Mechanised and air defence assets from the 49th and 58th Combined Arms Armies have been identified deploying to Crimea. Aug:‘Zapad-2021' (‘West-2021') is set to be larger in scale and ambition than the 2017 iteration of theexercise and will serve to indicate Russian support for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenkowhile exploring the capabilities of the modernised Russian armed forces. One aspect of the exercisethis year that will certainly be different from 2017 is the level of Belarusian involvement. In 2017Lukashenko was ostensibly reserved in his public attitude towards a Russian troop presence in Belarus.Indeed, during 2014–20 Belarus sought to balance its relations between the West and Russia, outwardlyleaning neither way and currying favour with both when possible. The first footage of the Almaz-Antey S-500 Prometey (‘Prometheus') air and missile defence system (GRAU designation 55R6M), shown conducting a test launch, has been released by the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) via a video published on its YouTube channel on 20 July. The missile shown being launched was reported to have successfully intercepted a “high-speed ballistic target” during test firings at the Kapustin Yar range, about 100 km east of Volgograd, according to the video. Once tests are complete, the system is to enter service with air defence formations in the Moscow region, the video added. Janes Analysis: The completion of theS-500system's development has been expected for a long time, with initial news regarding the project surfacing around 2009. This footage comes after a 28 June announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin thatRussia's newSarmatintercontinental ballistic missile, Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile, and theS-500system were all due to enter service shortly.

The frigate ADMIRAL GORSHKOV conducted a live fire test launch of a Tsirkon missile in the White Sea. Fred T. Jane was never the doctrinaire or the theorist in his written expositions of naval matters, but a reporter, first, last, and all the time. He disliked hysteria and attempts to influence Admiralty policy based on half-knowledge. He once offended an English audience before whom he was lecturing by pointing out that admiration of Nelson could be overdone if it involved disregard of changed conditions since Trafalgar. urn:oclc:863504411 Republisher_date 20150925004443 Republisher_operator [email protected] Scandate 20150917011431 Scanner scribe4.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition) Already a Janes customer? Read more here. Domestic Affairs Russia to receive 20 Armata MBTs by end of 2021

Region of Focus: Western Pacific 

Feb 17: Admiralty Shipyards has begun the manufacture of the fourth and fifth Project 677 Lada-class diesel-electric submarines (SSK) for the Russian Navy. In a 14 February announcement, the shipbuilder said that steel cutting for both submarines was under way at its yard in St Petersburg. The two boats are being built under a contract awarded to Admiralty Shipyards in June 2019. A sixth boat is planned under an additional contract awarded in August 2020. JANE'S GROUP UK LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk . Retrieved 17 March 2023. Oct: The first S-500 55R6M Prometey (Prometheus) strategic air-defence system has entered service with a unit in the Moscow region, the TASS news agency reported on 13 October, citing a source close to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD). The first regimental set is to be followed by a second in the first half of 2022, the source added. No official announcement has been made by the MoD, but Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told the RIA Novosti news agency in September that deliveries were under way to Russian forces. These initial S-500 units may be intended primarily for training purposes or limited service, as the Izvestia newspaper reported on 12 October that Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov has said serial production and deliveries of the S-500 are scheduled for 2025. Jane's All the World's Aircraft and Fighting Ships are included in the 2019 edition of the AP stylebook as references for proper notation of aircraft and military ship names. [12]

On 23 June the UK Royal Navy (RN) Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender took a direct route from Odessa in Ukraine to its next sea area off Georgia, entering Russia's declared territorial waters off the Crimean Peninsula. The United Kingdom does not recognise Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and considered itself to be in Ukrainian territorial waters. What Defender actually did – conduct innocent passage – was well within international maritime law. That was not how Russia saw it, however, and its response, according to its own state reports, was to fire warning shots and conduct preventive bombing Oct 7: During The Russian military announced on 29 September that its forces had completed their withdrawal from Belarus that day, following the conclusion of ‘Zapad-2021' strategic exercises on 17 September. The scenario for Zapad-2021 was similar to that of its predecessor in 2017: an alliance of NATO countries conducting a limited invasion of Belarus following a period of political instability instigated by Western forces. For the purposes of the exercise, all parties were given pseudonyms; Belarus became ‘Polesei', Russia ‘the Central Federation', and their alliance ‘the Northern Coalition'. The NATO countries, ‘Nyaris' (Lithuania), Pomorie (Poland), and ‘the Polar Republic' (parts of Latvia and components of NATO partner forces in Poland), represent a belief or hope within the Russian military that a conflict with NATO would initially be limited in scope, enabling the Russian armed forces and Kremlin to manage escalation and limit its horizontal growth. This belief in turn determines the forces and means committed to the fight, with the intention of using only the forces needed to achieve the desired goals of protecting Belarus and forcing peace with NATO before the conflict escalates beyond control. Previously, these had been exclusively the concern of a handful of professionals and politicians. By the end of the 19 th century, democratic politics and a technological revolution in warfare had created a more general awareness of defence problems. Fred T. Jane would be one of the first to meet the growing demand for objective and dispassionate analysis of such issues.Oct 14: The first S-500 55R6M Prometey (Prometheus) strategic air-defence system has entered service with a unit in the Moscow region, the TASS news agency reported on 13 October, citing a source close to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD). The first regimental set is to be followed by a second in the first half of 2022, the source added. No official announcement has been made by the MoD, but Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told the RIA Novosti news agency in September that deliveries were under way to Russian forces. These initial S-500 units may be intended primarily for training purposes or limited service, as the Izvestia newspaper reported on 12 October that Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov has said serial production and deliveries of the S-500 are scheduled for 2025. Russia's Kalashnikov Group is studying integration of Vikhr-1 (AT-16 ‘Scallion') anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) onto a range of new platforms, a representative of the company told Janes at the MAKS 2021 air show, held in Zhukovsky near Moscow from 20 to 25 July. “The Kalashnikov Group is considering integration of the Vikhr missile [onto] the Mi-28NE and Mi-35P helicopters and the Orion-E [unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)],” said the Kalashnikov official. He added that the holding continues to modify the Vikhr air-launched ATGM for various aircraft. Janes Analysis: TheVikhr-1, an upgrade of the originalVikhrair-launched ATGM, was unveiled at last year's Army 2020 defence show in Kubinka near Moscow. It has a range of up to 10 km and a velocity of 600 m/s. The containerised missile weighs about 50 kg. A new – as yet unidentified commander – was appointed to lead Russian forces stationed in north eastern Syria. The commander will reportedly lead forces in the region for three months. Aug:The Kazakhstan Air Defence Forces (KADF) will receive four Sukhoi Su-30SM ‘Flanker-H' multirolefighter aircraft from Russia by the end of 2022, the Director of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Dmitry Shugayev, was quoted by Russia's TASS news agency as saying on 25August. Shugayev noted that 20 Su-30SMs have been delivered to the KADF so far, adding that thelatest batch of aircraft to be delivered next year is part of an ongoing contract. Janes understands thatthese four aircraft will complete the KADF's second squadron of 12 Su-30SMs. The Kazakh governmentfirst expressed its intention to buy a second squadron of Su-30SMs in August 2017 as part of aframework agreement signed with Russia.