The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (VSRF) received a number of new and refurbished weapons systems in 2016 and looks to further deliveries this year as it continues modernizing to project power overseas, revealed Russian Defense Minister and General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.

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In a speech before the Federal Assembly (the Russian rubber-stamp Parliament dominated by Vladimir Putin), Gen. Shoigu said the VSRF received a wide range of new weapons last year, including 41 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to be operated by the Strategic Missile Troops.

Three regiments of the Strategic Missile Troops will receive new ICBMs, said Gen. Shoigu. Each regiment deploys up to 10 launchers.

He said the wide-ranging military modernization will continue this year. The Russian Ground Forces will receive 905 tanks and other armored vehicles. Of the tanks, many will be upgrades of the four-decade old T-72 that comprise most of the tanks in the army. None of the tanks will be the much hyped T-14 Armata, which will only join the army in 2025.

Gen. Shoigu also said the Russian Ground Forces will complete organizing three new mechanized divisions in to be deployed in the west and southwest of Russia. The Ground Forces will also deploy a new division on the Pacific Islands, which Russia illegally seized from Japan at the end of World War II.

The Russian Aerospace Forces will receive 170 new aircraft while the Russian Navy will receive 17 new ships. Gen. Shoigu said the VSRF now has 2,000 aerial drones compared to just 180 in 2011.

He also noted that Russia has deployed new long-range early warning radars to survey the airspace along the entire length of its borders.

The increase in the number of new weapons has also increased demands for new personnel. Gen. Shoigu said the VSRF currently needs 1,300 more pilots and will recruit them starting 2018.

He said ongoing the weapons modernization programs has seen the one million-strong VSRF narrow the technological gap in areas where Russia had fallen behind the West, such as long-range conventional weapons and drone technologies. 

TagsArmed Forces of the Russian Federation, VSRF, Defense Minister and General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, Strategic Missile Troops, Russian Ground Forces, T-14 Armata