019 S11 Ep 02 – Russian Forces in LSCO w/Dr Les Grau & Chuck Bartles

The Joint Readiness Training Center is pleased to present the nineteenth episode to air on ‘The Crucible - The JRTC Experience.’ Hosted by the former Deputy Commander of Ops Group and retired, COL Edward Twaddell III, on behalf of the Commander of Ops Group (COG), COL Matthew Hardman. Today’s guests are Dr. Lester Grau and Mr. Charles “Chuck” Bartles from the renowned Foreign Military Studies Office at Ft Leavenworth, Kansas.

 

The mission of the Foreign Military Studies Office is to research and present understudied and unconsidered foreign perspectives in order to better understand the operational environment. Dr. Lester Grau is a senior analyst and the Research Director for the FMSO. He is considered a subject matter expert on tactical, operational and geopolitical subjects involving Russia. Chuck Bartles is a junior analyst and Russian linguist at the FMSO. His specific research areas include Russian and Central Asian military force structure, modernization, tactics, officer and enlisted professional development, and security assistance programs.

 

While this episode was filmed mere weeks prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the information presented here isn’t based on the observations and trends analysis from that conflict. Instead the assessment was largely formed from Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, their activity in Eastern Ukraine prior to the 2022 conflict, the Cold War-esque saber rattling regarding the Baltics, and their combat operations in support of Syria. We have a future episode where Dr. Grau and Mr. Bartles address some of the lessons learned from the most recent Russo-Ukrainian Conflict.

 

In this episode we discuss he modern Russian military force structure as it applies to large scale combat operations. The discussion centers around the Russian overall employment methodology, general overview of the assets available at echelon to the tactical ground force commander, and their modernization program. Some of the assets addressed in this episode are their electronic and cyber warfare and communications capabilities as well as armored-mechanized teams, reconnaissance, and indirect fire formations. One fact that is repeatedly emphasized is that the Russian armed forces focus more on commander centric “battle drills” than a military decision making process focused on warfighting functions and maneuver enables fires instead of the Western model of fires enables maneuver.

 

For a more in depth look at the information covered, please check-out their book, The Russian Way of War, hosted by Army University Press.

 

Part of S11 “Conversations with the Enemy” series.

 

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