A Special Project headed by Russian military expert and Jamestown Senior Fellow Dr. Roger N. McDermott. Forthcoming papers within the scope of this project will examine in granular detail for a military policy–orientated readership the Russian Armed Forces’ fire-strike complex; C4ISR; high-precision strike systems; use of C4ISR capabilities in Syria; electronic, cyber and information warfare; and AI and robotics. Upon its conclusion, the project papers will be compiled and released as a single volume, published by Jamestown.
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Foreword—How to Evaluate the Modernized Russian Military’s Performance in Ukraine
Russian Military Modernization and Russia’s 2022 Invasion of Ukraine In recent years, there has been much interest in Russian military modernization due to Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula... MORE
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Russia’s UAVs and UCAVs: ISR and Future Strike Capabilities
Executive Summary Russia’s use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in contemporary conflicts has yielded the General Staff substantial practical data to assess future requirements and priorities when it comes to procuring additional drones; this also extends to programs aimed at producing Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles... MORE
The Role of Hypersonic Weapons in Russian Military Strategy
Executive Summary Today, Moscow is modernizing and increasing its high-precision strike systems, partly reflecting the drive to implement the pre-nuclear deterrence element contained in its 2014 Military Doctrine. The context provides an explanation as to why the Russian political leadership places such emphasis upon hypersonic... MORE
Russian Military Thought on the Changing Character of War: Harnessing Technology in the Information Age
Executive Summary Russia’s General Staff has long-established interests in the analysis of developments in the means and methods of military conflict. In the early Soviet era, military theory, far from being purely academic, proved decisive in shaping the successful defense and survival of the Soviet... MORE
Russia’s Entry to Sixth-Generation Warfare: the ‘Non-Contact’ Experiment in Syria
Executive Summary Russia’s adoption of high-technology assets aims to increase a broad spectrum of military capabilities, but it does not seek to emulate its foreign counterparts or to risk becoming involved in a post–Cold War variant of an arms race. Moscow’s experimentation with cruise missiles... MORE
The Revolution in Russian Military Decision-Making
Executive Summary Russia’s Armed Forces have experienced considerable change and modernization since the reforms initiated in late 2008. While these processes have impacted structures, personnel, equipment and weapons systems across the entire range of combat arms and branches, as well as combat support and combat... MORE
Tracing Russia’s Path to Network-Centric Military Capability
Executive Summary Since 2008, Russia has consistently sought to adopt and introduce command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities to the Armed Forces as part of its conventional military modernization plans. At their core, those efforts are rooted in developing a Russian... MORE