It will not be news to anyone that the level of development of any state is determined according to certain methods and the main priority is set for the positions of critical technologies. There are 24 such positions, and at one time the Soviet Union occupied the first places on seven points. These seven points are the most important in assessing the entire industrial complex - these are technologies in the field of nuclear physics, laser radiation, microwave, aviation, superconducting materials, space exploration and others. In the modern liberal-market RF, most of the defense industry enterprises have completely lost the technologies that were successfully used in the past for the manufacture of new equipment and weapons. Over the past 15 years, more than 300 of the most important critical technologies have been irretrievably lost, and their restoration will take decades, rather than years, and significant financial costs. The collapse of the test sites led to the loss of methods and assessments of the results associated with the testing of weapons. Reproduction has dropped catastrophically in terms of the number of technologies, measuring systems, weapons, new tools, materials, and, worst of all, personnel.
Today, the production of new types of weapons in Russia resembles its auto industry - “screwdriver” assembly. The most modern military equipment in the country is produced only on the basis of imported components. Undoubtedly, this also affected the cost of finished products. So, in the period from 2000 to the present, the cost of manufacturing weapons and equipment has increased 20 times.
What kind of preservation of any technologies can be said, for example, in aviation, if the state purchases: 95 Embraers in Brazil, 90 Airbuses in the EU, 65 Boeings in the USA, 55 Bombardiers in Canada. For these acquisitions, the state is ready to allocate $ 20 billion, which will be spent not only on the purchase of aircraft, but also on the creation of companies engaged in service maintenance, training of personnel, pilots, technicians, service or repair kits and much more. The reasons for such massive purchases are obvious, Russia itself produces no more than seven civil aircraft a year. In the near future, Russia may be left without pilots at all, this is due to the fact that a rule will begin to operate in the country, according to which only pilots who speak English at the fourth level will be able to fly, and there are practically no such in the country. Perhaps Russian officials will find a way out in this situation and will resort to the help of pilots from abroad, who will fly not only abroad, but also within the state.
What is the reason for the drop in the level of production of its own weapons and equipment in Russia?
In this matter, one should not look for the guilty far beyond the borders of the country. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation systematically refuses new and very promising domestic developments, and at the same time gives preference to imported, already developed samples. In the last two years alone, the development of promising models of equipment has been curtailed. In this case, we are talking about the light amphibious tank "Sprut-SD" and the heavy T-95.
"Sprut-SD" by its operational and combat characteristics is much superior to foreign counterparts. In particular, the tank has a cannon with a 125-mm caliber unthinkable for this class of equipment. The developed new T-95 tank is a model of a new generation of military equipment. Thus, the crew of the tank is housed in a special armored capsule with a high degree of protection. On the new tank, it was planned to install a completely new engine, vision systems and much more. But, despite the revolutionary solutions, further developments on tanks are closed, they are not needed by our army. Military officials have probably forgotten that the new tank is a new definition of the potential of the troops as a whole. Refusal to complete development on a new tank practically closes work on automation, mechanization, habitability, new types of ammunition, ergonomics, technical vision, armor protection, new engines, more advanced suspension - all this is a step backward. The military operations that the US army is currently conducting in Afghanistan can serve as a clear example of the quality of our weapons. The Americans, despite their full armament potential, are switching to reliable and unpretentious Soviet equipment, Kalashnikov assault rifles are in the hands of American soldiers, and Mi-8 helicopters reign in the sky. For some reason, people in Russia do not understand this. Having our own first-class equipment, millions of dollars are spent on the purchase of Iveco, the quality of which was unflatteringly commented on by specialists from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
Western companies representing the military-industrial complex are ready to cooperate with Russia, but they are in no hurry to sell their latest technologies and modern models of military equipment to our country. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is content with products of the 2nd and 3rd generations, which, given the appearance of weapons of the 4th, 4+ and, of course, 5th generations, is considered morally obsolete in the West. For the domestic defense industry, this is a way back - similar topics are closed, entire institutions are dispersed. As a result, Russia is completely losing the military-industrial culture that has been created over the years. This also affects the general technological level of defense enterprises, which has decreased several times over the past five years. The institutes that were created as specialized in the development and research in the field of the military industry are gradually dying. And the development of the national industry as a whole is, first of all, key in the development and maintenance of the defense industry at a high level.
By its decisions to curtail new programs in the field of creating new types of weapons, the Russian government is destroying the existing culture of the Ilyushins, Tupolevs, Yakovlevs. The Il-96 and Tu-134 created, which were truly competitive aircraft models, were banned from production. Unfortunately, our government is ready to give billions of dollars for obsolete aircraft to Western companies, but refuses to allocate much smaller amounts for the development of its own industry. This is not only a step backward, but also an irreversible process of destruction of an entire production complex.
