Camilla Jessen
Putin admits that poor planning has left new weapons without proper infrastructure.
During a defense strategy meeting on June 11, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia now has the most modern nuclear triad in the world.
“Ninety-five percent of the systems within the strategic nuclear forces are now modern,” Putin said, as cited by United24. “This is a good indicator—in fact, the highest among all nuclear powers in the world.”
The meeting focused on developing Russia’s new state armament program for the years 2027 to 2036, with an emphasis on preparing future weapons based on recent battlefield experience.
Putin told military leaders to draw lessons from Russia’s military operations when planning the next phase of weapons development.
“Today our task is to form a new long-term program covering the full range of weapons systems, including—and above all—future-oriented systems,” he said. “We must make full use of experience from the special military operation [in Ukraine], various regional conflicts, and global trends in military technology development.”
Infrastructure Falling Behind Deployment
One of the main problems discussed was the gap between deploying new weapons and having the proper infrastructure ready to support them.
Putin criticized the current practice of placing new systems before bases and airfields are prepared.
“It’s important to calculate requirements in advance and begin preparing infrastructure—including bases, arsenals, airfields, and so on,” he said.
He also admitted to approving delays in infrastructure spending, which has led to some weapons being deployed “in the middle of an empty field,” later requiring costly upgrades.
Previously, it was reported that Russia is quietly modernizing parts of its nuclear missile infrastructure near the Kazakh border, according to leaked classified documents.