Is Russia turning into a greater military power than U.S.?

Question

I noticed that since Putin became the president of Russia,Russian military started to modernize itself rapidly....Think of MiG-31 firefox or t-90 tank...I even heard they have some space military units.What is your opinion?

Answer 1

Accelerating inflation and an overall decline of some 40-60% in gross national product have seriously eroded necessities of life. Electric power, fuel, food, clothing, spare parts, etc., are all in short supply. This is particularly acute for the armed services and has produced significant and rapid drawdowns of naval forces, ship scrapping, personnel and manning problems, and repair and maintenance shortfalls. While Russia is attempting to operate a viable navy, the economic and political problems present serious obstacles to such efforts.

Overall Russian forces now stand at approximately 60% of manning levels; sailor acquisition in some Far East units stand at 10% or less; approximately 50% of Pacific Fleet sailors have not completed secondary school and some 20% of them sport previous criminal convictions or have been arrested by the militia; advancement opportunities are essentially closed and advanced training is almost non-existent, especially given the loss of the Baku and Sevastopol naval schools; and electricians, radar operators, and ship physicians are among the scarcest of all specialists.

Most ships are frozen at their docks; Northern Fleet ships and submarines are being removed from service well before their time; ships receive less than 22% of necessary repairs; crews are seriously overworked and rarely paid; and most SSBNs are no longer fully operational. It is apparent from these statistics that the Russian navy faces severe constraints and is obviously a reduced threat.

As a result of decisions by the National Security Council in August 2000, it is expected that the Strategic Missile Force will see a reduction of up to 10 missile divisions by 2006. It is intended that the space missile defence troops and the space military forces will removed from the Strategic Missile Force in 2001 and put under the direct control of the General Staff. The Strategic Missile Force was transformed into an independent arm of service in 2002, and possibly by in 2006 to be included under the Russian Air Force.

With the end of the Cold War, the combined military expenditure of Russia and other successor states of the USSR fell dramatically. In 1997 it was around one-tenth of that of the USSR in 1988. Between 1988 and 1993 weapons production in Russia fell by at least 50% for virtually every major weapons system. Weapons spending in 1992 was approximately 75% less than in 1988. Almost all of Russia's arms production is for sales to foreign governments, and procurement of major end items by the Russian military had all but stopped.

So what does this all mean? The Russians are not the Soviets, ie, on par with the US, but they do possess strategic weapons, which automatically gives them the superpower status. To say that they will be greater than the US is laughable, considering the aging systems they have in place, especially in their command and control systems. The biggest threat is from an accidental launch or diversion of weapons grade material to terrorists or rogue states.

Answer 2

Right now I have the same feeling and watching often the news and see what's going on in Russia. Putin has some problems by communication with other countries and some how the military playing in Russia to much power, there was a fight 2 weeks ago with Journalist, just this weekend by some meeting with homosexuals fight start too. And in the meantime I see some picture from Russia how pure the people are and how the infrastructure so bad is. I don't know what to say.

Answer 3

i've got faith the computing device term they use now particularly of First, 2d and third worldwide are stepped forward and arising. that helps worldwide places like Russia and China to fall right into a separate class than the united states of a while it involves the environmental injury they reason. Obama could somewhat desire to work out all worldwide places the two depressing so as that each and everything could be honest. whats up, to the guy under me: The valuable have continuously been people who took administration of the situation and imposed their will particularly than people who “adapted” to what the different have been as much as.

Answer 4

Russia's military is still crumbling. Any attempts to paint it as being modernized sounds much like the misinformation of the '50s - '80s.

The only threat from Russia is from their poorly supervised nuclear and biological weapons.

Answer 5

I agree with cissyit. You never know exactly what is going on behind closed doors and what you can't see.
You cannot believe everything the media says, if you do you're an ostrich with your head buried in the sand.

Answer 6

overall, US has more and better sophisticated weapons and can generate more firepower per square inch than any country in the world, but it is too stretched out in Iraq... so in case there is a conflict between US and Russia - Russia will come out on top....

Answer 7

They don't have the economy we have. I heard about that space military but I don't see how the world would allow that.

Answer 8

You cannot possibly be serious!

Do a bit of research, Binky, and you'll quickly see the HUGE disparity in the two nations' military machines.

Answer 9

anything they have i assure you we probably have the russians couldn't feed their own people until the Cold War was over and the U.S. has a larger Defense Budget then the next ten largest COMBINED u tell me.

Answer 10

Probably. Russia is a sleeping bear and I don't think that the US has heeded the warnings about it.