The replacement of the Russian Defense Minister was seen as nothing other than the salvation of the State Defense Order, which Anatoly Serdyukov could not implement over the years of his work. It seemed that it was only necessary to give him a strong economic assistant, or to replace the minister himself with an economic manager, as the situation would get off the ground. However, what seems at first glance does not always correspond to reality. So in the case of the State Defense Order, the reality turned out to be much more complicated than the change of responsible persons.
Many remember the appointment to the post of Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation at the end of last year, Dmitry Rogozin, who was called upon to oversee the military-industrial industry and, in close contact with the Ministry of Defense and Russian industrialists, bring both those and others to the conclusion of breakthrough contracts for production and supply military equipment to the troops. High hopes were pinned on this appointment of Rogozin, but only the State Defense Order either did not give in to the teeth, or exhausted all interested and responsible parties utterly. One of the indicative moments here is the conclusion of contracts for the supply of Borei-class submarines, when only the direct intervention of Vladimir Putin allowed the parties to "understand" each other and put their signatures on the agreement. Only the contract, as it turned out later, did not suit either one or the other side, since the industrialists asked to throw them another 5% from above, and Anatoly Serdyukov's department said that this was a robbery, and therefore the price should be reduced at least three times …
It turns out that the United Shipbuilding Corporation is building Boreis today, but they are clearly not impressed with the level of payment for their work. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense allocates money for production, but, in turn, also gritting their teeth and hoping for a decrease in the total cost, which in itself looks utopian.
In general, all these frictions and omissions in the communication between the Ministry of Defense and manufacturers of military equipment under the State Defense Order could, as many expected, be resolved by the resignation of Minister Serdyukov. And this, indeed, looked like the lesser of evils, because at the heart of the issue related to all the difficulties and problems of implementing the state defense order, few people wanted to dive, as they say, with their heads.
The minister was eventually removed. In connection with the impossibility of effectively concluding contracts with manufacturers, or not in connection - this is not the point … But the new minister, who did not have time to really get comfortable in a new place for himself, faced the same problems that the previous higher military apparatus faced departments. It would seem that the strong-willed and experienced Sergei Shoigu with his professional environment, which includes former representatives of the military-industrial sector, should literally put an iron hand in order to implement the State Defense Order, with the support of Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin. But it turned out that the matter is much more complicated than anyone from the outside had previously imagined. Apparently, having studied the estimates for the preparation and creation of modern models of military equipment, Shoigu took his head. At a recent meeting of the Government of the Russian Federation, the new Minister of Defense said that the Ministry could fulfill the SDO program in monetary terms, but the program would then not be implemented in quantitative terms.“… I'm not even talking about quality,” added Sergei Shoigu.
In other words, the price list itself, inserted by manufacturers of military equipment in Russia today, is such that even with the level of funding for the modernization of the army and navy until 2020, which is announced by the higher authorities (23 trillion rubles), to purchase as many units of military equipment as the troops need, it is impossible purely mathematically. Either it is necessary to reduce the planned amount of equipment for purchases by the state, or to force industrialists to cut prices.
The first is impossible, since then the plans to re-equip the Russian army by 70% in the coming years are completely thwarted. The second is impossible, because no sane industrialist will work at a loss in a market economy, to which we seem to have moved on. But didn't it happen that the prices that are today indicated by production associations for their services for the creation of military equipment, to put it mildly, are slightly overstated. Perhaps someone here also sees an option for heating their own hands, raising the price bar to such limits, at which it is possible, excuse me, to snatch a solid piece? Is it so?
Sergei Shoigu at the same government meeting entered into an almost open dispute with the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. The head of the military department is perplexed on what basis the prices for aviation equipment have grown exponentially over the past four years. In particular, Shoigu notes that helicopters in Russia have become more expensive since 2008-2009 by as much as 3-5 times, and planes - twice. Since 2010, the cost of T-90 tanks, taking into account modernization measures, has grown significantly and is about 118 million rubles. With other military equipment, which should be supplied to the troops according to the plans for the implementation of the State Defense Order, the situation is about the same. Industrial enterprises raise prices without paying any attention to inflationary laws. After all, if we take into account that the total inflation over the past four years was no more than 30%, it turns out that a fivefold increase in prices for the same helicopter equipment is a clear overkill, even if we take into account that the inflation rate is an average indicator.
If we consider such impressive prices for Russian equipment, then the explanations for the level of these prices can be as follows. Or there is a force that artificially heats up the financial component of the process of creating military equipment for the needs of the Ministry of Defense, taking advantage of the fact that colossal money is allocated for the purchase of such equipment. Or prices are growing objectively for one simple reason: obvious deterioration of the production component, a decrease in production capacities, which themselves need serious modernization. After all, it is no secret that many enterprises that position themselves as manufacturers of new generation military equipment or modernized equipment use equipment produced during the Khrushchev "thaw" period. If for their time these machines were a technical and technological breakthrough (and even then not always), today they are simply outdated. It would be high time to replace them with more modern ones, but there is often not enough money to buy modern ones, and therefore the last juices are squeezed out of the equipment, on which even fathers and grandfathers fulfilled the plans of the five-year plans.
It is obvious that the use of a worn-out technical fund leads to an increase in prices for any products produced on its basis. Even if colanders and pots are made with the help of many of these machines, then such dishes will be three to four times more expensive than the products of enterprises that have switched to the use of modern technology. The issues of energy saving, and technological principles of production, and a decrease in the intensity of human labor, and the leveling of the error factor, and much more are important here. After all, nowhere do they say that they will "catch up and overtake" modern industrial complexes with the help of a homemade wooden machine, inherited from the ancestors. And we sometimes say …
In this regard, the attempts of the Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov to justify themselves in the inflated prices for military equipment produced in Russia look somewhat strange. According to him, there is simply nothing left for industrialists, because the profitability of Russian enterprises in the military-industrial complex does not exceed 6-7% on average. They say that this is why Russian enterprises either have to work at a loss, or simply refuse those proposals that come from the Ministry of Defense as part of the implementation of the State Defense Order.
On the one hand, the problems of industrialists are understandable. But, as often happens, production owners and managers do not always decide on their own to modernize their own enterprises. It is highly undesirable for many industrialists to purchase new equipment that would allow them to perform their tasks faster and better. After all, one does not always want to part with profit and this very profit in the development of enterprises. Much more often, the profit of enterprises is mastered in other ways according to the principle: we use earnings now, and then come what may …
Such a difficult situation in the military-industrial sector could be helped by either a state program to modernize the production facilities themselves, or by attracting private capital, which, by the way, is practiced in many countries of the world where the military-technical sector is well developed. But both the state program and the attraction of private capital require time, which is less and less until the end of the announced military reform. It turns out that the same Ministry of Defense will either have to carry out a temporary restructuring of the renewal of the technical fleet of the army and navy, or continue butting with manufacturers, figuring out why it is so expensive and how to buy it cheaper.
Sergei Shoigu, realizing that no one will allow him to move the plans for modernizing the army in time (after all, the directive on the timing came from above, and Shoigu does not look like a revolutionary minister), he decided to somehow scare the industrialists. He said that if no progress occurs when reaching agreements on prices with them, then the Ministry of Defense will simply be forced to buy products from foreign manufacturers. This idea was immediately supported by Prime Minister Medvedev, who said that Russian manufacturers should feel that foreigners are breathing down their heads. Like, this is the only way to expect a sense. Oh, is it?..
With these statements by Sergei Shoigu and Dmitry Medvedev, in general, some kind of incident turns out. After all, in fact, the Ministry of Defense and the Government are coming to what they seem to have recently left. More precisely, not quite so: we thought so that we left, but in fact there is no other way out yet than to bang on the table with our fist and demand from Russian enterprises in the military-industrial complex to lower prices for the full implementation of the State Defense Order.
In this regard, the reaction of the industrialists themselves is interesting. If suddenly, after such an offensive by Shoigu-Medvedev, prices suddenly climb down, this would mean that the matter was nevertheless a banal desire of those interested in the military-industrial complex to fill their pockets with budget money (in reserve, as they say). And if no noticeable decrease in prices for military equipment occurs, then this will mean that the reason lies in the laws of the market, based on the use of technologies, materials, investments. There is neither one, nor the other, nor the third, but it is necessary to provide for the state defense order, which means that we will have to dig the earth at an exorbitant price, in our hearts remembering with "kind" words all the ministers by name.
