Posted on 05/25/2015 5:46:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Russia is expected to spend more money on its military in 2015 than in any previous year in its entire post-Soviet history.
According to an analysis conducted by Forbes Magazine, Russia will spend an estimated 5.34 percent of its economic output on defense in 2015. This estimate is based on the assumption that the Russian economy will contract by 3 percent and a 15 percent hike in the real value of the military budget.
However, another estimate quoted in the Wall Street Journal based on Russian government data notes that country’s GDP may even decrease by 4.6 percent largely due to lower oil prices and Western sanctions. Consequently, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that this year’s 3.3 trillion rubles military budget will need to be adjusted and cut by five percent or 157 billion rubles.
Even worse, according to newly published budget data of the first three months of 2015, military expenditure exceeded 9 percent of quarterly GDP – almost twice the amount cited in Forbes Magazine.
The verdict is simple: Russia cannot afford military expenditures at such scale in the long-run. “The modern Russian economy just does not generate enough resources to finance the current 2011-2020 rearmament program. This seriously reduces the ability to efficiently renew the Russian armed forces’ equipment,” a recent analysis by the Moscow-based defense think tank CAST notes.
The only way for Russia to currently finance its growing military expenditure is to tap into the country’s reserve fund – money the Kremlin put aside over the last few years when oil prices were high and meant to cushion the economy against shocks. With the help of the reserve fund – worth approximately six percent of the country’s total GDP – Russia could maintain a 3.7% deficit for less than two years,
(Excerpt) Read more at thediplomat.com ...
Tanks are no longer the issue on the battlefield. Technology is the issue.
Tanks (Armor) are a technology.
I think you know what I mean. Any general probably wants all kinds of weapons systems for different scenarios, but what about when the foot soldier or the eye in the sky can defeat it easily because of its size, bulk, and speed?
I wonder how a tank crew would hold up broadsided by a 65mph Peterbilt with a full cap trailer? Someone should try this.
Putin is an idiot.
Better leave it on,the javelin missile attacks from above.
Youtube has a video of one hitting a T72,nothing but scrap metal left.
Bring that puppy down to Austin.
I know a couple of guys who can give it a nice pearl flake paint job and put on some decent wheels.
Oh yeah, and a hot exhaust system.
Russia is nothing but a gas station with a kleptocracy attached to it.
I seen an M-1 side-swipe a German beer truck on the Autoban once. It was very very sad.
I still wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of your challenge.
T-14 Armata vs. Abrams.
http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/05/05/armata-soviet-parade-t14/26915519/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE_DJxIi8Vo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np35PSIrtAc
TOW2-B is top attack also IIRC.
OK, lets go with broadside by locomotive.
BTW, tanks went from anti-tank weapons to targets in just a few decades.
So... Just print more money, right? Write a check someone else will pay later?
"It is Western propaganda to say that Communism has made Russia backward. Russia is at forefront of all the latest technologies. Look at the Russian microchip—the biggest microchip in the world!"
They are if there’s nothing in the air. Like against civilians.
Heavy armor is target #1 every where it goes.
No place I would rather be if folks are shootin.
Did someone say, “The generals are always fighting the last war”?
World War III is being fought right now with sociopolitical systems, satellites, computers, and malware.
And we’re losing to the Moslems and the Chinese.
Tank crew in 136,000 pound tank versus 65mph full load 80, 000 pound Peterbuilt?
Thats a lot of money to waste in a crash. I don’t think seat belts and air bags would help anybody involved.
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