Putin: 'I'll see you and raise you' - 40+ ICBMs targeted for 2015 nuclear force boost

Putin: 'I'll see you and raise you' - 40+ ICBMs targeted for 2015 nuclear force boost. (RT).

Over 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles will be delivered to Russia’s strategic forces in 2015, President Vladimir Putin announced at the opening ceremony of the Army-2015 Expo, an international military forum held near Moscow.

“This year, our nuclear forces are going to get more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of penetrating all existing, even the most advanced missile defenses,” the Russian president said, adding that the state would persist in paying specific attention to realization of a massive military rearmament program and modernization of the defense industry, Putin said.

Vladimir Putin also said that tests of a new radar station capable of beyond-the-horizon aerial target detection will start soon in Russia. The system will be directed westward. A similar radar station is also due to be deployed eastward. And in April a new radar station started operations in the city of Armavir, in southern Russia.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov says that NATO is provoking Russia into an arms race. Antonov’s statement was made referring to US plans to put its F-22 jets in Eastern Europe.

“I believe the statement must be looked at together with other similar statements, which have recently been numerous,” the deputy defense minister said. “A few days ago, reports started to turn up about certain [American] missiles put in a certain location and about certain ammunition depots in Eastern European countries and the Baltic. It looks like our colleagues from NATO member states are pushing us into an arms race,” he said. Hmmm.....And we're off at the Nuclear races.

'Grinding America Down' - Military Reform Plans Would Make US Army 'Paper Tiger' - Tactics Analyst.

'Grinding America Down' - Military Reform Plans Would Make US Army 'Paper Tiger' - Tactics Analyst. (RT).

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Plans to make the US Army more agile and mobile at the expense of heavy weapons are paving the way for future military disasters, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor told Sputnik.

“Today’s Army is courting humiliating defeat if and when it takes on Russian, Chinese or even second-tier nation-state forces equipped with modern military technology from Russia or China,” Macgregor said on Monday.

Macgregor is one of the leading US Army experts on combat tactics. He was the director of the Battle of 73 Easting during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, the largest US armor combat victory since World War II.

“Captured by visions of light troops mounted on wheels or falling out of airplanes, [the Pentagon] is building a force for uncontested, permissive environments against weak peoples without armies, air forces, air defenses or navies,” Macgregor said.

“That’s a dead end in a confrontation with the Russian Army,” he added.

The US military’s weakness is obvious to foreign governments, including to Russia, Macgregor explained.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin is doing what he can to expose the US ‘paper tiger’,” he said. Macgregor also noted Russia’s leader remained focused on his country’s interests, and predicted the Kremlin would succeed in extending its influence in Eastern Europe.

“As for Putin, he’s on a roll and I suspect he will roll up the rest of Ukraine east of the Dnieper one way or the other,” Macgregor said.

The vaunted US and NATO Rapid Response Force, he argued, would pose negligible threat to Russian forces in any conflict situation.

Macgregor concluded the Russian army was developing the experience and expertise for classic concentration of force tactics involving coordinated use of artillery, main battle tanks and air support.

Macgregor also said that senior US military commanders are reluctant to send heavy weapons to Ukraine and Poland despite increasing political calls to do so.

“The National Command Authority has resisted calls from the governments of the aforementioned nations to station US forces on their territory,” Macgregor said on Monday. “The Poles have pressed us for US ground and air forces for years.”

The US Department of Defense is considering a proposal to place M1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles as well as armored howitzers in NATO member countries in the Baltic region and Eastern Europe in a bid to stem what is viewed as Russian aggression.

However, Macgregor, a leading US expert on modern combat infantry tactics, said that the plan was opposed by senior US Army generals, who believe it over-extends their forces.

On the other hand, Washington hawks criticize the proposal, claiming the forces which would be sent are too small and weak to pose any credible deterrent.

“This is not an American initiative. The initiative is from the NATO members,” Macgregor said. “Meanwhile, the US Army is being cut to 420,000 from its strength of 475,000.”

When asked if the Russian government and top military commanders would view the deployment of US heavy ground forces in Ukraine or Poland as an additional threat, Macgregor replied, “Absolutely.” Hmmm........If the Russian Army would actually start a 'Blitzkrieg' in Winter there would be nothing to stop them to reach the British Channel....unless you use Nuclear weapons.

Colonel Macgregor is a decorated US Army combat veteran and an author of five books. His next book “Margin of Victory” is set to be published in 2016.

Russia's Defense Minister Shoigu made the sign of the Cross before the beginning of the Victory day celebrations.

Defense Minister Shoigu made the sign of the Cross before the beginning of the Victory day celebrations. (TS).

Today will go down in Russian history, as a truly historical celebration of the victory over Nazi Germany. The parade – by far the most beautiful I have seen (alas, only on video, not in person) – was superb and for the first time included the Chinese PLA [People’s Liberation Army]. Clearly, we see history in the making.

But something else, no less amazing, also happened today: Defense Minister Shoigu made the sign of the Cross before the beginning of the celebrations.

This is an absolutely momentous moment for Russia. Never in the past history had any Russian Minister of Defense done anything like it. True, the old tradition was to make the sign of the Cross when passing under the Kremlin’s Savior Tower, if only because there is an icon of the Savior right over the gate. However, everybody in Russia immediately understood that there was much more to this gesture than an external compliance to an ancient tradition.

The Russian journalist Victor Baranets puts it very well when he wrote:”At that moment I felt that with his simple gesture Shoigu brought all of Russia to his feet. There was so much kindness, so much hope, so much of our Russian sense of the sacred [in this gesture]“. He is absolutely correct. To see this Tuvan Buddhist make the sign of the Cross in the Orthodox manner sent an electric shock through the Russian blogosphere: everybody felt that something amazing had happened.

For one thing, nobody in his right mind would suspect Shoigu of ever doing anything just “for show”. The man has an immense capital of popularity and credibility in Russia and he has no need for political hypocrisy. Furthermore, those who saw the footage will immediately see that Shoigu was very concentrated, very solemn, when he did this.

Personally, I believe that Shoigu quite literally asked for God’s help in one of the most dangerous moment in Russian history in which he, the Russian Minister of Defense, might be called to take momentous decisions from which the future of the planet might depend.

For centuries Russian soldiers have knelt and asked for God’s blessing, before going into battle and this is, I believe, what Shoigu did today.

He knows that 2015 will be the year of the big war between Russia and the Empire (even if, due to the presence of nuclear weapons on both sides, this war will remain 80% informational, 15% economic and 5% military). 

In placing himself and all of Russia in God’s hands, Shoigu declared a spiritual, cultural and civilizational war on the Empire. And just for that, he will go down in history as one of Russia’s greatest men.Read the full story here.

Video - Attempt to tow Russia's broken down Armata T-14 tank on Red Square in Moscow.

Hmmmm......Russia’s Armata Tank to Have No Match Among Western competitors.......You can say that again 'Comrade'

Russia’s Armata Tank to Have No Match Among Western competitors.

Russia’s Armata Tank to Have No Match Among Western competitors. (Sputnik).

The T-14 Armata tank will be the main feature of the May Victory Day Parade on the Red Square in Moscow. The technical innovations of Armata platfrom make the Russian tank an absolute leader among its Western analogues, a US media agency claims.

Russia’s cutting-edge Armata tank which was previously unveiled during a Victory Day parade rehearsal in Moscow will surpass all Western versions, according to a US media agency.

Before the final rehearsal of the May 9 parade the T-14 tank was shown to the public with its turret masked with fabric. Monday was the first time the Armata was shown uncovered.

The tank is going to steal the show at the Victory Day parade on the Red Square, Moscow on May 9.

In addition, more than 16,500 servicemen and nearly 200 pieces of weaponry will be involved in the event.

The key feature of the new tank is its unmanned remotely-controlled turret, with three crew members seated in an armored capsule at the front of the tank's hull. The crew controls the tank’s gun remotely.

Such a construction increases the safety of the crew and its firing efficiency. The technical innovations used in designing the Armata make the Russian tank an absolute leader among its Western analogues, AP says.

Engineers designed the Armata platform also to be used for other combat vehicles, including an infantry combat vehicle and a self-propelled gun. The versatility of the platform will contribute to reducing production costs and to facilitating repair and maintenance works. Hmmm.....Who has the know how to work on these on the battlefield, or do they presume Armata can't breakdown? Read the full story here. More on new Russian 'armament' here. (Russian).

Armata tank pic.twitter.com/ensHfo0uZZ

— Jewish Russophile (@JewRussophile) May 4, 2015

Video - Russia: top-secret Armata T-14 tanks rev up for Moscow's V-Day parade.

Video - Russia: top-secret Armata T-14 tanks rev up for Moscow's V-Day parade. (Sputnik).

The Russian Ministry of Defense officially revealed the country's most advanced battle tank, the T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank (MBT), arguably the world's deadliest armored fighting vehicle, a couple of weeks ahead of the grand 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade.

The new T-14 and the rest of Russia's new armored vehicles show a huge technological leap from the old Soviet-era military hardware.

"The new vehicles are principally clean-slate designs and represent the biggest change in Russia's armored fighting vehicle families since the 1960s and 1970s," HIS Jane's 360 Defense Weekly reported.

The key feature of the new tank is its unmanned remotely-controlled turret, with crew members seated in an armored capsule at the front of the tank's hull.

The T-14 is armed with a 125 mm smoothbore cannon that can fire high-powered munitions, including armor-piercing discarding sabot projectiles, guided missiles, shaped-charges and other types of munitions. The muzzle energy of the tank's cannon is greater than that of the German Leopard-2 Rheinmetall 120 mm gun, according to the Diplomat.

It is speculated that the Armata tank might also come with a 152 mm gun. If this is true, the tank will have the most powerful cannon ever mounted on a main battle tank. 

The T-14 will also carry a 30-mm sub-caliber gun to shoot down low-flying aerial targets, including planes and helicopters. To defend against incoming anti-tank missiles, the T-14 will have a 12.5 mm turret-mounted heavy machine gun, RT said.

To finish all of that, the tank has fully automated ammunition loading and computerized targeting systems. Despite all the guns and computerized technology built into the armored vehicle, the menacing tank only needs two servicemen to operate it. Read the full story here.

Longer video of the repitition of the parade below.

Video of secret new Russian Armata tank appears on internet.

Video of secret new Russian Armata tank appears on internet.(RBTH).

A video of a Russian tank purported to be the new Russian T-14 Armata tank has been posted on the internet.

The short video clip, which lasts only 16 seconds, shows a passing tank covered with camouflage, which in its external appearance is different from all current Russian armored combat vehicles.

According to Russian media, the Armata may be presented for the first time to the public during the Victory Parade in Moscow on May 9 this year.

According to the Russian online publication Lenta.ru – “from the video posted on the internet, several conclusions can be drawn about the arrangement of this machine.”

First of all, the publication writes, it has been confirmed that this tank is equipped with an unmanned turret, and that its crew will be located in the front of the machine in an armored capsule.

According to information leaked to the Russian press, the Armata will also have a machine gun with remote-control loading and its own radar station, which can track up to 40 moving and up to 25 aerodynamic targets as well as monitor a territory within a radius of 100 km.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Russian Army will receive just over thirty T-14 tanks before the end of 2015. Hmmm.....Russians don't build a few tanks.....they produce thousands......In the Ural.