My humble assessment of Russian military power.

I thought that as we enter a new era of russian militarism and aggression, it would be worthwhile to discuss just what kind of heat Russia's packin' , basically the same thing she had in 1991, just not as much. It's been 17 years since the Soviet union threw in the towel, and handed us a cold war win, and in that time, alot has happened, the soviet Union broke up, two chechen wars, and a recent invasion of Georgia. What hasn't happened is an embrace of the West or democracy on the part of Russia, the soviet union's successor state. Russia has experienced something of an economic boom, based in part on it's lucrative oil revenue, but being a free speaking journalist, or criticizing Putin's government isn't the best way to live a long life, nor are Russia's neighbors happy about the Russian insistance of domination of their affairs. Luckily, for us in the west, Russia's new found wealth, has not translated into large military expenditures. The Russian army is largely equipped the way it was in 1991, with some exceptions. Russia still relies primarily on the same weapon systems that would have been familar to any soviet era soldier, T-72 and T-80 series MBT's, Mil mi-24 choppers, BMP-1's and BMP-2's etc. . Russia has developed plenty of new weapons systems, but many are simply shelved, or acquired in limited quatities, examples include the "black eagle" tank, and the KA-50 hokum, bmp-3 and the an-94 assualt rifle. Armed as they are, it would be reasonable to assume that doctrine hasn't changed either, the concept of "deep battle", the concentration of massive force at a point on the enemy's line, to punch through, and subsequently flood the gap, is alive and well. deep battle tactics have their root in the German army's "schwerepunkt" of ww2. Soviet defensive doctine is rooted in the defense in depth, also of ww2 lineage, and most brilliantly displayed at the battle of kursk. Ideal for both of these strategies is the huge stockpiles of arms and vehicles Russia possesses, the backbone of, what Viktor suvorov calls "ghost divisions", it would be suprising what could appear on a order of battle tommorrow, that isn't there today. The Russian navy is the red headed step-child of the Russian services, once proud and strong, much of it has been neglected since the cold war, and it's doubtful it could cope with western navies. Much of the soviet service fleet has been scrapped or sold off, and very few new ships have been commissioned. New sub classes, such as Borei and Beluga show promise, and are probably very capable, but not present in quantity. The Russian airforce, without a doubt, is the most sophisticated of the armed forces, save for the strategic rocket forces, is again armed largely with Migs and Suhkois of the soviet era. There are new designs and new planes, That Su-47 is scary, but few if any have been procured. Where the Russian's have made progress, and no suprise, they must have been unnerved after the performance of the west in the 2 gulf wars, is with air defense and anti tank systems. I have no doubt, that the new generation of Russian air defenses and anti-tank weapons would give any western army plenty of greif, this was partly shown during the 2006 lebanon war, when Israeli merkava tanks suffered heavily to russian made antitank weapons such as Kornet, and rpg-29. In final analysis, a word on the Russian soldier is warranted, he is hardy, tough and brave, just as he's always been, and would be an worthy adversary to any western soldier. However he lacks the sophistication of his western counterpart, and problems such as alcoholism, and hazing are endemic throughout the Russian military. All things considered the Russian military is no match for NATO at this time, a war would be too costly for both, but ultimately NATO or the U.S. would prevail, but perhaps not in 2014 when the Russians claim they will have reformed and modernized their military.