Photos from a SOF shooting tournament in Tulsa with former SSO commander Alexey Dyumin and current SSO specialists. Interestingly, this is the first time I’ve seen SSO specialists wearing gray uniforms and berets. Will they be known as the Gray Berets now? t.me/ok_spn/14438
The cap badge is of the SSO's emblem. It also appears Dyumin is playing around with one of the specialist's berets. 2/ myslo.ru/news/tula/2021…
Obviously, I meant Tula, not Tulsa. Also in attendance was Alexander Matovnikov, another former SSO commander and Dyumin's deputy; Sergei Dyachenko, Deputy of FSO and a former Alfa officer; and Andrei Merzlikin, who received the Hero of Russia award in Tajikistan in 1993. 3/
More photos of SSO specialists at the shooting tournament in Tula. As usual they are wearing Voin clothing, Peltors, EOTech and Aimpoint optics, and a couple of AR-type rifles, which they often use at competitions. 5/ t.me/ok_spn/14457
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Some initial conclusions from the Zapad 2021 exercise. The most notable difference between Zapad 2021 and Zapad 2017 is that Russia conducted two Yars ICBM launches during Zapad 2017, one at the beginning and end. We didn't publicly see any nuclear weapons used during Zapad 2021.
Does that tell us something about how conflict termination could occur in a conflict with NATO? Is Russia more confident in its conventional deterrence vis-a-vis NATO? There wasn't any escalate to deescalate either. Or would this be reading too much into the exercise? 2/
The Russian MoD said that a Tu-95MS bomber took part in the exercise, but as part of the OPFOR and reportedly focused on testing Russian air defenses. There didn't appear to be any strategic bombers involved in delivering simulated nuclear strikes. 3/ function.mil.ru/news_page/coun…
Pretty crazy story out of the town of Liski near Voronezh today. A man in tactical gear attached an explosive device to the door of a police station and detonated it. He appears to still be on the loose. t.me/zvezdanews/557…
Thread: The Zapad 2021 operational-strategic exercise has begun in Russia and Belarus with the opening ceremony at the Mulino training area in Nizhny Novgorod (one of the primary ranges for the exercise). The last Zapad exercise occurred in 2017.
The operational-strategic exercise is the most important training event each year for the Russian military, and it rotates between Russia's four main military districts. The past three:
-Southern: Kavkaz 2020
-Central: Tsentr 2019
-Eastern: Vostok 2018
2/
The Northern Fleet was upgraded to a military district last year, but there is no indication it will get its own operational-strategic ex. It typically conducts a simultaneous exercise with the annual exercise and appears to be even more incorporated into this year's Zapad. 3/
Another high-profile Russian military corruption case. Major General Ruslan Alakhverdiev, the Deputy Chief of Engineering Troops, who was responsible for their procurement, was charged with taking bribes worth at least 8 million rubles from contractors. iz.ru/1219084/alekse…
Alakhverdiev has reportedly played a key role in the development of Russia's engineering troops, who have undergone a series of reforms in part influenced by Syria, including the development of assault sapper units and UGVs. 2/
He reportedly took bribes from construction companies that worked on defense contracts (presumably, he helped steer contracts to them). He also used a subordinate to work at his dacha, which was a common issue in the 1990s and early 2000s with senior Russian officers. 3/
This is wrong, so let's examine the "test weaponry on armor" argument. Russia has captured humvees and M113 from Syria, Iran has a lot of experience destroying humvees, and the Iranian-backed Houthis have captured plenty of more advanced Emirati/Saudi M-ATV and MaxxPro MRAPs.
The Taliban has captured equipment provided to the ANSF, but they did not capture much, if any, equipment that belongs to the US military. The arms provided to Afghanistan were designed for fighting insurgents, not a national military, so it isn't very sensitive equipment. 2/
When US contractors left they took the sensitive equipment/software from Afghanistan's helicopters. The early withdrawal of US forces meant the ANSF would collapse quickly, but it also meant the most important equipment was withdrawn before July. 3/