cheap knockoffs of Russian jets previously sold to them.

[The Mad Monk]

Boy, I'd sure love to be a pilot for one the militaries that bought those.

[regexcellent]

I don't think I'd want to be a pilot for Pakistan no matter what kind of jets it bought.

[Hauldren Collider]

As I understand the decision to buy Mistrals was made out of experience gained during the war with Georgia.

What experience? Proof that the Russians could curb stomp the places they formerly occupied with impunity? Yay...

It'll be interesting to see if a Republican president would put Georgia in NATO. I'd like to see Putin's reaction to that.

[Hauldren Collider]

It's still a very sub-par carrier. I'd stuff it full of SAMs instead, it can't use its planes for force projection anyway. Also, I can't get over the fact that a ship is a she even when it's named after a man.

If you stuff it full of SAMs it ain't a carrier anymore. It'd probably be worse at that than as a carrier.

[Dr Strangelove]

What experience? Proof that the Russians could curb stomp the places they formerly occupied with impunity? Yay...

It'll be interesting to see if a Republican president would put Georgia in NATO. I'd like to see Putin's reaction to that.

Gee, I thought the Europeans had some say over membership. My bad.