Russia's military ability to wage war

I also have read plenty of books on the eastern front and I say the Russians wouldn't of lost against the Germans. It was only a matter of time IMO that the Germans would of lost anyway primarily because of the logistical nightmare and the russian winter. You have seen the steppes right? they are endless!

You also understand the pace of the german advancement and you would also understand the condition of russian roads and railways and what happens to these lines in warfare.

You say how are they going to defend siberia from china? Well apart from the fact the russian military is much better equipped than the chinese military, the chinese has more population but in the end the vastness of Russia will stop china, the harsh nature of russia will stop their advance. I believe you are underestimating the harshness of the Russian winter and the actual size of russia, it may seem big on a map but its much much much bigger in real life.

thanks,
drfunk

All the Chinese would have to do is cut the Trans Siberian railway then move north, the Russians would have next to nothing to throw into the fight.

ahh sounds easy doesn't it

Originally posted by drfunk
ahh sounds easy doesn't it

I wouldn't say easy, but more than possible. You tell me what Russia could possibly do to defend this terrirtory. Think about it logically.

Russia Conventional has been underistamated for years, the only way we will ever find out whether or not how capable Russia really is if they go to war with a country that has around the same military cababilities.

Which could logically only be China or the United States, but any conventional war with either countries would Inevitably go onto the Nuclear Stage

if china did indeed try to make a land grab for Siberia and somehow cut off the rail road and was able to punch through the Russian Army defenses there, it would still have to deal w/the Russian Air Force.
Despite the lack of training recieved, the bomber force would have a fun time wiping out entire mechanized columns and the Chinese would have nothing to defend themselves with. Tis true they have both Russian S-300 and Su-27 systems, but both r truly in a small quantity and r inferior to Russian frontline fighters. This is just the airforce we're talking about though. The army Itself is sizeably equiped w/ upgraded T-80 Black Eagles and T-90's. These both have the capacity of carrying specially designed FAE (Fuel-Air Explosive) rounds, which are very devestating against armor and infantry. This still not discussing logistical problems for the chinese, not Russian Winter, which the Russians have nearly perfected fighting in.
Overall,lets just say the Russian military can hold its own, especially on the defensive.

Well said, most of the chinese weapons systems are copied from Russian systems, so its very unlikley that they would defeat the Russians, as for the Russian airforce they are far more skilled and battle proven than the Chinese airforce.

The Russian Winter would stop the Chinese advance in its tracks, then Russian fighter bombers would destroy whats left on the ground. Or they might go straight ahead and use tactical nuclear weapons.

Then I would expect the Russians to do a massed armored counter-attack, driving deep into the Chinese industrial Hearland

" Russia's military ability to wage war " = Russia is more than capable of dealing with invasions of its territory, it has been shown through out history, even if the enemy has out-classed the Russians, true nationalism will once again save the Russian Empire

Here's a good little invasion plan for Russia. Only take the pieces that you want and leave the rest to rot. The oil rich caspian basin for example. Encorage, finance and train seperatist rebels like the Muhadjadeen to infiltrate and destabilize regions in the Caucaucus. Encourage seperatist movements, border wars and cross-border insurgancies. Sometimes a slow and steady thrust from a knife can pierce better than a powerful thrust.

Sponsor, train and arm terrorists to attack the Russian state forcing them to over-react and misdirect their military and vital resources looking for spooks. Try to get the Russian military to launch offensives in areas where the loyalty to the Federation is questionable, this helps to destablize border regions and primes this region for increased insurgent activity. Always have huge cashes of arms in the reach of dissenting minorities. Encoruage ethnic violence and foster both sides of the conflict, this kind of destabilization aids in tying down Federal forces.

Dismembering the Russian Federation, in a similar fasion as was done to the Yugoslav Federation would be slow, but lethal. Taking the oil rich provinces first would serve to weaken the Federal Forces both in terms of the expense of an agrivated low-intensity conflict and the random destruction of pipelines and oil fields.

Establish secret Special Forces training camps all around the Southern Caucausus and Caspian region. Pump arms and cash into CIS states to silence them on your covert operations in the area and use these States as forward bases for Psychological Operations. PsyOps would include, but not limit itself to, dominating all information in areas of operations, undermining local currencies, controling drug and arms trafficing, infiltrate Banks, Oil Companies, local Police and Provencial Legal and Governmental offices. The key to controling a province is in establishing a prior command and control structure within the area before seperatist operations can take place. Once cecession is complete, you control all facets of the newly independent state and they will serve as a puppet.

Once this is complete, you have a new base of operations to begin infiltrating all surrounding states. This isn't a Blitzkreig operation, these operations may take several years but you use very little of your own forces, a few thousand perhaps. Most of the combatants are foreign nationals and mercenaries. After 15 - 20 years you've disintigrated the Russian Federation down to a Rump and a couple intense bombing campaigns later... you have a smoldering Rump.

This style of warfare works, this is pretty much how it was done in the Former Yugoslavia.

China will not make a move to take over Russian territory. It will not happen. Besides, do you really think the US would sit back and let that happen? Though its not our business, I'm sure we would have our noses in the middle of that.

The only way to defeat russia is from the inside kinda WWI: rise of communism.
Plus the weather alone could prove impossible to surmount( Napoleon was faced with the burnt land strategy: just retreat and burn everything behind you and u let ur enemy starve and die from cold there'll be no solid housing: the houses would be burnt to the ground)
Though nowaday many of these logistics problems could be overcomed it could still be challenging.

Originally posted by infinite8
China will not make a move to take over Russian territory. It will not happen. Besides, do you really think the US would sit back and let that happen? Though its not our business, I'm sure we would have our noses in the middle of that.

The reason china would invade China is the vast untapped naural resources ie. oil & gas strategic minerals. China will need these resources to achieve her amition of superpower status. There is no if but when they will attack.

Originally posted by mad scientist

Originally posted by infinite8
China will not make a move to take over Russian territory. It will not happen. Besides, do you really think the US would sit back and let that happen? Though its not our business, I'm sure we would have our noses in the middle of that.

The reason china would invade China is the vast untapped naural resources ie. oil & gas strategic minerals. China will need these resources to achieve her amition of superpower status. There is no if but when they will attack.

Man I dont want to be on that continent when that war goes down. I think allies would be a major factor in that war and I dont see many on Chinas side. Perhaps N Korea I think Russia would get much more allies I would think most ex-soviet bloc countries would rally to Russias side in this type of conflict.

I dont know what the EU or the US would do in such a event they might just sit that one out if they were wise.

I thought this was a thread about Russia's ability to wage war and not about who did what and to whom.

For my part, I did not see anything new.

The wheeled APCs were the same old BTR 60/70/80s;

The BMDs were Series 2 and 3;

I definately saw 2S22 'Tunguska' SPAAWs and the 240-mm Self-propelled Mortar known to NATO as the 2S4;

Personal weapons were AK 74, AK-74Us and quite possibly AK-100s. These were mostly carried by personnel lounging on support trucks;

What I did not see and may have missed, were the main battle tanks [if deployed] and tracked tube artillery.

I also didn't see any sign of a single 9K58 'Smerch' MLRS or the older 9K51 'Grad', the updated BM21 lookalike.

Did any poster actually see any filmclips of the Russians in action? I am not referring to the 'staged' video footage shown on various news
channels.
I spotted several types of towed artillery dug in some fields but as there were no ammo berms, I figured they were there - just in case.