Military Education
In a gathering of the board of directors at the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu outlined the scale of training conducted across the country. He noted that nearly 3,000 instructors were involved, with about 300,000 of them mobilized to support the effort.
He highlighted that more than a hundred training sites, including facilities in Belarus, were used to prepare reservists. In two months, over 300,000 reservists, including volunteers, received training, according to Shoigu. At the training centers, crews for combat vehicles and tanks, artillery teams, air defense units, drone operators, and electronic warfare specialists underwent hands-on, hardware-focused instruction.
Shoigu proposed creating 16 new military training centers for students. He recalled that the previous year the Ministry of Defense, together with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, began developing additional centers at public universities. By the end of the year, eight training centers had already opened, and about a thousand students were enrolled. He stated that expanding the number of vocational training centers would broaden the geographic footprint of military education from 52 to 68 subjects within the country.
As a result, the total number of military training centers would rise to 120. This expansion would enable military education to take place within higher education institutions in fields crucial to the RF Armed Forces, according to the ministry.
Weapons modernization
Shoigu noted that Russian forces operating in the special operations zone in Ukraine are testing new warfare approaches, including advances in missile forces and artillery systems.
He stressed that achieving effective fire destruction of the enemy is a key component of military success. Modern and promising weapons, along with reconnaissance and precision-strike systems, including unmanned aerial vehicles, play a central role in this effort.
He added that counter-battery measures were strengthened during the special military operation. This includes the use of long-range rocket artillery systems such as Tornado-S and high-power artillery systems like Malka.
According to Shoigu, five formations of the Strategic Missile Forces are building infrastructure to host new missile systems. A testing site near the Space Forces line is also being established in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.
He also mentioned that the navy has handed over coastal energy infrastructure facilities in Gadzhiyevo in the Murmansk region and the main base in Kaspiysk, Dagestan. The minister asserted that all presidential directives to restore infrastructure in the so-called new regions are being carried out ahead of schedule.
“The modernization and deployment of promising systems for use in the special military operation must continue”, Shoigu affirmed.
Government contracts
Shoigu stated that next year the armed forces must be supplied to constant readiness at a 97% level.
He explained that financing for the state defense order will grow by about 1.5 times, with additional budgetary funds, enabling formations and units to maintain weapons and equipment at high readiness levels. He noted that the state defense order should reach a minimum of 99% this year, a result he attributed to the National Defense Control Center’s oversight of weapon deliveries to meet specific needs.
Shoigu concluded that the demands of the military operation in Ukraine and the partial mobilization in Russia have increased the requirements for the state defense order at all levels of control and execution.