In the coming year, Russia will continue to increase resources around the country's defense capabilities, production, and modernization of military equipment.
According to the head of the Ministry of Finance, Anton Siluanov, this is 29 percent of all budget expenditures. And here's where these funds will go.
Military equipment for ground forces
In November 2023, when approximate volumes of funding for the defense industry and national defense for 2024 became known, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu instructed to "continue proactive work on modernizing existing and creating advanced weapons with their subsequent testing." He noted that, taking into account additional budget allocations in 2024, the volume of purchases and repairs of weapons and military equipment will increase.
In the current conditions, it is necessary to ensure the advanced delivery of weapons, military and special equipment to the troops, as well as to increase the production capacity of defense industry enterprises for the production and repair of the most demanded models.
It is obvious that the following will definitely be supplied to the troops:
- battle tanks T-90M "Proryv", T-72B3M and T-80BVM;
- BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and modernized BMP-2M;
- combat module "Berezhok", equipped with a 30-millimeter automatic cannon, automatic grenade launcher, machine gun and four Kornet ATGMs;
- modernized self-propelled guns "Msta-S" and the latest wheeled howitzers "Malva";
- SAU "Coalition-SV", which is entering mass production - the longest-range in the Russian army.
Aviation and drones
Prospective Aviation Complex for Long-Range Aviation (PAK DA) will not have time to be assembled in 2024 and put into mass production, no matter how much they want to. But there is already an idea of what it will look like, and a test base is already being prepared for it.
While there is no PAK DA, Russia will continue to build other military fighters, military transport aircraft, and helicopters. It is known that in 2024 the state order for the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter is increased several times - there will be so many of them that it will be enough to form the first air regiment based on the Aerospace Forces. They will also continue to build and supply to the troops:
- Su-30SM and Su-35S;
- Su-34 fighter-bombers;
- military transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A;
- Mi-8, Mi-28NM and Ka-52 helicopters - the latter, probably in the modernized Ka-52M version;
- Tu-160 bomber-missile carriers.
Military drones of various modifications will continue to be produced - now new models of them appear almost every month. According to data cited by the American publication Forbes, speaking about the boom in the construction of FPV kamikaze drones in Russia, only one Russian volunteer group "Sudoplatov" produces a thousand kamikaze drones a day.
How many thousands of drones per day are produced by large companies such as ZALA Aero is unknown, as is how many of them are assembled in Russia every day for military needs in general. By the way, strike drones "Lancet" from ZALA Aero in a new swarm modification and with a range of over 60 kilometers - one of the expected UAVs on the balance sheet of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Navy
The largest replenishment that awaits the Russian Navy in 2024 is the return to service after repair and modernization of the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov" and the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov". They will continue to be equipped with hypersonic missiles "Zircon".
The fleet is also waiting for replenishment from USC in the form of:
- the nuclear submarine of project 955A "Borey" - "Knyaz Pozharsky" will soon be removed from the slipway;
- two multipurpose nuclear submarines of project 885M "Yasen-M" - "Arkhangelsk" and "Ulyanovsk";
- diesel-electric submarine of project 636.3 "Yakutsk".
The following should join the Russian Navy this year:
- universal frigates with hypersonic weapons of project 22350 "Admiral Isakov" and "Admiral Amelko";
- corvette "Strogiy" of project 20380;
- two small missile ships of project 22800 "Karakurt".
New forces
Most importantly: dozens of new aircraft, tanks, submarines will not be able to operate without military personnel - there will also be more motorized riflemen, artillerymen, pilots, and submariners in Russia. In January 2023, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced an increase in the size of the army to one and a half million people by 2026.
Later it became known that about 450 thousand new military personnel will appear in the Russian army in 2024. During this year, it is planned to form an army corps, seven divisions, 19 brigades, 49 regiments and one flotilla in the Armed Forces. The full list of new units and formations is still unknown.
