The Russian Army: Organization and Modernization

In Russia, the Army has traditionally been the leading branch of the military. It has been, and remains, numerically the largest service in terms of personnel, weapons, and military equipment. According to Russian military doctrine, the Army’s primary mission is to repel enemy aggression in the continental theater of military operations, protecting territorial integrity and securing national interests.

Over the past decade, the Russian Army has undergone two major reforms: a dramatic redefinition of the service’s organizational relationships and system of management, together with extensive modernization of capabilities, from weapons to command and control (C2). This process of reorganization, shaped heavily by the armed forces’ experience in Syria, is now almost complete. A new C2 system has finally emerged, referred to as a “distributed” architecture in Russian military parlance. During a time of war, the Army plans to employ mission-tailored combat groupings to replace the traditional brigade‐division‐field army hierarchy.

This new structure emphasizes the integration of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) and automated C3-C4IS (Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, and Satellites) in its structure and working relationships. The latter, C3-C4IS, is an essential battlefield and theatre command component. Moreover, the troops have significantly increased the firepower brought to the battlefield. Combining C4ISs and UASs, Russian commanders utilize an effective engagement mechanism to defeat any target by artillery fire or missile strike in real time, which will be discussed later as recon-fire and recon-strike loops.