Information on Russian Category A Divisions in the Western operating area

[Blackraptor]

I am trying to do some research for a "modern", 1991-present, NATO/Russian engagement scenario. As such I would like to know some things about Russian Divisional organization and Equipment loadouts. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Below is the immediate questions that I have.

1) Divisional organization..... i.e. how many regiments, battalions, etc.
2) How many tanks, IFVs, Artillery, AAA batteries, etc makes up each of the above.
3) What types each of the vehicles are.
4) the different organizations between Tank, Motor Rifle, Rifle, Airborne divisions with corresponding equipment.

Again I know that this is a lot of potential information, but this would be greatly appreciated. I would like to try to get the simulation as close as possible to realistic.

Thanks.

 

[Feanor]

The Russian Army has transitioned from a divisional to a brigade organization in 2009-2010. A typical Motor-Rifles Brigade has 3 M-R btlns equipped with either BMPs (typically BMP-2 or BMP-3, the BMP-1 is practically phased out), or BTRs (typically BTR-80, with BTR-82 and 82A entering service right now). It also has a tank btln equipped with T-72Bs, T-80s, or T-90As. Also typically a tube arty btln featuring 2S3 or 2S19 (occasionally 2S1 or 2S5), a MLRS btln with BM-21 Grads, and a SAM btln featuring Tor-M, Osa, Strela-10, ZSU-23-4, or 2S6 Tunguska. There is also a scout btln, typically equipped with recon BTR-80 variants, or in some cases Tigr, or Dozor armored cars.

A few rare ones include an anti-tank btln with MT-12 Rapira anti-tank guns.

A tank brigade is the same, with the Tank and M-R btln proportions reversed.

An arty bde involves a btln of BM-27 Uragan, a btln of tube arty either the SP kind mentioned above, or of the towed kind (Msta-B), a btln of anti-tank guided missiles (either MT-LB or BMP-3 chassis), and a btln of anti-tank guns MT-12.

 

[Blackraptor]

Feanor- Thanks that is a good starting point for me. Do you happen to know how many tanks make up one of the new battalions?

 

[wesireal]

Feanor- Thanks that is a good starting point for me. Do you happen to know how many tanks make up one of the new battalions?

Feanor:

I am not an expert so please,if you would, tell me what is the meaning of Russian army having switched to Brigades instead of Divisions. What do the 2 star generals command now.

I am an old man with murky memories of military organization. Please do not feel insulted by my question .

 

[Feanor]

Feanor- Thanks that is a good starting point for me. Do you happen to know how many tanks make up one of the new battalions?

Apparently they've switched to a 4-company tank btln, so 41 tanks are a btln. A company is 10 (3 platoons of 3, with a company command tank). The 41st is btln command. However there are some rumors that only MRBde tank btlns have 4 companies, and Tank Bde btlns still have the old 3 company structure. I haven't been able to confirm this.

 

[Feanor]

Feanor:

I am not an expert so please,if you would, tell me what is the meaning of Russian army having switched to Brigades instead of Divisions. What do the 2 star generals command now.

I am an old man with murky memories of military organization. Please do not feel insulted by my question .

Typically a Bde command is a Colonel, or Maj. General, from what I've seen at least.

What this means is that the average brigade (bde) is now the equivalent of a Regimental Tactical Group. At it's core is the equivalent of a slightly over-strength Soviet regiment, but there are more support assets. So for example there is an entire recon btln in a bde, where as in the past divisions had a recon btln. Also in terms of artillery, there are at least 2 btlns; 1 guns 1 MLRS. In some cases there are more (the MRBde's in South Ossetia and Abkhazia have 2 btlns of SP-arty each). Also there is an entire air-defense btln in each of these bdes, and a large field hospital.

These brigades are then organized into armies, which will typically include several MRBdes and Tank Bdes, an Arty Bde, a Anti-Air Missile Bde (PVO Land Forces), and in some cases a Operational-Tactical Missile Bde typically armed with Tochka-U, or in rare cases with Iskander missiles.

In more basic terms this is a more tactical distribution of arty assets to the unit commanders, allowing for organic (as opposed to attached) indirect fire support. There is also a higher proportion of arty at the discretion of motor-rifle unit commanders, then there was in the past.

Finally as a result of the recent reforms, there are no more category A, B and C units. They're all at 95-100% of nominal strength (i.e. all are above cat A), requiring no mobilization at all. A few Bases for Storage and Repair of Military Equipment exist, and they allow a mobilization with the creation of several dozen additional bdes. However these bases do not have a peace-time officer or soldier component. They're literally warehouses with equipment.

 

[Blackraptor]

Ok. It sounds like the Russians are starting to do like the United States is doing..... Building their forces around the idea of "combat brigades". And that each brigade on its own is a fully functional combined arm, force capable of rapid deployment. Is this a correct assumption?

And what is the penetration of the Russian T-90 MBT. Is it in wide spread use? Or is it still a more specialty tank that is only equipped to a few select units?

 

[wesireal]

Thank you Feanor.

Please what is the command structure? Example

Lt.Col Batt; Brigadier General Brigade etc etc

 

[Feanor]

Thank you Feanor.

Please what is the command structure? Example

Lt.Col Batt; Brigadier General Brigade etc etc

There are no Brigadier Generals. The lowest general rank is Maj. General.

 

[Feanor]

Ok. It sounds like the Russians are starting to do like the United States is doing..... Building their forces around the idea of "combat brigades". And that each brigade on its own is a fully functional combined arm, force capable of rapid deployment. Is this a correct assumption?

Yes. That's the idea. Each brigade is supposed to be a relatively self-sufficient combat unit ready to redeploy in ~2 hours after alarm is sounded.

And what is the penetration of the Russian T-90 MBT. Is it in wide spread use? Or is it still a more specialty tank that is only equipped to a few select units?

There's a total of ~500 of them out of an inventory of ~2000 combat tanks. There are a few in West MD, and quite a few in South MD (namely the 7th base in Abkhazia, 19th MRB in North Ossetia, and 20th MRB at Volgograd). There are a few btlns of older T-90s in Center MD.

 

[Blackraptor]

Cool thanks this is helping alot....... You had mentioned that the Russians no longer have the class A,B,C units...... does this mean that all of the units are equipped with newer equipment. Such as the T-80 series or the T-90s the BTR-82As, and BMP-2s and BMP-3? Or are there still units with inferior vehicles.

And how prevalent are the T-72 series in Russian formations?

 

[Feanor]

Category A, B, and C primarily referred to mobilization readyness. While it is true that Cat A units tended to have better equipment, this was not true everywhere. Infact large quantities of newly produced military equipment went straight to Cat B and C units in the USSR, where they were (for the most part) put into long term storage.

In terms of equipment, the BTR-70s, BMP-1, T-62, and T-55s are almsot completely gone. Some T-55s remain as stationary gun emplacement on the Kuril Islands (also probably Sakhalin and elsewhere in the Far East, but that's just my guess), and some T-62s are apparently still in use by the MVD. Some BTR-70s and 60s are still in use, mainly ones being used as command vehicles for specialized units such as engineers, or RKhBZ troops.

The T-72 is by far the most common tank. As a result of the recent reform, it appears that the T-80s have actually been reduced in number more so then the T-72s. Modernization and overhaul programs continue for the T-72s, mainly to the BA standard, however T-90 purchases are continuing and even increasing.

The BTR-82 and 82A (which by the way do not replace one another, they are actually the same vehicle the only difference being the armament, the 82A has a 30mm autocannon, the 82 has a 12.7mm machinegun) are very rare. They only entered production iirc last year. There should be some maybe in the 155th Marines Bde in the Far East. Maybe some have found their way to the North Caucus. However the main APCs are the BTR-80 and BTR-80A.

 

[Blackraptor]

First off all Feanor, thanks for all your help. You are really helping me a lot I have gotten more done these last few days than I did the two weeks prior.

With that said, I was wondering what are the russian scout units equipped with vehicle wise and how is a typical scout platoon organized?

 

[Feanor]

I don't know how scout platoons are organized. Vehicle wise they're mixed. Some are equipped with Tigr armored cars, some with Dozor armored cars. Some have BRDM-2, and some have BTR-80 recon variants. In some cases the same btln may have more then one vehicle type.

 

[Blackraptor]

That is actually good news..... variety makes for more realistic scenarios. Be kind of boring if every different unit had the same hardware. Even in western forces its rare for every type of unit to have exactly the same things.

Do you by chance know what the ratio, or exact numbers, of anti-aircraft guns are in the AAA battalion? For example how many ZSU 23/4 "Shilka" gun platforms to missile battery platforms?

 

[Feanor]

No I don't know. Especially since the recent reforms changed btln structures across the board. I'll see if I can dig it up. However typically the SAM/SPAAG btlns of a single unit will be homogenous. If they have Shilkas, they only have Shilkas. If they have Osa, they only have Osa.

By the way the non-standardization of equipment is certainly not a good thing. They need to decide on what their next recon vehicle will be; probably the Dozor given how it's already being tested as the platform for a tactical UAV (Strekoza). The BRDM-2 needs to be phased out entirely. The with the Tigr we need to figure out whether it will full-fill the light-armor vehicle, or whether the IVECO Lynx will, either way I don't think it should replace the BRDM-2.

 

[Blackraptor]

If you can find that, that would be great.

And I agree in real life the Non standardization of equipment is a bad thing. But for my purposes it is great. This is all for fictional scenarios. So being able to have different equipment makes things more exciting. The scenarios would get boring after a while if every unit you come up against is exactly the same.

 

[Feanor]

Typically a Motor-Rifles Bde will have both an anti-air artillery, and an anti-air missile btln.

If I'm reading this right, 12 Tor-M1 tac-SAMs make up the Missile-Defense Btln. The SPAAG/SAM btln is supposed to include 6 2S6 Tunguska in 3 platoons of 2, 6 Strela-10M3 in 2 platoons of 3, and 27 Igla MANPADS with infantry mounted in MT-LB transports. The command and control elements seem to be mounted in BTR-80s.

skeiz: ОМСБР нового облика

The method seems to be to have a number of varied point air-defense protecting MRBs and TBs on the move, while brigade tac-SAM assets remain hot most of the time, scanning for threats. The tac-SAM btln includes a number of additional RLS and command and control assets.