The 17th international exhibition Milipol-2011 was held in Paris from 18 to 21 October. Rosoboronexport presented at this show more than fifty different types of weapons, technical equipment, vehicles, etc. The main direction of the Milipol salons is the fight against crime, terrorism and other similar threats. But, despite this, an interesting statement on a different topic was made at Milipol-2011. The interest of foreign countries in Russian armaments has not surprised anyone for a long time, and in the meantime, a new item has been added to the "wishlist" of potential buyers.
According to the head of the Russian delegation V. Varlamov, several countries are already showing interest in the Russian S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems and would like to purchase these systems. However, in the coming years "Triumph" will not go abroad. Firstly, this is too new a product to share with other states. Secondly, so far the Russian troops have not received the proper amount of S-400s. The manufacturer of the complexes, the Almaz-Antey concern, for a number of reasons cannot yet cope with the orders of the Ministry of Defense and provide at least the Russian army with Triumphs. Nevertheless, it is planned to build two factories that will only be engaged in the assembly of air defense systems and nothing else. But the construction and organization of production will take several years, during which the S-400 will be produced in relatively small quantities and only for Russia.
As for other areas of the defense industry, Varlamov says, the range of types supplied does not change much. A large share of exports is accounted for by aviation technology. In this part of sales of equipment abroad, in turn, the leading aircraft are Su-30 and Mi-17 helicopters in various versions. Until next year, inclusive, the Algerian Air Force will have to receive 16 Su-30MKA aircraft in addition to the 28 already purchased. Venezuela is currently considering the possibility of additional purchases of the Su-30. Now Caracas has 24 such aircraft at its disposal. In the next few years, India is going to increase its Su-30 fleet by almost two and a half times. At the same time, most of the new machines will be manufactured under the Super 30 program - a deep modernization of the original Sushka.
The situation with Mi-17 helicopters is as follows. Afghanistan and India have ordered military transport versions of the helicopter called Mi-17V5 in the amount of 21 and 80 pieces, respectively. Venezuela has already received two dozen original Mi-17s and half a dozen more will be delivered in the near future. Iran has ordered 5 units, while Peru is just about to start negotiations.
In addition to the Mi-17, buyers pay attention not only to the already existing serial modifications of the "old" Mi-8, but also to the promising Mi-38 helicopter, which is still being tested and will go into production only in a couple of years.
The second place in terms of export volume looks a little ironic: behind aviation in the list are various air defense systems. The greatest interest for buyers, as before, is the S-300 air defense system. As already mentioned, there are those who want to buy the S-400, but this is not yet an export product. In addition to the "esok", foreign countries are interested in the "Pantsir-S" and "Tor" air defense systems. In 2008, Libya ordered several Tor-2ME complexes, deliveries of which were to begin this year. However, now it is unlikely that Libya will receive these complexes because of the civil war and the change of power.
Among other weapons demanded on the international market were the T-90 tanks. Their main buyer, as before, is India. Moreover, India not only buys the tanks themselves from us, but also manufactures them independently under license. With regards to tanks, Varlamov notes that the recent statements by a representative of the Ministry of Defense about the economic feasibility of purchasing domestic tanks did not affect relations with foreign partners in any way. Interestingly, the Indians do not share the opinion of the very representative of the Ministry of Defense, on the contrary: Indian Defense Minister B. Singh considers the T-90 to be the second deterrent after nuclear weapons. Given the relationship between India and Pakistan, you can probably trust this man's opinion.
In addition to tanks, lighter armored vehicles are also selling well. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia intend to purchase a certain amount of BMP-3, and this year it was expected to start delivering the vehicle to Greece. But last spring, the Greeks suspended negotiations on this matter. Thus, due to the financial crisis, the Greek army in the near future will not receive either a thousand initially planned BMP-3s, or even 420, which were part of the country's plans before the negotiations were stopped. But this year Venezuela received brand new BMP-3. In total, she will receive 130 vehicles of this type.
As you can see, Russian-made weapons and equipment are capable of not only arousing simple interest, but also winning various procurement tenders. Hopefully, this trend will continue in the future. And without prejudice to your own defense.
