On 15-Aug-2022, President Vladimir Putin the Russian weapons, saying some are "decades
ahead of foreign analogues."
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Army-2022 military forum and international military
competition, the 2022 Army Games, Putin said: "Our people are proud of their army and navy,
the professionalism and courage of their defenders.
At all times, they have reliably guarded the sovereignty and security of the Motherland,
brought freedom to other peoples."
He also thanked the Russian weapons developers, saying the modern weapons "are working for
the victory and technological and industrial development" of Russia, and are valued for
their "reliability, quality, and high efficiency," and added that the military forum gives a
good opportunity to get to know some of the state-of-the-art models.
He said, "We are talking about high-precision weapons
and robotics, about combat complexes based on new physical principles.
Many of them are years, and maybe decades ahead of their foreign analogues, and significantly
surpass them in terms of tactical and technical characteristics,"
But Putin’s tone has changed as the war in Ukraine drags on.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes how President Putin conceded issues with Russian
weapons?
Let's get into the details
On 13-Jun-2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that his armed forces lack
the military hardware they need to win the war in Ukraine while insisting Moscow is ramping
up weapons production to fill the gap.
Speaking at a meeting of pro-war bloggers in the Kremlin, Putin acknowledged that “during
the course of the special military operation, it has become clear there are shortages of
many things — precision-guided munitions, communications equipment, aircraft, drones
and so on.”
“We have them, but unfortunately we don’t have enough of them,” he said, according
to state media.
As well as drones, “modern anti-tank weapons are needed, and modern tanks are needed.”
As evident Putin has become increasingly aware of the deficiencies both in-terms of Quality
and Quantity.
Putin did state that there has been a significant boost in the production of weapons for the
battlefield, witnessing a nearly threefold increase.
Furthermore, the most sought-after equipment has seen an even more substantial surge, reaching
a tenfold increase in production.
In the months since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s military has
been exposed on many fronts which seem to have prompted President Putin to admit the
shortcomings of his military.
Russian aircraft were seen operating with non-military navigation systems
An attached Garmin GPS navigator was found in the cockpit during an investigation into
a downed Russian plane.
Information about the use of civilian software navigation devices is confirmed by a statement
by the British Secretary of Defense, who said that “Russia records basic GPS devices on
its fighter jets.”
Russian soldiers in Ukraine appeared to be crowdsourcing their own equipment, including
medical supplies and GPS kits.
Even now, these reports are emerging every day that Russian troops have supply issues
though improvements have been made.
On 14th Apr 2022, Russia had to face a major embarrassment when the Russian Navy’s Black
Sea flagship RTS Moskva (121) sunk.
The frontline warship had a triple-layered air defense system but was unable to stop
the two incoming Neptune Anti-Ship Missiles.
Russian military even had to import drones from Iran and artillery shells from North
Korea.
It is also no secret that although the Russian Air Force has a 10:1 advantage against Ukraine,
Russia doesn’t have full control of the skies even now.
While both Russia and Ukraine are having a tough time, the fact is that nobody thought
that Russia will struggle so much to suppress Ukrainian resistance.
On several occasions, Russia has threatened to use nukes directly and indirectly as its
conventional options failed to have the desired effects.
A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, published in April
this year, found that Western sanctions were preventing Russia from bringing in the components
needed to manufacture advanced weaponry.
The analysis stated, “While the quality of the military equipment used by the Ukrainian
army continues to improve thanks to Western aid, the quality of Russia’s weapons continues
to degrade,”
The war is far from over and it remains to be seen how things pan out in the coming days.