Bulava SS-NX-30 SLBM
Borei class submarine
Bulava SS-NX-30 SLBM
Borei class submarine
“The Boreis have a crew of 107, with half of them being officers (a common Russian practice when it comes to high tech ships like nuclear subs)”
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The high preponderance of officers is because, like the rest of the Russian military, life for enlisted men sucks so bad no one wants to be a career NCO.
Still, we can not be sure what the Russians are up to. As I stated earlier, having a missile that “doesn’t work” will allow the Russians to skirt treaties that are in the pipework, even if there are compliance checks.
Russia will eventually produce a small fleet of Borei missile subs, two or three wings of Su-35 fighter bombers, and the equivalent of several corps worth of ground troops. This will provide enough nuclear capability to menace other nuclear powers and enough conventional force to intimidate smaller neighbors. This will keep the Kremiln's kleptocrats in power and their foreign bank accounts secure and growing.
Meanwhile, Russia's demographic decline will continue, its economy will remain dependent on oil and gas sales, its political institutions will be those of a failed state, and its population will be swindled by their leaders and preyed upon by criminal enterprises aligned with them. As bad as this future is, on the net, it is an improvement on that offered by the Soviet era.