Preparing for WAR? Russia to upgrade rocket artillery by 2020 as tensions with NATO rise
RUSSIA has revealed it will upgrade its rocket artillery brigades by 2020 as tensions with NATO increase.
Russia launch ballistic missile-tracking Soyuz military rocket
The announcement was made by Russian Missile Troops and Artillery commander General Mikhail Matveyevsky who said Moscow’s Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) will be replaced with the Smerch systems.
He said: "The rearmament of all missile brigades to modern Iskander-M missile systems and rocket artillery brigades to large-calibre Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems will be completed.”
The new Tornado-S system is a lighter version of Smerch and easier to mobilise but there is a slight reduction of firepower. The new system also uses the same GLONASS satellite navigation system.
Russia has said it is updating its rocket artillery brigades
Already strained relations between Russia and NATO were put under further pressure earlier today after a veteran Russian politician suggested that Moscow could resort to nuclear weapons to defend itself if NATO or US-led forces moved against the Crimean Peninsula or eastern Ukraine.
Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov, who has been involved in Russian politics since the 1970s, told attendees of the 2017 GLOBSEC Bratislava Global Security Forum in Slovakia Sunday that Russian forces would need to utilise some form of nuclear warfare to deter US or NATO forces from invading Russia.
He said: "On the issue of NATO expansion on our borders, at some point I heard from the Russian military - and I think they are right - If US forces, NATO forces, are, were, in the Crimea, in eastern Ukraine, Russia is un-defendable militarily in case of conflict without using nuclear weapons in the early stage of the conflict.”
The upgrade is due to start later this year and is expected to be completed by 2020.
The long-range 300-mm Tornado-S MLRS, manufactured by the Splav Research and Manufacturing Company, can fire at a range of 75 miles and strike an area of over 60 hectares (150 acres).
He added that serial deliveries of Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled guns (SPG) to the Russian army would also begin by 2020.
Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said earlier that the serial production of Tornado-S multiple launch rocket systems was planned to be launched in 2017.
Russia's artillery will use the new Tornado-S systems by 2020
According to him, the new complex will excel its predecessors by the firing range and will be armed with precision munitions and a new automated control and guidance system.
The news comes after Russian president Vladimir Putin unveiled his latest futuristic tanks which are invisible to missiles.
The new T-14 Armata machines can completely annihilate targets more than five miles away.
And the tanks also use a special stealth coating which can block, absorb or bend waves - making the tanks essentially invisible.
The innovation - a masking agent called Mantiya - poses a huge problem for a generation of anti-armour weapons, particularly the US-supplied Javelin guided missile which is now futile against the Russian fighters.
Russia's artillery are to be equipped with the Tornado-S system
The Russian tanks are just the latest secret weapon developed by Putin’s nation in recent months.
In September the country revealed a rapid-fire cannon, designed for use on the T-50 fifth-generation fighter jet, capable of shooting 1,800 rounds per minute.
The gun's manufacturers claim it is capable of piercing modern armoured vehicles and marks a significant step forward in weapons development for the Russian military.
And the bullets are said to be accurate at up to 800m against aerial targets and can hit ground-based targets from 1,800m away.