Monday, March 6, 2017

Notorious Soviet-Era Practice of Weapons Delivery Undermining Russian Navy, Expert Says




Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 6 – The notorious Soviet-era practice in which efforts to ensure the fulfillment of state plans forced the military to accept as complete weapons systems, planes, and ships that were in fact anything but ready for service has returned at least in the case of the navy, straining the ability of commanders to fulfill Kremlin orders, according to military experts.

            In a 2000-word article for Svobodnaya pressa, military affairs expert Sergey Ishchenko documents this in the case of three frigates, one of which is now forced to cover for the other two which have been signed over to the navy but are seriously underequipped or have failed to pass needed tests (svpressa.ru/war21/article/167597/).

            This revival of an unfortunate pass practice reflects Moscow’s drive to play a bigger role in the blue water areas than it has the capacity for and means that many of the ships that it and others count as effectives aren’t, either because of a lack of equipment, poor training, or simply the wearing down of officers and men who are not given sufficient time off.

            The details Ishchenko offers, all from open sources, paint a disturbing portrait of a navy and a country that is trying to present itself as something more than it is – and that is relying on public relations claims and bombast rather than a reliable basis for operations, in the Mediterranean and more broadly.

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