Quote:
Originally Posted by Targan
Well it's some consolation that the Russian Army is mostly a conscript force, but their equipment stockpiles and longstanding mobilisation doctrines would allow them to expand very quickly, albeit no doubt with somewhat patchy training and skill levels.
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True, but Russia is currently taking measures to professionalize its army, especially at the NCO level, and in highly technical fields. Moving forward, this should provide a fairly competent corps around which to build up a larger conscript force should the need arise. It would probably still be patchy in terms of training and skill level, but the backbone of any decent army is its NCOs so building capacity in that department is a start, at least.
The Russian army has had a reputation for being a massive hoard of unschooled peasants since, at the latest, WWI. To a fairly great extent, that's not an inaccurate statement. But, Russia has also shown what overwhelming numbers of even poorly trained conscripts armed with half-way decent armaments can do to a smaller, albeit more technologically sophisticated foe. In several important categories, Russia still maintains a better correlation of forces compared to NATO and, as you pointed out, will likely be able to mobilize greater numbers of men and machines in a national security emergency than its potential Western foes will. Unless NATO ups its military spending almost across the board, that Russian advantage will continue to grow.