Really?
In the last several years, the Russian military has drastically increased its battle readiness in apparent preparation for a possible major conflict with an opposing massive ground force. ...
In September 2018, while promoting the massive Vostok 2018 war games, Gerasimov proudly announced, “There are 126 permanently battle-ready BTGs in the army and the VDV, manned by contract soldiers,” with two or three BTGs in each regiment or brigade.
The reliance on Battalion Tactical Groups doesn't seem like an organization designed for a big war. We went from divisions to brigade combat teams for the Iraq War and now are rethinking the role of the division as we contemplate big wars again. Are the Russians really sticking with a battalion-based system that hasn't been around for centuries?
This organization may support a rapidly begun campaign to overrun the small and weakly defended Baltic states, but it is not an organization designed to hold the conquests in a longer campaign when higher echelons are needed for logistics, repair, additional firepower, and command and control.
Also, does Russia really have all of their regiments and brigades capable of fielding 2 or 3 BTGs?
Since Russia went into the Donbas in 2014 they seem to use BTGs as the only usable part of their brigades. So a BTG is really just their brigades minus the men and equipment not ready to deploy.
Is Russia today after sanctions and oil prices crippling their defense spending really in a better position today with virtually all of their brigades and regiments nearly fully capable rather than only being able to scrape up single BTGs to send into battle?
Because from where I sit, the Russian army looks like it is continuing its slow death.
Sadly, with enough decent troops, nukes, and weak targets, Russia remains a threat to NATO. But don't overstate Russia's war-making capacity and believe we can't hope to overcome their initial advantages.
One thing we could do to counter the Russian BTG approach is to add tank or combined arms heavy battalions to each of our non-armored brigade combat teams, as I raised in Army magazine.
