Alexander Postnikov
"The samples of weapons produced by the domestic industry, including armored weapons, artillery and small arms, do not correspond in their parameters to those of NATO and even China," said Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Alexander Postnikov in a conversation with journalists.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Army explained his words with the example of the T-90 tank, which, according to Postnikov, is a modified version of the seventeenth generation Soviet T-72 tank, which has been produced since 1973. He also noted the high price of the T-90, which is 118 million rubles for one copy. "It would be easier for us to buy three Leopards for this money," Postnikov said. Meanwhile, the T-90s are in rather high demand on the foreign arms market. For example, India intends to replace the outdated T-55 and T-72 with new ones in the near future. T-90.
The German MBT Leopard 2 mentioned by Postnikov has been produced since 1979. During this time, the tank went through six modernization programs, it is currently being produced in version 2A6, and in 2012 it is planned to start serial production of version 2A7 +. The price of one Leopard is $ 6 million (172.2 million rubles). It is worth noting that many, if not all, defense companies are releasing new versions of equipment, which are in fact deeply modernized existing models.
Despite some lag of Russian weapons from Western ones, weapons and military equipment manufactured in Russia are gaining more and more popularity in the world. Russian military products are supplied to 80 countries of the world. According to Rosoboronexport, in 2009 Russia sold weapons worth $ 8.8 billion, and in 2010 - $ 10 billion. This figure is increasing by an average of $ 500-700 million per year. The most popular are Russian equipment for the ground forces and aviation equipment.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian defense industry at the moment is simply not able to produce some samples of military products that would meet modern requirements. To correct the current situation, it is planned, for example, to acquire light armor for light and medium armored vehicles on tracked and wheeled tracks from the same Germans.
It was also reported earlier that in 2011 Russia will begin licensed production of Italian Iveco Lynx armored vehicles, on which German armor will be installed. The need of the Russian Armed Forces for Lynx armored vehicles is estimated at 1,775 units.
In 2010, the Ministry of Defense and the command of the Air Force and Ground Forces expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of Russian UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). In particular, the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Vladimir Popovkin stated that five billion rubles were spent on the development, production and testing of Russian UAVs, but no results were achieved. But, for example, all the same Postnikov in September 2010 stated that “domestic manufacturers of complexes with UAVs have made significant progress in their work, and some samples, after revision, can be adopted.”
But here, too, it was decided to acquire UAVs abroad. In June 2009, the Russian Defense Ministry purchased 12 drones from Israel for $ 53 million. Later, a second contract was signed for the supply of 36 Israeli vehicles worth one hundred million dollars. In April 2010, 15 more drones were purchased. In addition to the purchases already made, it is planned to produce Israeli UAVs on the basis of the Kazan Helicopter Plant as part of a Russian-Israeli joint venture. The cost of this project is estimated at three hundred million dollars.
The need to purchase Mistrals was also explained by the Ministry of Defense by the fact that Russian enterprises were unable to develop and build ships of this class.
And every time, when purchasing military products abroad, the military and officials declare that the purchase is made on the condition of transferring a license for the development of advanced technologies.
The answer to officials from the Ministry of Defense - "T-90A tests, which were carried out in Saudi Arabia as part of an open tender, completely refute the allegations of the commander-in-chief"
