Last Wednesday, June 19, Russian President V. Putin, accompanied by Defense Minister S. Shoigu, St. Petersburg Governor G. Poltavchenko and other dignitaries, visited the St. Petersburg Obukhov Plant, which is engaged in the implementation of several contracts under the state defense order. The officials were shown one of the workshops of the plant, which housed the machines of the new Vityaz anti-aircraft missile system. After visiting the production facility, the President held a meeting on the current state and prospects of Russian aerospace defense systems.
The demonstrated technique is of particular interest. The Vityaz air defense missile system first got into the lenses of photo and television cameras, because of which it immediately attracted wide attention from the interested public. The complex developed by the Almaz-Antey concern in the near future will replace some modifications of the S-300P family systems. "Vityaz" is intended for air defense of stationary objects and is capable of striking targets at short and medium ranges. It is noted that Vityaz uses the same medium-range missiles as the S-400 anti-aircraft complex.
The Obukhovsky plant, which is a structural subdivision of the Almaz-Antey concern, produces launchers for the new air defense system. All units are mounted on an eight-wheeled chassis manufactured by the Bryansk Automobile Plant. In addition to a vehicle equipped with a missile launcher, the anti-aircraft complex includes a command post and an all-aspect radar station. The characteristics of "Vityaz" have not yet been announced, but representatives of the developer are talking about the upcoming replacement of the S-300 complexes of early models. This allows you to roughly imagine the capabilities of the new air defense system.
After the demonstration deployment of the systems of the complex, which took place right in the shop, the president was invited to the cockpit of one of the machines. There V. Putin examined the instrumentation and asked several questions to the engineers who were developing the project. During the demonstration of the Vityaz complex, the general director of the Almaz-Antey concern V. Menshchikov spoke about the future of the new development. According to him, there is already an agreement with the Ministry of Defense and missile tests will begin this year. Thus, the new air defense system will go to the troops in the coming years.
At the meeting that followed the small "exhibition" V. Putin emphasized the importance of current work. He recalled that more and more opinions are being expressed about the so-called first disarming strike. According to the president, the military and defense industry should take into account the possibility of such events when developing the armed forces. It is planned to allocate about 3.4 trillion rubles by 2020 for the development of aerospace defense, which is one of the highest priority areas. This will improve the capabilities of the troops defending the country's airspace, as well as prepare to repel possible threats.
It was noted at the meeting that the development of the aerospace defense, and not the "classical" air defense, is in some way a forced measure. The fact is that the nearest states are actively engaged in the subject of medium-range ballistic missiles and Russia needs to take this into account. Our country at one time refused to create and operate such systems, but for some of our neighbors, medium-range missiles are of great interest. For this reason, defenses are needed to counter these threats.
Work on the creation and construction of new air defense and aerospace defense systems is already underway, and some of the results of these programs will be shown to the public in just a couple of months. According to Putin, at the upcoming international aerospace show MAKS-2013 (Zhukovsky), the Russian defense industry will demonstrate the latest samples of some aerospace defense systems. At the same time, the president did not specify the specific type of equipment planned to be shown.
Speaking about the serial production of new equipment, Putin noted that the main obstacles to the construction of anti-aircraft complexes are bureaucracy and red tape. However, despite these challenges, production and design work must continue on schedule. For missed deadlines, delays and the like, the relevant managers should be personally liable. It is noteworthy that a bill has already been submitted to the State Duma that provides for personal financial penalties for careless officials and businessmen. In accordance with this bill, responsible persons who disrupted the implementation of the State Defense Order will pay fines, and various restrictions will be imposed on organizations.
During the meeting, the President recalled the main tasks pursued by the current state rearmament program. By 2015, the aerospace defense forces should update their equipment by half, and by 2020 - by 70%. The implementation of such plans requires renovation of production facilities and improvement of their work. Already now, certain measures are being taken for this, and the Obukhov plant is no exception.
To improve the efficiency of the Obukhovsky plant and a number of related enterprises, the North-West Regional Center is currently being created as part of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern, which will include five St. Petersburg plants. As V. Putin said, such a measure will allow to optimize the costs of production and transport processes. It is the Obukhovsky plant that will play a leading role in this association. In addition, the reconstruction of the enterprise is now underway, the result of which should be the renewal of production capacities and, as a result, an increase in opportunities. The first results of all these works are already visible. So, in the current 2013, the Obukhov Plant within the framework of the State Defense Order was able to conclude contracts with a total volume of 12 billion rubles. Last year this figure was four times less.
Among the new types of equipment, the production of which will begin at the renovated enterprises in the near future, will also include the new Vityaz anti-aircraft missile system. The approximate date of its adoption into service is 2016. The exact dates will become clear later, when the tests of individual elements and the entire complex as a whole are completed.
