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On December 12th, the Russian Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda released an infographics summing up deliveries of equipment to the Russian Armed Forces in 2018. 

The summary includes the following:

The Russian military is at 95% of its required personnel;

It has a 98% fulfilled provision of weapons and military equipment and hardware;

It has a 94% of serviceability of its equipment and hardware;

The level of modern equipment and weapons is 62%. 

In terms of ground forces, the Russian military is 54% upgraded to the most modern equipment.  In 2018, the Ground Forces received:

More than 570 battle tanks and other armored vehicles;

More than 380 military automotive vehicles;

More than 740 specialized vehicles;

More than 370 units of missile and artillery systems;

More than 230 units of various air defense systems;

The Rusian Navy received 26 battle ships, gunboats and other vessels in full combat readiness, including:

Frigate Admiral Gorshkov;

Ivan Gren-class (Project 11711) Landing ship Ivan Gren

Buyan-class small missile corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo;

Buyan-class small missile corvette Vyshniy Volochyok;

Karakurt-class small missile corvette Mytishchi (formerly called Hurricane);

Ivanov-class (Project 18280) intelligence collection ship Ivan Hurs;

Anti-diversion gunboat;

Elbrus-class (Project 23120) logistics support ship Elbrus. 

The Russian Aerospace Forces received:

More than 100 new units of air defense systems and missile defense systems;

14 units of brand-new space-deployed weapons;

More than 100 new units of aircraft and other aviation technology;

It modernized two space-warfare units;

It modernized more than 60 units of air defense systems and missile defense systems;

It modernized more than 330 units of aircraft and other aviation technology. 

The Airborne Troops boasted a 63% modernization and received:

More than 13,000 new pieces of equipment;

And it modernized more than 130 units of equipment;

The Strategic Missile Troops boasted a 70% modernized missile complexes and received:

9 intercontinental ballistic missiles;

45 units of base missiles for the Yars missile system;

9 autonomous launching units;

6 combat support units;

17 yet undisclosed vehicles;

4 mobile command units. 

The Engineer Troops received:

13 state-of-the-art sets of equipment and weapon systems;

More than 570 units of military engineering equipment;

More than 130,000 provisions for the military engineering;

More than 15,000 military engineering ammunition and equipment;

On March 1st, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced several state of the art weapon systems:

The nuclear hypersonic boost glide vehicle called Avangard, which would go on the future RS-26 Rubezh ICBM;

The hypersonic RS-28 Sarmat ICBM;

The nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik;

The Poseidon Oceanic Multipurpose System, essentially an underwater nuclear drone;

The Kinzhal Hypersonic air-launched missile;

The Peresvet laser weapon system. 

Some of these have already been deployed in the Russian military, such as the Kinzhal and more recently the Peresvet laser weapon system. 

From more recent developments, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu chaired a session of the Organizing Committee on the International Army Games 2019.  He praised Russia’s effective training approach and Russian soldiers will prove themselves in the contests throughout 2019. 

He also stressed that in comparison with 2015, the number of countries participating in the Games in 2018 increased from 16 to 32, the number of teams – from 43 to 189, and in total seven countries hosted competitions within the Games. 

“We have gained a lot of experience in organization of competitions, gave a new impetus to military and technical cooperation,” he said. 

The head of the Main Directorate of Combat Training of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Ivan Buvaltsev also spoke, saying that the anniversary games in 2019 are significant and will have some special events, such as the Tank Biathlon night rally and a rally-raid in the Military Rally competition. 

He also noted that conditions will be complicated and will be more spectacular.  Moreover, women will compete in some of them. 

“We also plan that the International Space Station will address participants and spectators of the Games,” Ivan Buvaltsev said. 

He also said that there are efforts to increase the number of participating countries.  So far, Cuba, Japan and Venezuela have shown interest, while meetings with officials from Singapore and the Philippines are planned. 

A total of 32 competitions are planned, including four new ones. 

In all, 2018 seemed to be a successful year for the Russian military-industrial complex, as it also rose to second place in global arms sales in 2017 according to SIPRI’s top 100, it is unlikely that it has dropped to a lower position. 

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