According to the expert, the defense industry is capable of ensuring the production of almost all weapons and equipment needed by the country.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the first missile regiment, armed with the latest mobile ground missile system "Yars", is on alert in full force. Colonel Vadim Koval, an official representative of the press service and information department of the RF Ministry of Defense on Strategic Missile Forces, told Interfax.
“The other day in the Teikovo missile division, stationed in the Ivanovo region, the third missile division, re-equipped with the Yars complexes, took up combat duty. Thus, the first missile regiment in the Armed Forces equipped with these complexes is now carrying out combat duty missions in full force,”Koval said. He recalled that on March 4, the first two missile divisions armed with Yars complexes with an RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) took up combat duty in this regiment.
At present, on the basis of the Teikovo missile division, the first stage of retraining for the Yars complex is being completed for the personnel of the next missile regiment. From July 2011, the servicemen of this regiment will continue retraining at the Yars PGRK on the basis of the training center deployed at the Plesetsk cosmodrome (Arkhangelsk region). The adoption of the RS-24 ICBM will enhance the combat capabilities of the Strategic Missile Forces strike group to overcome anti-missile defense systems, thereby strengthening the potential for nuclear deterrence of the Russian strategic nuclear forces. This missile will replace the aging RS-18 and RS-20 multiply charged ICBMs as their extended service lives expire. In the future, together with the RS-12M2 monoblock ICBM (Topol-M missile system), which has already been put into service, the RS-24 ICBM will form the basis of the Strategic Missile Forces strike group.
These missiles are capable of breaking through any missile defense system in the next 15-20 years, the command of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces claims. By the way, these missiles were also "appreciated" in the United States - one of the leaders of the Republican majority in the Senate, John Kyle, first called the appearance of these missiles a violation of START-1, and then demanded that their ban be made a condition for signing START-3.
Recall that the RS-24 ICBM with a multiple warhead was developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Engineering under the leadership of the General Designer, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Solomonov, who in early July publicly announced the failure of the state defense order for 2011. However, even then, many experts told KM. RU that these statements by Solomonov were greatly exaggerated. And most likely, they were caused by his personal resentment: after numerous failures with the launch of the sea-based Bulava missile created by Solomonov, he was actually removed from this project (and things, by the way, went incomparably better - although this may be just a coincidence, or just the entire limit errors have already been exhausted)
In addition, the military leadership (apparently taught by the Bulava story) rejected all of Solomonov's initiatives to create a new intercontinental ballistic missile (instead of the aging RS-18 Stiletto and RS-20 Voyevoda) on a solid fuel basis. It is clear that Solomonov wanted to knock out such an order for his MIT, which specializes in solid-fuel engines. But Solomonov's proposals were quite sharply rejected, and the new rocket (liquid-fuel) was instructed to create the Rosobschemash corporation.
Let us also mention that after the Ministry of Defense agreed with Solomon's MIT on the price of ballistic missiles of the latter at the end of July and concluded a contract with him, there were no more critical remarks from Solomonov.
But Solomonov's statements were followed by a "journalistic investigation" carried out by the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" the other day, as a result of which its authors painted a truly apocalyptic picture of the state of the Russian defense-industrial complex. The Moscow Avangard plant, which produces missiles for the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems, was taken as an illustration. This enterprise is now part of the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern, the name of which, indeed, sounded in the list of enterprises with which the Ministry of Defense was unable to conclude contracts for the state defense order.
Anonymous representatives of the allegedly "labor collective" of the plant told the publication that "for 8 years, not a single order has been disrupted either by the Ministry of Defense or by Rosoboronexport." “The defense order of the last year was fulfilled ahead of schedule, by October 31. In November-December, we could have already started this year's program, but we are still standing - no contracts have been concluded with the Ministry of Defense. The technological lead time of the product is 9 months, so the defense order of 2011 has already been disrupted,”stated unknown employees of Avangard. Complaints followed that "the meetings talk about the inability of the plant to cope with the tasks set." In this regard, the management of the concern is going to build two new plants in Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov, on which they plan to spend 15 billion rubles, which will be received within the framework of the federal target program for the development of the military-industrial complex.
At the plant itself, the accusations of inability to fulfill the order are considered unfounded and indicate that if it is necessary to increase the capacity, it would be possible to modernize the Avangard, and for less money. But the management of the concern, as the workers of the plant assume, wants to sell the land in Moscow, which the plant occupies, and at the same time receive 15 billion rubles from the state for new projects.
The plant is not able to live on its own funds. In 2003, China's order for S-300 missile systems saved it from complete collapse, but China does not need them anymore. “They have already made their S-300 - they have copied it, now they are waiting for the S-400. They rush to us all the time, they say: show the equipment on which you make the world's best complexes. We do not let them in, we answer: a secret. But in fact, it's just a shame: they will laugh if they see what we are working on. We have 90% of the machines 40 years ago, "- says the publication, quoting unnamed" workers of the plant."
They also report that there are certain problems even with missiles for the S-400 complexes, not to mention the S-500. Recall that quite recently, at the end of July, Lieutenant General Valery Ivanov, Commander of the Strategic Command of the Aerospace Defense Forces, reported that the Russian aerospace defense system (VKO) - "an analogue of the European missile defense" - has already been created and is being improved. She will take up combat duty by December 1 - exactly by the date set by President Dmitry Medvedev. Ivanov also said that the latest S-500 anti-aircraft missile systems will enter the army by 2015 and will become the backbone of the VKO forces.
The publication openly ridicules such reports, again referring to the factory workers. Say, there is the only normally developed missile - a short-range missile for the S-400 with a range of 150 km. A medium-range missile of up to 250 km does not always fly the distance that is needed, but its serial production is already underway.
But with a distant missile continuous problems. There is no necessary equipment - nothing really has been done on the new element base. The two missiles on which the new "head" was placed, both - in December and March of this year - worked unsuccessfully: they aimed in one direction and flew in the other. In addition, the Impulse plant, which makes a radio fuse for the rocket, by and large has not yet started it, since less than half of the ten stages of manufacturing this unit has been paid for. The missiles for the S-500 complexes at the plant were generally called “pure disinformation” and “thoughts like“what I would like to have”. “In reality, no work, at least in our enterprise, is being carried out. There is not even a hint, "- again referring to nameless workers, the newspaper claims.
In truth, there is reason to believe that the entire described nightmare on the "vanguard" is nevertheless somewhat exaggerated by the "anonymous workers". Moreover, the publication. And in particular, the author of the material is known for his supercritical attitude to the military department, and to the "defense industry" too. On the other hand, the tendency of our Ministry of Defense to over-paint the situation is also not a secret. Perhaps, only the fact that for a month (if not a year) between the military department and production workers has been a stormy showdown, accompanied by mutual slander in all possible instances, can be recognized as reliable. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense accuses enterprises of the military-industrial complex of disrupting the order, which, according to officials, "wildly" overcharge. Manufacturers, in turn, blame the failure on the defense department, which does not sign contracts on time and does not pay on time.
As Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently noted: “I go wherever I go, I hear rushes against the Ministry of Defense, I ask you to forgive me for bad manners, and when I meet with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, it puts forward counter-demands to the industry. True, recently Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, Chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission, promised the Prime Minister and President of the Russian Federation to resolve the situation in the near future and ensure the fulfillment of the state defense order, including for the current year. But, as you know, making a promise and keeping a promise is not at all the same thing, especially in our country.
Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, commented on the situation for KM. RU:
- Yes, I am familiar with the quoted article and I think that it belongs to the category of provocations. The only truth is that Almaz-Antey is going to create two more production sites in the regions. And the Avangard plant itself has been and remains the leading manufacturer of missiles for anti-aircraft missile systems. And there are no problems with their production. Likewise, work on the creation of the S-500 is proceeding normally, quite in accordance with all the approved schedules.
In general, in general, the rumor about the death of the Russian defense industry is greatly exaggerated, regardless of whether it makes someone happy or upset. Today, the military-industrial complex, despite all the difficulties, still functions, and under the conditions of scrupulous funding within the framework of approved state programs, it is able to provide almost the entire range of weapons and equipment necessary for the needs of the country's defense. Yes, indeed, now there are enough conflicts between the military and industrial workers. But, in the end, both of them are doomed to find a common language, and primarily on the problem of transparency of pricing in the defense sector and the corresponding budgetary expenditures.
It is hoped that with the broad introduction of two to three year contracts with defense enterprises, they will be provided with timely advance payments for production - and they will be able to offer the military products that meet the specified requirements in terms of tactical and technical characteristics. Perhaps, where there are really very serious problems and how to solve them, it is not clear - this is the situation with the industry of ammunition and special chemicals. But this is the subject of a separate conversation.
