Less than a month has passed since the moment when we published our version of the development of events in the light of the adoption of the new State Program for the Armament of the Army until 2025. As is often the case, the stakeholders took a wait and see attitude. Someone has to take the first step. And the first is always more difficult than the rest. They are beaten … And that's all. Even allies, hoping for some kind of benefits in the future.
The military were the first to fail. More precisely, the head of the Main Armaments Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Boris Nakonechny. The huge funds that the RF Ministry of Defense invests in the development of new types of weapons, in the modernization of military production, naturally, give the military hope for obtaining a really new weapon. And the pace of production today is such that, if they are maintained, we will re-equip the army in about 2, 5-3 years. This means that in 3 years the problem of loading the capacities of defense enterprises with orders will become acute.
This is not to say that this problem has arisen only today. Or even yesterday. Defense analysts have perfectly calculated their capabilities and the capabilities of the defense industry. Moreover, they even brought out the approximate amount that the ministry needed to successfully implement its plans. 55 trillion rubles! Naturally, as is customary in the army, with a "corporal's gap".
But then a completely predictable action happened. The Ministry of Finance intervened. We won't give you money! 12 trillion is enough for you. Shoigu's department has really tempered its appetites - up to $ 30 trillion. And by the end of last year, generally up to 22! I do not know the reason for this compliance. But I assume that the president of Russia is to blame. We will consider his statement below.
In practice, if we compare the two programs, the one that is being implemented today and the one that is being prepared for implementation, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the amount of 22 trillion has proposed an identical program. Let me remind you that today a program worth 23 trillion is being implemented. However, the Ministry of Finance did not agree with this amount either. The country really does not have enough money for such spending. As you remember, the compromise between the two ministries resulted in 17 trillion rubles.
And now I will allow myself to return you to the very recent past. To the past, which we are reproached for even today. More precisely, they reproach not for the past itself, but for the surviving remnants. Remember the USSR with its mighty defense industry? We produced equipment and weapons no worse, and sometimes even better than world standards. There were technologies at "numbered" factories that most Soviet people had never even heard of.
And at the same time, the products for the population were of rather low quality. Our televisions were inferior to Western models. Our cars are even more so. The list of products is endless. Even what we had initially was better, we could not or did not want to pack beautifully. Even in the little things.
Veterans still remember our shameful response to Western plastic bags, which are perceived by the younger generation simply as a container, a way to carry things from the store home. I will reveal a "secret" for young people. In the "perestroika period" we went with bags … made of sackcloth. And the colorful drawings on these "packages" were replaced by a stencil with the image of Alla Pugacheva. But this is so, nostalgia for the past …
The question arises as to the reasons for this imbalance. And the reasons were on the surface. Secrecy of defense enterprises and developments and government funding for the full program. The defense industry did not need to release "their" developments into civilian production. Enterprises lived well off the budget.
By the way, again an excursion into the past. What happened to the enterprises of the defense industry during perestroika? The answer, it seems to me, is now obvious to many readers. They were destroyed, razed, bankrupt and so on … But the answer is wrong! Simply because we see and write about those enterprises that were engaged only in military production.
Yes, those enterprises that practically did not produce civilian products found themselves in the new conditions at a broken trough. They did not give money from the budget, and nobody bought tanks or machine guns … It was then that the famous "titanium shovels", "flying pans" made by aircraft factories and other odious products of high-tech production appeared. Instead of an airplane - a saucepan … This is the height of the degradation of production.
And, for example, the Krasnogorsk plant named after Zverev? Many have used his products both "at work" and at home. The sights were made there. I'm talking about work. And where were the Zenit cameras famous since 1952 made? And what about the amateur 8-mm cameras "Quartz" known to many readers? And the chic 16-mm Krasnogorsk cameras? And the lenses "Helios", "MC Mir" and much more?
Such enterprises quickly blended into the new economic situation. By simply re-profiling part of production to build up the civilian component. A perfect example! But not for us. Let me assume that for some readers I have revealed a "military secret".
Moreover, this example was not invented at the Krasnogorsk plant and similar enterprises. Such a system has been operating in the West for a long time. The state is not at all obliged to "keep afloat" the manufacturers of military equipment and weapons. Moreover, manufacturers must compete for government orders. Competition breeds progress.
Seemingly obvious facts. And the prospects for the defense industry are not bright. Only here is something that is not particularly visible, that the leaders of the defense industry "move". Even a direct instruction from Vladimir Putin, given to him last year at a meeting on the use of the potential of the defense industry in civilian production, was ignored. The President then spoke in plain text about the need to "focus on the needs of advanced science-intensive industries." Space, information technology. Medicine. Aircraft building. Shipbuilding. Energy …
Consider the most frequently used example on social media. "If you are so great, then where is the Russian mobile phone? Where are the Russian computers?" Well, and further down the list. But really: where? I recently wrote about the Voronezh radar station. What technologies are used there?.. And in Russian electronic warfare systems? We decided to work "in the Soviet way" again?
What is it? Deliberate disregard for the current situation? Or inertia of thinking? Or something else? If today the heads of defense concerns are not kicked in the direction of civilian production, then only 3 years are left before the “great sorrow” over the next destruction of enterprises! Not one hundred, not ten, but only three! In 2020, you will simply have half of the production!
Most readers have probably forgotten the word "conversion". But there is such a word. And in Russian too. Moreover, there is a special conversion program in Russia. State, by the way. And the money is not joking there. 3 trillion rubles!
Let me remind the leaders of the industry about the tasks set by the president. Not philosophical reasoning about the possibilities, but really set tasks. Vladimir Putin has clearly defined the time frame for the conversion. By 2025, civilian production in state corporations should account for at least 30% of the total. And by 2030, all 50%! For dull leaders I will translate "state". State!
I do not in any way want to say that today the "chiefs from the defense industry complex" are lying on sofas and resting on their laurels. They really plow. And not in words, but in deeds. Judging by the results of which I wrote, including myself. It should be noted frankly the impressive results. But … "Generals" from the military-industrial complex are "generals" because they have to think strategically. Leave the solution of tactical tasks like those that are being solved now to the officers. Something for the "lieutenants", something for the "majors", something for the "colonels". Your business is strategy. The commander-in-chief gave the task, please be so kind to provide your solution for the entire campaign.
One of my friends, a rather laconic man, once told a story from his African adventures. About what a sense of pride he experienced then. And he discovered the African jungle … the Soviet receiver "Ishim". The locals spoke of this apparatus with respect to "Shishi". And they took care. Because there was no better one. Neither the Americans, nor the Europeans, nor the Japanese. Soviet "Shishi" …
Maybe we will be proud to talk about the world's best mobile phones and computers? After all, our field of activity today resembles virgin lands. There are old motor ships on the rivers. At the airports … But wherever you look. After all, they are already changing Western jeeps for Russian Patriots. Maybe we will be on the Volga too?.. And what is the difference between the complexity of the production of a river motor ship and a military boat? The motor ship will be simpler. Even the most sophisticated. Yes, and a descendant of a "maize" at the rural airfield, where he will be received with outstretched hands, simpler Su …
"Generals", 2020 - already here it is …
