How was Vladimir Ilyich in the famous Soviet film about the socialist revolution? "Comrades, is the socialist revolution, the need for which the Bolsheviks have been talking about for so long, has taken place?" I am writing purely from memory, so I apologize if I misinterpreted the text somewhere. The essence remained exactly the one that Lenin spoke about. And an article about a completely different revolution. Not about socialist, not about bourgeois, and not even about scientific and technical. An article about the revolution in the Russian defense system.
Yes, on November 7, 2017, "Lenin" in the person of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov announced a revolution in the defense system of our country! So, exactly 100 years after the social revolution, we got a revolution in the army.
I will not intrigue. Yesterday the chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces announced the creation in Russia of a full-fledged grouping of high-precision weapons carriers capable of using missiles at ranges of up to 4,000 kilometers. This was reported by the Interfax-AVN agency.
"Control bodies and special units have been formed to plan the use of long-range high-precision weapons and prepare flight missions for cruise missiles of all types of basing."
Everyone knows that our missiles have repeatedly shown their capabilities when used against targets in Syria. The excitement after the next missile launch from any carrier in Russia has long been gone. On the contrary, most Russians would be very surprised if such a launch took place in an abnormal mode. You quickly get used to good things.
In the short time given to our defense industry and military personnel, Russia has managed to create what most states today only dream of. The head of the General Staff in his speech even called the deadline for completing such a task: 5 years! "In five years, a breakthrough has been made in equipping the armed forces with long-range precision weapons."
What has actually been done in such a short time? Why is this event really akin to the revolution in significance? And what kind of system is this that allows you to solve problems not only with the use of nuclear weapons, but also with conventional high-precision weapons. How is this happening in Syria?
In fact, we have received a new format for military relations with our neighbors. If earlier, before the official statement of the representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the majority of military analysts and specialists referred to the existence of a nuclear deterrent in Russia, today we can safely say about the emergence of a non-nuclear deterrent system!
What were the elements of this system? I will ask the enemy spies to put down the pens, I will not say anything new. In fact, the elements of this system have long been known to most readers of the Military Review. Who has not heard of the Iskander-M tactical missile system? Maybe for someone, sea-based missile systems "Caliber" are a novelty? Or maybe we did not write about the new Kh-101 cruise missiles, which are used by our "strategists"?
As you can see, every element of this system is known. Moreover, each element was checked many times. This happened both during the "classical" tests and during the military conflict in Syria. But the system is just made up of elements. And the presence of these notorious elements in no way speaks of the creation of a harmonious system.
And it is here that something comes up that our specialists did not really talk about until yesterday. Weapons, no matter how good they are, require respect for themselves. And modern weapons also require the creation of many services that will actually direct these weapons where necessary.
This is what Valery Gerasimov stated. For specialists, one phrase is enough: "… hardware and software systems for planning, information support and preparation of data for combat use were accepted for supply." Simply put, Russian precision weapons now have no less modern controls. And this is a completely different level.
I foresee the skepticism of some readers who, according to the old worn-out scheme, will now begin to talk about the amount of such weapons. Any specialist has come across such skeptics more than once. "Well, yes. We created this … and what? There are no such weapons in Tmutarakansk! There are still old Soviet cannons (tanks, planes, missiles …) there!" A familiar picture, isn't it?
I agree about "Tmutarakansk". Why are there X-101 missiles? In the taiga, where in a straight line to a potential enemy is almost ten thousand kilometers? And no one saw strategic bombers at the local airfield. And such a plane will not fit on takeoff.
The answer was voiced again in the speech of General Gerasimov. Over the past 5 years "… serial deliveries of Iskander-M tactical missile systems, submarines and surface ships with the Kalibr missile system have been established, as well as the modernization of Long-Range Aviation aircraft for the use of the new Kh-101 cruise missile". I specifically focus the readers' attention on "serial"! These are not piece goods.
And for those for whom good news increases vitality, I will give you one more figure. For a complete set of "healthy lifestyles" from VO. More precisely, personally from the Chief of the General Staff. "As a result, the number of land-based, sea-based and air-based carriers has increased more than 12 times, and the number of high-precision cruise missiles has increased more than 30 times."
The usual kind of speech by one of the leaders of the Russian Armed Forces. The military is generally not lyrical. Clearly, briefly and without unnecessary pathos, he reported on the creation of a practically new "shield" for our country. It seems like a common thing. We stand on that. And in fact…
The appearance of a practically new shield in Russia is fundamentally changing the balance of power in Europe and Asia. We talked at various sites for a long time about containment systems. We have long warned about the possibility of an asymmetric response to the block's inclinations. It remains only to congratulate our Western "partners" and remember those words of V. I. Lenin, with which I began this article …
