With indications that NATO vs. Russia war could begin ‘today or tomorrow’, Russia is already equipping its military with advanced hardware to gain advantage in such a war.
Russian Helicopters company has begun developing an advanced high-speed combat helicopter. The fact that the helicopter (PSV) was under development was reported earlier, but it wasn’t specified whether it would be an offensive chopper or used exclusively as military transportation means.
The Moscow-based company’s deputy CEO for sales, Grigory Kozlov, gave official details about the military chopper on Wednesday.
It was reported on Monday that the PSV is expected to enter commercial production by the year of 2022, according to Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force Viktor Bondarev.
The combat helicopter can accelerate up to 500 kilometers (311 miles) per hour.
“At present, projects on the Mi-28NM, Ka-52K, Mi-26T2 [helicopters] are being realized, and work on an advanced high-speed combat helicopter has started,” Kozlov told Russian state-owned RIA Novosti.
The company manufacturer of the PSV is one of the key design and manufacturing companies. Founded in 2007, the company has five chopper plants, two design departments as well as enterprises for the production and maintenance of aircraft parts, a repair plant and a service company that provides technical support of sold aircraft.
Russia’s T-14 Armata main battle tank will be invisible
The PSV military chopper is yet another indication that Russian President Vladimir Putin is dead serious about making his country one of the greatest military powers in the world, with an ultimate aim to make it the greatest.
Earlier this year, Russia showcased its cutting-edge T-14 Armata main battle tank – easily the largest main battle tank manufacturer in the world. The company-manufacturer of the tank, Uralvagonzavod, claims this deadliest new weapon is invisible to enemy radars.
It is yet unclear whether this claim is true or not, but one thing is certain: the Russian military intends to replace 70 percent of the country’s tanks with the cutting-edge T-14 Armata. As of now, the Russian military consists of mostly T-72 and T-90 main battle tanks.
With plans to produce 2,300 T-14 Armata tanks by 2020, there are little details for the public about the tank’s hardware, which is why it is difficult for experts to assess its capabilities and compare it to Western and U.S. main battle tanks.
Apparently, the U.S. must fear not only Russia’s new military developments, but also China’s. It was reported earlier this year that China is developing a new High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) UAV (also known as the Divine Eagle) capable of eliminating stealth enemy aircraft far away from the Chinese territory.
And it has just become apparent that Russia is working on a similar system. The MAKS aircraft spectacular show held in Moscow last week showcased advanced Russia’s aircraft that the country’s engineers have been working on for years, or even decades.
U.S. will be helpless against Russia and China’s new UAVs
The new UAV, which was shown at the show, is similar to China’s Divine Eagle in the regard of it using low frequency radars to detect low-observable stealth aircraft such as the F-35, F-22 and B-2 bomber, according to Flight Global news website.
It must be noted that most stealth aircraft is designed to evade high-frequency radar systems. But the developers of the new UAV have made a great leap ahead by equipping the aircraft with an advanced electronic warfare suite. Not only does it have a protective electromagnetic sphere around the UAV to counter missiles, but also makes it invisible from radars.
What it means is this: the new Russian UAV will detect U.S. stealth aircraft without being detected. This kind of combination would give the Russians a major advantage in a war against the U.S.
On top of that, “Russia and China are already working on new networked air defenses coupled with new radars operating in the UHF and VHF-bands that threaten to neutralize America’s massive investment in fifth-generation fighters. Fighter-sized stealth aircraft are only optimized to perform against high-frequency fire control band radars operating in the Ku, X, C and portions of the S-band,” U.S. defense official Dave Majumdar told The National Interest.
Russia’s weak and strong military sides
The Pentagon took a serious note of Russia’s military capabilities ever since its large-scale military drills in March this year. Considering the evolving nature of warfare over the next decades, military experts agree that Russia’s military capabilities are likely to be affected.
For example, the growing trend toward greater automation will gradually become a weak side of the Russian military, since the Kremlin does not have the military technology that could compete with Western automated systems. Besides, Russia doesn’t have the technology to develop those systems in the nearest future.
Thus, in case a war between the West and Russian begins, Russian would be the weak side in terms of automated control systems, advanced electronics, drones and other electronics.
Therefore, Russia must be looking for other ways to effectively counter Western automated technologies. For example, Russian military could try to jam Western communications and disable automated equipment with its electronic developments. Besides, Russia has a great experience at disabling such enemy equipment ever since the Soviet times.
Another way for Moscow to counter Washington’s technological developments that are out of reach for Russia’s capabilities would be focusing on cyber warfare against the West. Russia’s could even wage a cyber warfare without declaring it, and with recent hacks of the Pentagon, Russia might have already started it.
