Meet Russia’s ultimate combat weapons

Russia is the world’s second largest defense products supplier, with its global arms exports standing at $14.5 billion last year. Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that the country’s total value of foreign arms orders had reached about $56 billion, the highest amount in post-Soviet era. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Moscow had also the world’s fourth largest defense budget last year. What follows is a quick review of some of the country’s most advanced military hardware as compiled by the Sputnik news agency.

A heavy strategic missile/bomber carrier, the supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 White Swan bomber can carry up to 40 tons of nuclear and conventional weapons.

T-90, Russia’s third generation and the most advanced battle tank in service with the Naval Infantry and Ground Forces, entered service in 1993. It is armed with an anti-aircraft remotely controlled machine gun and a 125mm cannon that can fire four kinds of armament -- armor-piercing, piercing, cumulative and high-explosive detonation fragmentation ammunition. The armament can be detonated at a pre-defined trajectory point. The tank is also capable of targeting elevated objects such as hovering helicopters. Its Shtora protective system against anti-tank guided missiles has infrared jammers and laser warning receivers installed on the front of the turret.

Dubbed "black holes in the ocean" by the US Navy, the Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric Novorossiysk submarine is the world’s most stealth attack submarine that can hit underwater, surface and land targets.

The Bora-class guided-missile hovercraft is built for coastal defense operations. The 68-crew marine craft, which is equipped with 20 anti-aircraft Osa-M missiles and eight anti-ship Mosquito missiles, can reach speeds of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The Pantsir-S1 is a combined short-to-medium-range surface-to-air and anti-aircraft weapon system featuring the latest air defense technology of phased array radars for multiple-band target tracking and acquisition. With its two 30mm cannons and twelve 57E6 guided-missiles, the system can fire at targets such as planes, helicopters, cruise and ballistic missiles flying at altitudes of up to 15 kilometers (nine miles) and at ranges from 200 meters to 20 kilometers (0.12 to 12 miles) just five seconds after detection by its fire-control radar and electro-optical sensors.

The Mikoyan MiG-35 is a 4++ generation multipurpose fighter aircraft that can lock onto 10 aerial, ground and surface targets, and engage up to six of them.

The S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile system can simultaneously track 12 and engage six targets such as ballistic missiles, warplanes and helicopters. The S-300F anti-aircraft system aboard Russia’s guided-missile cruiser Moskva was deployed to Syria’s port of Latakia last year to boost the fight against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the Arab country. 

The Mi-28N Night Hunter is an anti-armor gunship with round-the-clock operation capabilities. It is equipped with a 30mm Shipunov 2A42 autocannon that can fire between 200 to 550 rounds per minute.

The Borey-class Alexander Nevsky nuclear submarine can fire up to 160 nuclear warheads using its Bulava ballistic missiles that have operational ranges of up to 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles). The submarines are expected to form the main nuclear force of the Russian Navy once eight of them go into service by 2020.

The Buk-M2 surface-to-air missile systems boast up to six loader-launcher vehicles carrying four 9M38 ground-to-air missiles, a command post and a target acquisition radar, which can detect targets flying at altitudes of about 25 kilometers (15 miles) and speeds of maximum Mach 4.

The RS-24 Yars thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missile system, which can be mounted on a truck carrier or deployed in silos, can fire independently targetable nuclear warheads capable of evading missile defense systems up to a range of 7,500 miles.

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