Close to actual combat as much as possible, objectively test the level of training, and show a tough stand to the outside world—
Views of Russian assault readiness inspection
From July 17 to 21, the Russian Ministry of Defense conducted assault readiness inspections on the southern Russian military region, the western military region, a certain unit directly under the Ministry of National Defense, and the marines and airborne troops of the Russian Northern Fleet and Pacific Fleet. The assault readiness inspection involved 150,000 soldiers, 414 flying equipment, more than 26,000 pieces of ground equipment, and 106 ships of various types. During the inspection, more than 50 tactical exercises were conducted.
This year's surprise combat readiness inspection comes at a time when the Russian epidemic continues to be severe, the Russian and US military's naval and air competition is intensifying, and the conflict erupts on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Therefore, it is unique and attracts international attention.
Since 2013, the Russian army has resumed the tradition of assault readiness inspections during the Soviet era. It has held 5 to 6 strategic level, hundreds of campaigns and tactical level assault readiness inspections every year to frequently test the level of Russian military readiness and safeguard national security. ability.
Establish actual combat orientation——
Focus on improving the military's combat readiness
At present, the Russian army has formed a normalized combat readiness and surprise training mechanism covering all levels of strategy, campaign, and tactics, covering all forces such as operations, support, and support. Russian Defense Minister Shoigu said: "We did this not for sensational news effects, nor for superficial writing, but to see ourselves clearly and to check ourselves."
In order to achieve this goal, from the first assault readiness inspection, the Russian army insisted on carrying out training in the "maximum close to the actual combat environment." This surprise inspection fully embodies this principle.
One is to check in an unfamiliar battlefield environment. The raid was held at 35 ground shooting ranges and 17 sea shooting ranges. Before the battle alarm was sounded, neither the troops of the inspected military region nor the command organization knew which shooting range they were going to go to.
The second is to check in a complex battlefield environment. The Russian military has specially constructed electronic warfare shooting ranges to simulate a complex electromagnetic environment with multiple signal interweaving, multiple densities, and multiple spectrums. In conjunction with this year's new crown pneumonia epidemic, the Russian military has also added scenarios for the worsening of the epidemic situation on the basis of the previous construction of nuclear radiation and chemical pollution.
The third is to check during the confrontation exercise. The Russian military has adopted methods such as demonstrations to build a confrontational environment to the maximum, and implemented more than 50 confrontational exercises of different levels and types, including anti-terrorism operations, urban operations, anti-landing, and air defense.
After the assault readiness inspection was over, the senior Russian military highly praised the readiness level of the Southern and Western Military Regions and believed that the level of readiness of the inspected troops continued to improve and could reliably defend the security of southwestern Russia. This is in sharp contrast to the conclusion of the first inspection in 2013. At that time, Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian army’s general staff, pointed out a series of problems, such as the poor skills of combat watchmen and troop watchmen in transmitting signals through the automated combat command system, low-level professional skills, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The crew used the built-in weapons to complete the shooting assessment and the results were not good, and the support efficiency of the troops was low. These problems cannot be fully exposed if they are not carried out by means of surprise inspections; if the superiors attach great importance to them, or even the chief of staff personally participates in the whole process, they cannot be discovered and corrected.
Strengthen the top-level design——
Organic convergence of annual strategic exercises
The Russian military’s assault readiness inspections of major military regions are mainly conducted in conjunction with their respective combat missions. As a strategic reserve team, the Central Military Region focuses on checking its emergency response capabilities and strategic mobility capabilities; the Southern Military Region may perform tasks in the Mediterranean in the future. The focus of the inspection is on the combat readiness of the Black Sea Fleet and its coordination capabilities with airborne troops and other rapid response forces; the Western Military Region The main threat is NATO’s air and space attacks, focusing on checking its air defense and antimissile capabilities; the Eastern Military Region must respond to the strategic pressure of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region. The exercise focuses on large-scale island defense operations and joint naval and air operations. For the North Sea Fleet, the main task is to check its combat capability in extreme Arctic climate conditions and complex environments.
The Russian army has now achieved an organic connection between the assault readiness inspection and the large-scale exercise of the annual strategic direction, forming a "high-level order-full supervision-readiness conversion-long-range maneuver-actual military exercises-summary comments-rectification and implementation. ”Standard process. Through unannounced inspections, a relatively objective test and evaluation of the training level of the troops can be made, and a basis for formulating the training plan for the next year can be provided.
Regarding this combat readiness inspection, Gerasimov emphasized that this operation is not only a routine assault readiness inspection, but also a warm-up and preparation for Russia's "Caucasus-2020" strategic exercise. Therefore, not only all troops of the Southern Military Region that are in charge of the strategic direction will participate in this investigation, but also the relevant troops of the Western Military Region that will participate in the exercise. The subject of surprise combat readiness inspection is also related to the subject of "Caucasus-2020".
This practice started in 2015. In September of that year, before the "Central-2015" central strategic direction exercise, the Russian army conducted a surprise inspection of the combat readiness of the relevant troops of the Central Military Region, requiring the troops to immediately sound the alarm and prepare for the full pull within one hour. The group army passed the order. The railway and highway maneuvered remotely to unfamiliar areas 3,000 kilometers away and immediately began the exercise.
The Russian army’s arrangement is based on the consideration of improving management efficiency. It is hoped that in a large-scale training event, it can comprehensively arrange more content, check more capabilities, and find more problems, so as to obtain it with the least investment. The greatest training effect; on the other hand, it is hoped that assault readiness inspections can complement the annual strategic exercises. Due to the large scale of the annual strategic exercises, many professional subjects and specific tasks cannot be fully drilled and inspected, and the assault readiness inspection just makes up for this deficiency. Before the "Central China-2019" strategic exercise was held last year, the Russian military also used surprise combat readiness inspections to remotely project relevant forces to many exercise sites in Europe, Central Asia, and the Caspian Sea.
Show strong strength——
Deter potential opponents in a specific direction
The time, location, training courses, and selection of troops to be inspected for each large-scale assault combat readiness inspection of the Russian army are carefully considered and have far-reaching strategic intent.
During the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, Putin ordered surprise combat readiness inspections of some troops of the Western Military Region and the Central Military Region and multiple arms, focusing on the inspection of the military's ability to respond to "emergency situations endangering national military security" and conduct counter-terrorism operations.
This year's surprise combat readiness inspections were selected when Ukraine, the United States and other countries conducted "Sea Breeze" exercises, and the border conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia occurred. The joint "Sea Breeze" exercise is one of the measures taken by Ukraine and the United States to use NATO forces to exert military pressure on Russia. Russia has always regarded it as a serious threat to national security. The territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the Innaka region erupts from time to time, which will also affect the interests of Russia, which has close ties with the two countries.
Although General Fuming, the Deputy Minister of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense, emphasized at the briefing of military attaches stationed in Russia, the assault readiness inspection is a routine training activity of the Russian military and not aimed at third parties. However, in the eyes of the outside world, the Russian army’s large number of personnel, complete weapons and equipment, and clear strategic direction for this assault combat readiness inspection demonstrate the high level of combat readiness and mission capability of the Russian army in many ways, and it also releases a strong warning to the outside world. The signal-not only warns Ukraine not to make excessive moves, but also warns Azerbaijan and Armenia to exercise restraint.
(Author unit: Academy of Military Sciences War Research Institute)