Russian Armed Forces Receive New Materiel In 2023

Russia’s Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu has said that the Russian Navy has received four multipurpose submarines and eight surface vessels throughout 2023. In early December, Borei-A-class ballistic missile submarine Imperator Aleksandr III and Yasen-M-class cruise missile submarine Krasnoyarsk were commissioned into service. The Imperator Aleksandr III is the third Project 955A submarine while the Krasnoyarsk is the second Yasen-M submarine, both are fourth-generation nuclear-powered submarines.

Russian shipbuilder Sevmash Shipyard will be building three Borei-A in the coming years while five more Yasen-M are also being constructed. One of the Yasen-M submarines, Arkhangelsk is in its final stages of construction while the fifth Borei-A submarines, Knyaz Pozharsky is on schedule. Sevmash has built 140 nuclear submarines in 65 years, with 12 of them being fourth-generation nuclear submarines in the past decade.

Aside from that, Russia’s Ground Forces have taken delivery of 1,530 new and upgraded tanks in addition to 2,518 infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) and armoured personnel carriers (APC). Among the other new deliveries this past year were new T-90M Proryv and upgraded T-72B3M main battle tanks (MBT) along with BMP-3 IFVs . The upgraded T-72B3M is equipped with a new 125mm main gun with enhanced barrel life among numerous other upgrades while the T-90M is said to be the most advanced iteration in the family of T-90 MBTs.

For the Russia Aerospace Forces, a total of 237 fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft were received, alongside 86 units of air-defence platforms as well as 67 radar stations. Fifth and fourth-generation fighters such as the Sukhoi Su-57 and Su-35S were handed over to the Aerospace Forces in late September. The following month, a batch of Su-34 fighter-bombers were also delivered. shp/adj/dl (Pix:TASS)