At the next conference call, in which Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu took part, the question was considered on what principle, within the framework of the State Defense Order, contracts for the repair and maintenance of military equipment would be concluded. The topic of the state defense order, or rather its already common disruptions, has taken on an obviously painful connotation over the past few years (since the announcement of substantial funding for the modernization and rearmament of the army). It is this shade that makes us pay increased attention to all those decisions that are made or discussed in the defense industry as potentially possible.
Sergei Shoigu said that when concluding contracts with defense industry enterprises, it is necessary to completely neutralize the risks, for which it is advisable to switch to the following scheme: whoever manufactures equipment will subsequently repair it. From the minister's point of view, such a scheme will lead to the fact that the risks of purchasing low-quality military equipment from enterprises of the military-industrial complex will be minimized, and, therefore, the burden on the state treasury will decrease. In addition, after such a decision is made, it will be financially beneficial for the defense industry enterprises to carry out a complete modernization of their equipment, as well as a whole range of measures to improve the qualifications of their employees. In other words, the Minister of Defense emphasized that the release of frankly low-quality equipment will lead to the fact that the manufacturing enterprises themselves will have to incur additional costs in order to correct their forced or unforced errors.
Such a proposal from the current defense minister found both supporters and opponents. Supporters of the idea of Sergei Shoigu make it clear that the proposal of the head of the military department has a whole range of advantages, the main of which is budget savings and improving the quality of products. Saving the budget in this case may lie in the absence of a number of intermediaries between the Ministry of Defense and the manufacturing enterprise. And, as you know, the fewer intermediaries in the form of virtually uncontrolled firms, the less chances of losing a certain percentage of funds allocated for the repair of military equipment.
Opponents are not ready to take Sergei Shoigu's idea so optimistically. They see at least one flaw in the scheme proposed by the minister. In their (opponents') opinion, the state, in this case, will not only not gain in terms of money, but, on the contrary, will be faced with the need to make new expenses. The fact is that defense enterprises supplying this or that equipment to military units are often located thousands of kilometers from these units. And if, for example, a tank or a helicopter fails this or that unit (unit) during operation, then transporting the equipment to the manufacturing plant will be too expensive for the treasury.
In addition, critics of Sergei Shoigu's idea say that under the current conditions of market instability, it is completely impossible to conclude long-term contracts for the repair of military equipment with manufacturers. The point is that no one seems to know in advance about the prices for repairs, for example, of the T-90A tank for the next 10-15 years.
In principle, such a problem could be solved by concluding contracts calculated not for 10-15 years of maintenance of one or another military equipment object, but, for example, for 3-5 years. However, for some reason, opponents of the minister's idea are not considering this option.
In order to use the obvious anti-corruption message of Sergei Shoigu, but at the same time not to bring to the point that, at any convenient and inconvenient occasion, the failed equipment was sent for repair to the address of its manufacturer, experts make their suggestions. One of these proposals looks like using the experience of the USSR in the production and repair of military equipment. The essence of the proposal is for the Ministry of Defense to secure a certain number of repair facilities in various regions of the country. At these facilities, repair work would be carried out without using the services of numerous intermediary offices. This would make it possible to shorten the time frame for the work and to carry out, let's say, the repair segment of the State Defense Order plan without delays, which have manifested themselves all of the last time.
While the Ministry of Defense is deciding which way to continue to move so that the state defense order is not once again disrupted, by order No. 114-r of the Government of the Russian Federation, a new composition of the Military-Industrial Commission was announced. The military-industrial complex is a special government body that organizes the activities of executive power structures in terms of resolving military-industrial issues of ensuring the country's security (including the provision of troops with military-technical means) and building a system of law enforcement.
As expected, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Rogozin remained the chairman of the military-industrial complex. In addition to him, the military-industrial complex includes 22 more permanent members, among which are Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Rosoboronzakaz Director A. Potapov, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Economic Development Minister A. Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The Minister of Health Veronika Skvortsova also became a permanent member of the commission.
There are also 37, so to speak, non-permanent members of the military-industrial complex, including both the head of Rostekhnadzor N. Kutin and the Minister of Education and Science D. Livanov. Time will show how efficient such a commission will be, and how much it will allow solving painful problems with the modernization of the Russian army.
