At the Eurosatory-2010 arms show in Paris, Russia not only demonstrates its military equipment, but also for the first time looks closely at the best Western models. And not out of pure curiosity, but for the purpose of purchasing them. The armed forces of our country should have only the best equipment. And if it is not possible to purchase one within the country, then it is permissible to acquire it abroad. For the first time in almost a hundred years, the Ministry of Defense has received the right to choose the really best, including abroad.
A very solid military delegation from Russia was planned to arrive at Eurosatory-2010. Informed sources claim that the minister himself with the chief of the General Staff and several other top generals should have arrived. It was assumed that at the salon in Paris, various options for purchasing the best samples of Western-made military equipment would be considered. And concrete decisions were made. Did not work out. Bloody events in Kyrgyzstan prevented this, as they say.
The highest representative of the Ministry of Defense was Chief of Armaments, General of the Army Vladimir Popovkin. Usually, military officials of such a high rank first of all ritually bypass the stands of Rosoboronexport, and then begin to inspect foreign expositions. This time it was different.
Vladimir Popovkin held blitz talks with the heads of the delegations of Rostekhnologii and Rosoboronexport, answered in general terms to the questions of a few Russian journalists, and very quickly went to the stands of the world's leading arms firms.
General of the Army Popovkin told the Rossiyskaya Gazeta correspondent that he knew the level of Russian weapons quite well. In addition, according to him, in early July, Zhukovsky will host a complex exhibition organized by Russian Technologies, which will have a solid defense section, and negotiations with the elite of the Russian defense industry are already planned there. Here, at the Eurosatory-2010 salon, Vladimir Popovkin first of all expects to get acquainted with what Western manufacturers offer on the world arms market. This is necessary for a more objective assessment of the correlation between the capabilities of the domestic defense industry and the level that can be attributed to the highest world standard.
It must be said right away that practically all world arms manufacturers demonstrate precisely the highest standard in Paris.
First of all, the chief of armaments of the Russian army went to the stands of the Israeli military industry. They received him very warmly and specially for General Popovkin arranged a presentation of the Merkava-Mk4 tank. This modification of the well-known car began to be produced quite recently, Israel for the first time demonstrates its natural sample abroad. And it does it brilliantly! The presentation is structured as a real performance, running simultaneously with a short, but stunning in terms of the intensity of passions, a feature film. Not an arrogant commercial, but a movie.
The plot of the film and the entire presentation is built like a fleeting tank battle with helicopters and enemy tanks. Israeli tank crews overgrown with stubble, more like medieval pirates, find themselves under fire from guided anti-tank missiles fired from a helicopter and at gunpoint from tanks, silhouettes reminiscent of old T-55s. Tankers react very emotionally to emerging dangers, but keep the ever-changing situation under full control. It’s strange if it weren’t so. The turret of the Merkava-Mk4 tank looks more like the cockpit of a fifth generation fighter, not a tank. Computer display screens are everywhere. They reflect absolutely all information about the situation that is developing on the battlefield, and the onboard computers themselves help the crew to choose the right solution to counter any danger.
A rocket launched from a helicopter is destroyed by the Trophy active protection system. And here we need to make a small digression.
The Israeli complex of active protection of tanks against missiles is also shown abroad for the first time and is a matter of special pride for the Israelis, since there is nothing like this on either American, German or French tanks. Alas, there are no such systems on Russian cars either. But at the end of the 1980s in the USSR, for the first time in the world, the system of active protection of armored vehicles "Arena" was created, tested and prepared for serial production. This system, to this day, completely surpasses the Israeli Trophy. Only in the Russian armored units no one has ever seen the "Arena", except at some exhibition, but Israel's tankers have active protection created by RAFAEL. And there is no explanation for this paradox.
The next episode of the presentation was the destruction of the helicopter. It was torn to shreds by a direct hit from a tank gun. Enemy tanks were also hit by the first shot, since all information about them was pre-processed and entered into the fire control system.
The Victoria of the Merkava-Mk4's unshaven crew was complete! And it deservedly attracted applause from all who were present at the presentation, including the chief of armaments of the Russian army.
An interesting point. Around the formidable armored vehicle, cute girls in military uniforms circled in a merry flock, with whom even the gray-haired representatives of the world military-industrial complex were willingly photographed. It turned out that these short girls are soldiers of the Israeli army. Some of them even serve in armored units. And he does not consider this time wasted for himself.
They volunteered to the weapons salon to help represent the military equipment of their country in the best possible way. They did the job.
The question may arise: why did Israel even bring its Merkava-Mk-4 tank to distant France? It does not have any market prospects in the NATO market, and indeed there has never been a case of selling Israeli tanks abroad. And the fact is that this vehicle has become a real embodiment of the most advanced technologies, and even our armored vehicle specialists admit that today the Merkava-Mk4 is the best tank in the world. Well, maybe one of the best. In any case, the level of the T-90 is completely superior to the Israeli tank. The presentation of the world's best tank ended with a long list of companies involved in its creation. And you can't think of the best advertising for these enterprises, but they are active participants in the world arms market, including in Europe.
After the tank presentation, our chief of armaments retired with representatives of the Israeli industry for closed negotiations. They walked for an hour and a half, which is a very long time by exhibition standards. This means that serious issues were being resolved.
Then Vladimir Popovkin visited the exposition of the Italian company IVECO. As you know, the Ministry of Defense is considering the purchase of Italian armored vehicles for the Russian army. The options for this deal are different and are under preliminary discussion.
It must be admitted that the whole range of IVECO armored vehicles, and there are quite a lot of them, makes a strong impression. They meet modern requirements and are simply beautiful. Foreign car - there is a foreign car. The Italians spoke in great detail about all the features of their armored vehicles. Judging by the expression on the face of the chief of armaments, he was pleased with what he saw and heard.
Then Vladimir Popovkin went to the German company EADS, and then to the impressive exposition of the German concern RHEINMETALL. Perhaps the topic of the purchase of armor for light armored vehicles in Germany was discussed there.
Alas and ah, but we have really serious problems with the armor, and this is clearly seen at the salon in France. We continue to brew and roll the simplest, so-called, homogeneous armor. And in the West, they have already switched to the smelting of composite armor containing elements of fiberglass, ceramics, and other additives, including those developed using nano-technologies. This made it possible to reduce the weight of the armor protection while increasing its effectiveness. However, Russian scientists from the Research Institute of Steel seem to have developed some kind of breakthrough composition of armor. Vladimir Popovkin in an interview with reporters said that he really counts on this armor. However, according to him, if scientific development cannot be brought to industrial production, then we simply will have nothing to do but start purchasing new type of armor abroad.
The Chief of Armaments of the Russian Army has held and will continue to hold many important meetings and negotiations at Eurosatory-2010. And I would like to believe that their result will be the earliest possible equipping of our army with really the best military equipment in the world.
