My friend got one of those Russian mail-order brides. She was very meek at first, and skinny, but prospered rapidly in this country. Her over-education landed her a job easily, and I think she just began a trip back home to Russia with her kid (she left my friend behind, even though he's paying for it!) From what I've seen, Russians are very intelligent. Most dumb Russians are smarter than smart Americans, but their cultural war with "the West" has left their economy in a shambles. That, and having some of the most crooked politicians in the world in league with WTO bankers and US "consultants" has made a bad situation much worse than it has any right to be. I think the Russians should start expanding their options, that means, start courting the Chinese and especially the European Union more vigorously. Simply, they should start playing the game that Germans are playing now - pit the Ameircans and French and Chinese against each other, then accept the best deal. The trick is to do it without pissing anyone off too badly, but the Russians are in a very good position to do it.

I can't tell about the whole Russian military but I can about the army. Our armed forces have around 60,000 MBT's, mostly mod. T-72, dozens of T-80 versions, U/UK/UM etc. T-84's, some T-90/S/U/K and the newest Command version, wich contains a new autoloader. The newest MBT's are the T-95 and T-80UM2 "Black Eagle". A number of Black Eagle been sold to South Korea, however, most probably is the T-95 the best allround MBT in the near future. This tank is what was originally perceived in the West to be the perspective Russian MBT. It is either a hoax or a real conceptual prototype. In the latter case its relation to Nizhny Tagil design is unknown. The design is unique in that it has a very small and extremely rounded auto-loader instead of a turret. The entire crew is situated in the hull, which is separated from the auto-loader by an armored bulkhead. Main gun rounds are placed in a circle around a loader and are delivered by a revolving transporter, fully automating the loading procedure. This scheme raises crew survivability to an incredible level. Yet another major innovation attributed to this tank is a new anti-tank gun that has a larger caliber than the 2A46 series, 135 mm. This 135mm gun pops up occasionally since as early as the end of eighties when it was attributed to a mysterious T-86 MBT. Today it is more or less a certainty that there is no 135mm gun in existence. 2A46M is still in service, and accuracy and reliability upgrades and new ammo designs seem to bring it finally to the level of the powerful Rh-120 line of guns of Leopard, Abrams and Merkava. There are, however, indications of a 152mm tank gun being developed. It is hard to tell how much in common does this MBT have with a real new tank being developed in Nizhny Tagil, but the main features of both vehicles are an unmanned gunpod, crew placement in the hull and a large-caliber maingun. A new MBT was developed by V. Potkin's design team in Nizhny Tagil, at the Uralvagonzavod Plant where all the latest Russian tanks except the T-80 were manufactured. This vehicle is intended to become the new Russian MBT and was planned to enter service in 1994, but due to lack of financing it is still on the testing grounds (according to some reports it has cleared the testing phase around March 1999). As a result, the Russian Army is stuck with the obsolete designs of T-64/T-72/T-80/T-90 line for much longer than it wishes. The MBT doesn't yet have any lofty name and hides behind some obscure "ob'ekt" designation. In March 2000 the Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, while visiting Nizhny Tagil, said that Russia now "has a new T-95 tank" referring to the MBT being discussed here. It is unclear if this means that the vehicle is finally fielded (as only a fielded vehicle may get T-95 designation), or he just used the term that is sufficiently known in the West to avoid getting into details. I could find very little about this vehicle, because it is all classified data. Here is the precious little I could gather, thanks mostly to Col. Viktor Mourakhovsky. Crew protection on the tank will be emphasized to a far greater degree than ever before in Russian tank designs. The level of crew protection should ensure its survival when the tank is hit by any anti-tank munitions from any aspect or angle, thanks to the crew placement in a unitary armored pod inside the hull. A unique drivetrain suspension system is being tested on this tank that to a certain extent extinguishes the hull vibrations and stabilizes its position. The tank still remains in Class 50 (i.e. it weighs 50 tons) and it shall have an even smaller silhouette than the modern Russian MBTs. The gun will be a 152mm smoothbore tank gun/ATGM launcher. The development of this system started as far back as end of the fifties for the heavy tanks (originally a rifled gun, probably M-69). The project was revived in the eighties and the gun was significantly redesigned. Even with ordinary powders a very high initial velocity of an APFSDS projectile is achieved. I could not, unfortunately, learn how the caliber increase is going to influence ammunition allowance and rate of fire. This gun shall be located in an unmanned gun pod on top of the hull with no crew access to it. This is likely to increase survivability and lower the silhouette even further. The fire control system will be multi-channel (optical + thermal + IR + laser + radar). The carousel autoloader goes away. According to plans the crew will consist of a 3 man combat structure and one mechanic (not unlike the air force crew structure), who will be responsible for vehicle maintenance and will reside in a battalion service and repair company. To sum it up; (around) 60,000 MBT's are still "there", but its inclear how many of them are in service. 15,000 APC's/IFV's. There are currently around 1,000-1,200 BMP-3's in service, Russia might has not the best MBT, but the best APC/IFV and thats the

My knowledge goes beyond "Russian military school". I've been living in Russia, Serbia and Germany, and learn alot about the world in different perspectives. I've been, still am in the military and saw the recent conflicts under several perspectives. I've started my military carrer 1994 with 18 years in the Army Spetsnaz, and served 1996 in the Chechen war. I went to Serbia after 3 years in the Army Spetsnaz and joined the 72nd Special Brigade, after a total training of about two years. I've then served 1999 in the Kosovo war, within the 72nd Special Brigade and was then with 5 years military experiance transfered to the 72nd Special Brigade's dedicated CT unit the "Hawks". I was assigned to the Hawks through the Kosovo war and then due to organization - and several other - problems joined the SOBR (Special Rapid Reaction Unit) in Moscow. I've served 2000 in Chechenya and stayed in the SOBR. I'am now a bit more than 3 years as a Captain in the SOBR and stationed in Moscow; out of service for actually, will apply to the VSCG's Cobra CT unit next year. Along with my time in the military I've used all Russian/Yugoslavian assault rifles, AS, Bizons, RPK's, PKM's, the M76, M91 and 7,9mm M93 sniper rifles. SVD, SVU-A, VSS, KSVK. MP5, G3, .50cal Berrett, HK PSG, R-4, Gyurza, Makarov's, Zastava CZ-99 .357cal pistols. Israeli Jericho 941-F and 941-FB. Aswell as 30mm AGLs, 40mm UBG's and 60mm light mortars. Kornet-E, RPG's and various grenades. Zastava and Franchi SPAS shotguns, silenced Mack's and Skorpion's aswell as crossbows. Finnish Sako TRG-21, and the Yugoslavian-produced M93 .50 cal sniper rifle. I've been firing U.S and other western made weapons, most of them are quite reliable and good, especially the German. I own an M4A1 and boght an LR-300 a few days ago. Both good U.S AR's. Allthought I like the An-94 more.

Russia's military size is around 365,000 but in 1975 it reached up to 1.2 million, most without proper gear. Russia Reduced its army to a more mobile and elite fighting force.

365,000 is that army,navy,air force combined or just the army..

Hey Soviet Spetsnaz. Im really impressed with your knowledge of teh russian army and the weaponry. Were you actually in the Spetsnaz? If so, I would love to knwo more about them. From the spetsnaz movies I saw they seem to be trained to kill a bair with their hands tided behind their backs.

That must have been a small bear. The Spetsnaz are probably one of the best specforce units in the world, but I wouldn't bet a ruble on one with his hands tied behind his back, facing off with a pissed-off grizzly. Except to see how fast he could run. I suppose he could kill *me* easily enough, and hope the bear's distracted...

They are currently standing at 1.2 million the Army anyways. 250,000 of which are part of the Russian Civil Defence(I think they changed the name again correct me if see fit.) which is like the US National Guard. The Russian Army and its Spetznatz could still crush most armies of the world given there combat experience in Chechnya they could probably adapt to any situation if funding and equipment is improved slightly

Oh and by the way the Russian Military reached up to 4 million at its peak just so you know. They were a force to be reckoned with.= and still are.