Modern Russia Can Fight And Win Land Wars

Technological advances strengthen Russia’s artillery-centric army and shrink the threat of a rout from the air by NATO. Russia is poised to change political outcomes with military means for decades.

Russian TOS-1 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) preparing to fire during an exercise in 2011. Photo by Vitaly Kuzmin. Source.

Russia’s Armed Forces are very different from their Western equivalents. On the surface level of equipment comparisons, the divergence is not obvious. Like every other militarily advanced country, Russia has tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), attack helicopters, multirole fighter jets, a variety of submarines, and even an aircraft carrier, albeit one that is currently being overhauled. However, the Russian military combines these weapons systems into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Russian approach to war has been deeply shaped by Russia’s geography, recent military expeditions abroad, and the overarching goal of building a conventional military that can decisively win land wars without being routed from the air.