Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces

New models of modernized armored vehicles were presented to the Chairman of the State Council of Cuba Raul Castro Ruz in the shops of the military industrial company Emilio Barsenas. In particular, Raul Castro inspected the wheeled tank "BTR-115" on the chassis of the BTR-60. As a basis for the complex of weapons of the new machine, a modified tower of the T-62 medium tank was chosen.



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3100709.html

A new “signals intelligence” facility appearing in satellite imagery of Bejucal, Cuba, over recent months is capable of signal interception, ballistic missile monitoring and tracking objects in outer space, but analysts are puzzled about who provided the financing to build the facility.

Possibly the Chinese are behind this radar facility?





https://sputniknews.com/military/201806081065247597-mysterious-new-spy-radar-cuba/

https://russia-insider.com/en/politics/what-nation-just-built-giant-radar-dome-cuba-can-spy-usaf-bases-across-half-american

Russia will provide Cuba with a loan for the purchase of military equipment

According to the newspaper Kommersant in the article by Alexandra Djordjevic "Cuba decided to equip. Russia will give her a loan for military shopping in Russia", Russia will provide Cuba with a state loan of more than $ 50 million, which will be used to purchase Russian military equipment. The signing will take place at the next meeting of the intergovernmental commission of the two countries, which will be held next week in Havana. The Russian delegation will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov, who must sign an extensive package of agreements concerning not only military-technical cooperation, but also economic issues, as well as joint Russian-Cuban investment projects.

Two sets of agreements in the field of military-technical cooperation (MTC) told Kommersant that the 16th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation will be signed. The events are scheduled for October 29-30, and Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov will leave for Havana as co-chair of the Russian delegation (Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz will represent the Cuban side). Mr. Borisov will be accompanied by a subgroup from the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, headed by Deputy Head of the Service Anatoly Punchuk. The FSMTC “Kommersant” confirmed the upcoming visit, but did not disclose the details. In the office of Mr. Borisov, it was said that in Havana it is planned to “approve the already agreed list of 60 investment projects”.

According to interlocutors of “Kommersant” in the industry, the administrative documents on the package of agreements in the sphere of military-technical cooperation have already been signed.

According to them, Russia will provide Cuba with a state loan in the amount of more than $ 50 million for the purchase of arms under a series of contracts. “This amount will go exclusively to the PTS. In addition to this agreement, a number of general economic documents and agreements through the Ministry of Finance will be signed, but other means will be used for them, ”a source in Kommersant familiar with the negotiations said.

According to Kommersant, Cuba will be able to choose weapons in the framework of the technical cooperation program for 2016–2020, which provides for the modernization of the republic’s military industry and its military equipment (in particular, previously delivered), as well as the so-called technological cooperation. According to one of the interlocutors of “Kommersant” in the field of the defense industry, the discussion will deal with purchases of armored vehicles and, possibly, aviation (presumably helicopters) from the presence of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. "In addition, they will take spare parts, tools and accessories, as well as property for previously supplied equipment, and serve, for example, the T-62 or BTR-60," said the source. Havana also plans to purchase industrial equipment under separate contracts on a commercial basis. A top manager of one of the defense industry enterprises said that a project on small arms could be one of the components of cooperation. It should be noted that in 2017, the head of Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheyev, reported that Cuba officially addressed Russia with a request to modernize existing equipment, but did not rule out concluding direct commercial contracts or carrying out work on credit in the near future.

Recall that the last credit agreement in the sphere of military-technical cooperation with Cuba is dated 2009, later it was twice extended - in 2010 and 2011. In 2015, Cuba was interested in supplying Russian naval equipment and upgrading the infrastructure of its coastal zone (piers, etc.). In 2016, Moscow and Havana negotiated the creation of additional capacities in the republic for repairing Soviet-built and Russian-made helicopters. Mr. Punchuk then clarified that it was a question of repairing and servicing Mi-type helicopters, stressing that Cuba could not afford the purchase of new helicopter technology.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3394093.html

That 14.5mm AMR rifle is interesting... the fact that standard ammo would not be accurate enough suggests that brand new ammo developed especially for it would make sense... yet looking at the image shown it appears to have a rather small scope attached that does not seem to be optimised for long range shooting.

Therefore I would assume the choice of the 14.5mm round is for penetration performance... so if you are going to make a custom designed round for it... and it is not for long range use, then I would presume max penetration and so therefore APDS round might be the standard round.

Certainly the round is enormously powerful and has a lot of potential in an AMR rifle, yet I think a 23x115mm might have a few more advantages if an APFSDS round is developed for it... it would have rather more capacity for a much bigger HE round, and yet in terms of high velocity armour piercing it should have more potential too.

Of course even just with standard ammo the 14.5mm is almost twice as powerful as any 12.7mm calibre weapon so it would be interesting...

About time. Cubans were hurting bad for some Mi-17s/Mi-8s...like really bad. The new president will be going to Russia soon as a proper presidential state visit.

They're never going back to the golden 70s...those were the times they could actually project military power...at the USSR expense but still, so does Israel till today at America's expense. Some allies in key regions are always costly.... at least you can't say they backstabbed Russia, unlike 90% of the socialist block, specially Russia's "slavic brothers".

Got to agree... they almost hurt themselves in their desperate dash from hiding under the Soviet Apron to Uncle sams lap... hard to respect such entities... of course I do understand it was the elite of the countries realising the freeloading was over with the Soviets and that there was a huge open wallet in the west...

Of course it is no coincidence that most of those purse dogs look like big rats...

I am sure Cuba and Russia can have a more healthy relationship with mutual trade... and I am sure Russia would appreciate the opportunity to house hackers and troll farms right next to the US... the proximity wont actually make any difference at all but it will drive the yanks crazy....

23-mm quadruple self-propelled anti-aircraft gun ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", 57-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun S-60 and Mi-8 helicopters and some kind of artillery mount on the chassis of the BTR-60PB in a report dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Eastern Military district of the Cuban army.

Being a communist country it should actually be rather easier to shift the economy in the sense that with the west trying to cut its dietary intake of sugar that perhaps instead of growing sugar cane that perhaps growing grapes and making wine and growing fruit etc could be a niche product that Cuba could get into specifically for the Russian market because they certainly have the climate for that sort of thing and it would be something they could trade with Russia... obviously Russia is growing a lot of its own food, but tropical fruit would be easier to grow in Cuba in the sort of volumes a market the size of Russia would be wanting.

In return for selling fruit and other food types that grow well and easily in Cuba they could use the first amount of money the own to upgrade their farm machinery and tools, which should allow a boost in production of the foods they sell to Russia, which they can then start investing in the companies that have been keeping their weapons moving forward.

Perhaps a good step forward might be upgrading from BTR-60s to BTR-82s, with better armour and newer engines, but perhaps made in Cuba for local use.

Putting a T-62 turret on a BTR-60 chassis is interesting... it suggests to me that a tracked vehicle like a T-62 was becoming too expensive or too much of a pain in the backside to keep running... wheeled vehicles are orders of magnitude cheaper and easier to run and support, but their mobility is not so good on rough terrain... but blundering through jungle in an armoured vehicle is dangerous... enemy with RPGs easily able to penetrate your armour can appear 10-20m away and there would be very little you could do to stop them firing...

If the T-62 turret on the BTR chassis is an attempt to get tank level fire power on a vehicle that is cheaper to operate, then perhaps the A-220 turret they used to upgrade the PT-76 with an automatic 57mm gun might be a lighter way of mobile fire power, or perhaps a Sprut turret.

The 115mm smoothbore gun of the T-62 is not a bad gun, perhaps a Sprut turret with a 100mm smoothbore gun from an MT-12 or just the 115mm smoothbore of the T-62 could be mounted in a BTR-82.

There is also the BTR-87 where the engine is moved up the front of the vehicle and the rear has a ramp door for easy entry and exit for the troops.

With the local companies keeping these vehicles going and introducing new vehicles I would like to see them rewarded rather than just made obsolete, because they can continue to support the vehicles...

New engines for helicopters will make smaller types like the Ansat and Ka-226 and the Ka-62 types viable as smaller and cheaper and lighter options, though the bigger Mils have their uses too.

I would think amphibious aircraft would be popular... the new An-2 replacement with floats, and a new Mi-14 version based on the Mi-38 would be good as well, but Be-200s would be a useful way of getting from main islands to small islands around the place... using air ports and sea ports alike...

You can make alcohol from sugar cane. Rum for example.

The Cubans were great muscle for the conflicts in Africa. They also had top notch military advisers.
Something to consider if the dirty war against Uncle Sham continues.

lancelot wrote:You can make alcohol from sugar cane. Rum for example.

They should keep a few sugar cane fields going even just to have signs up saying how often the Americans burned down sugar fields in Cuba to try to make Cuba weak... but would think world demand would not be enormous for pure sugar...

Alcohol would be one use for it so they are selling finished products rather than raw materials... even exotic flowers, as well as tropical fruits will grow really well.

For instance because of our location and the fact that we are surrounded by sea New Zealand has a very mild climate, so imported pine trees grow to full maturity in about 25 years... which is much faster than in much colder countries.

It means that a farmer here could plant pine trees on rough hilly fields and use those tree blocks for shelter, while running sheep or something else in his other fields.
A seedling costs a few cents each, but in 25 years the trees are about $800 each and all they really need to do is prune them each year...

Diversity is important but don't be silly about it... don't try to grow things that don't suit... for instance Australia decided it would grow its own rice which needs lots of water... something they don't have a lot of, so you end up with expensive rice that is not any better than stuff you can import cheaply from much wetter countries.

Would be good to see much improved trade between Russia and Cuba, with both sides making good money and developing new businesses and trading products that build up both economies and help improve living standards in both countries.

South Africa had practically free reign in our so-called Border War until the Cuban arrived. Initially we had huge problems with their Soviet made artillery that completely out ranged the obsolete stuff we had at the time.
This prompted the development of the well known G5 and G6 artillery pieces. Nevertheless we managed to capture hordes of weapons and ammunition. Lots of this stuff was taken into service by the SADF. Our infantry was completely outfitted with the RPG-7, we captured a great many anti-aircraft weapons and many of them, like the Zu-23-2 and the SA-9 was adopted for service. The Valkiri multiple rocket launcher was developed from captured bm-21's.

Later on in the war we encountered Soviet and Cuban Mig pilots and they gave us quite a hard time as well! Pilots reported the Mig-23's superior acceleration compared to the Mirage F1's. In one of the final battles of the war near Cuito Cuanavale, the MPLA(FAPLA) and the Cubans held their ground but we did manage to secure the area for UNITA to freely operate after we withdrew.

The SADF an the Cubans had great respect for each other as fighting men.

The Cubans have developed their own Covid Vaccine... even France hasn't managed that...

GarryB wrote:The Cubans have developed their own Covid Vaccine... even France hasn't managed that...

Yes and because of the "brain drain" we're experiencing, a lot of Cubans are used in the medical field, BUT because of our Government's dubious corruption track record, there are a number of question marks around this.

There is not a single project or program over here that doesn't end up being investigated due to fraud and corruption. Sad really

Our country is now burning atm because so-called "supporters" of our ex-president are not happy that he is serving a few months in jail for contempt of court.

In reality the country is burning because the people are jobless and hungry - but they seem to favour big screen TV's atm!

Can you imagine how bad it's going to be when they finally lock him and his mates up for the real crimes they committed!

Mir wrote:South Africa had practically free reign in our so-called Border War until the Cuban arrived. Initially we had huge problems with their Soviet made artillery that completely out ranged the obsolete stuff we had at the time.
This prompted the development of the well known G5 and G6 artillery pieces. Nevertheless we managed to capture hordes of weapons and ammunition. Lots of this stuff was taken into service by the SADF. Our infantry was completely outfitted with the RPG-7, we captured a great many anti-aircraft weapons and many of them, like the Zu-23-2 and the SA-9 was adopted for service. The Valkiri multiple rocket launcher was developed from captured bm-21's.

Later on in the war we encountered Soviet and Cuban Mig pilots and they gave us quite a hard time as well! Pilots reported the Mig-23's superior acceleration compared to the Mirage F1's. In one of the final battles of the war near Cuito Cuanavale, the MPLA(FAPLA) and the Cubans held their ground but we did manage to secure the area for UNITA to freely operate after we withdrew.

The SADF an the Cubans had great respect for each other as fighting men.

I cannot imagine the "great respect" after the Cubans allowed a large amount of weapons and ammunition to be captured by the South African forces; armaments that were provided to Cuba for free by Soviet Union and probably other countries.  

I think the only thing the Cubans did well in combat against the South African regime was the aerial warfare, but not much of it took place during the Angolan War, and even in this case having Soviet-made-and-provided aircraft helped.  


Other thing the Cubans were "great" at in this particular war was stealing the credit for the victory; Soviet and East German advisers were also there, albeit in considerably smaller numbers than the Cuban contingent. Also, the above-mentioned free provisioning of the Cuban and Angolan government forces by Soviet Union and probably other countries.




Footage of Cuban and Soviet Advisers in Angola, South Africans, and of Angolans from Probably Both Sides.





About the Air War over Angola.

Be careful with "Binkov" and his claims, he has claimed that Poland is a "future major power."  

Note: Namibia became independent in 1990, silly blunder by "Binkov."

Interesting idea, in terms of fire power the HEAT round was designed to destroy an M60 tank from the front at any range it could hit it... which was generally considered out to about 1.2km, but as you can see it is a small weapon that a tank would not really notice at more than 500m away anyway.

The round it fires is a bit like an RPG-7 rocket and is related to the 73mm rocket used in the SPG-9 recoilless rifle weapon.

It can fire HE rounds out to about 4.5km or so against area targets like groups of infantry or buildings or fortified positions...

Would be interesting to create a unified mount with wheels that can be positioned and raised up so it can turn 360 degrees like a ZU-23-2 platform.

You could design it to allow different gun mounts to be fitted from 12.7mm and 14.5mm HMGs and 23mm cannon of course, but also 82mm automatic mortars and 73mm recoilless rifles and a range of ATGMs and twin barrel guns like the GSh-23-2 or the 2A38M twin barrel gun on the Tunguska and Pantsir...

Could be designed so it can be attached to the back of a flat bed truck or light utility truck or helicopter spot on a ship...

Actually I seem to remember there was an increased power weapon... either a more powerful 73mm with rather more effective range or it might have been an 85mm gun that fired similar rounds to a greater effective range and with better armour penetration, but as their ATGMs were effective over rather short range the requirement for the BMP-2 to kill enemy tanks with its main gun was relaxed. the 73mm weapon was required because the AT-3 model missile the early BMPs used had a distance of about 500m where a point target was tricky to hit because it took a few seconds for the operator to get the missile under proper flight control as it was manually flown.