Perhaps, not one of the current ministers of the Russian Government is riveted as much attention as Dmitry Rogozin. This state of affairs is connected with the fact that Dmitry Rogozin, in comparison with many other federal ministers, is a relatively new person in power, and great hopes are pinned on him in Russia. Of course, not without the fact that Rogozin is subjected to significant criticism. Although, by and large, such criticism can be produced as much as you like, it cannot be denied that in a few months it is extremely important and daunting to solve such an acute issue as the sphere of modernization of the Russian army and the formation of a vector for the development of the domestic military-industrial complex, as one well-known historical figure said. Rowing against the tide - this is exactly the analogy that comes to mind when it comes to the work of Dmitry Rogozin as deputy prime minister. However, we will not delve into the intricacies and government intrigues, but we will consider the question of what are the tasks for the industry, and therefore directly for himself, Rogozin himself sets.
In a recent interview with Kommersant, the Deputy Prime Minister said that the strategy for the development of the military-technical industry will consist of two main directions: the development of its own production capabilities and the creation of joint ventures for the production of military equipment, which will work in terms of using foreign technologies, and not just in screwdriver mode. Dmitry Rogozin also mentioned that the Russian Federation will not make mass purchases of foreign military equipment. This means that such a solid project related to the purchase of foreign-made military equipment, like "Mistral", can actually become both the first and the last.
In this regard, you need to build up your own production capacity. However, there is a serious obstacle on the way to the implementation of such a project. It was voiced by Rogozin himself. It is often easier to build a new plant for the production of one or another military equipment than to carry out the so-called modernization of old equipment in production workshops requiring repair. But it is precisely this state of affairs for many in Russia that raises the most acute questions. Most people, sadly, have already forgotten how to trust the authorities, so the initiative to build new production facilities and equip them with new equipment raises a number of complaints. These complaints are related to suspicions of some corrupt components of the process of reforming the army and modernizing the military-industrial complex. They say, why build when you can patch up the old … However, one should not think that literally at every step, any initiative Rogozin awaits corruption and bureaucratic swamp. Otherwise, you can be recorded in the number of full-time alarmists, who a priori will bring any mission under the category of impossible.
What Rogozin is talking about is quite promising and realistic. The construction of new industrial enterprises with money allocated from the state budget can, like a locomotive, drag along not only the military-industrial complex, but the entire Russian industry, and therefore the economy. After all, we must not forget that our country has a program to create several million additional jobs over the next few years. The concept of building new factories fits perfectly into the overall system of saturating the labor sector with new jobs.
If we talk about joint Russian-foreign ventures, then there is also a plus here. In addition to the obvious advantages associated with the growth of bilateral trade, the creation of a joint venture also promises an exchange of best practices. And here, too, there is no need to think that Russia will fall into some kind of dependence on foreign partners. You just need to ensure the functioning of these joint ventures with a reliable legal framework that will regulate the exchange of technologies and joint financing of projects. Of course, creating a balanced legal framework for such activities can sometimes be much more difficult than conducting direct partnerships, but it is the legal environment that will have to ensure that all parties comply with both financial obligations and copyrights. Here it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that Russia is already participating in many joint projects: for example, the creation of the Russian-Indian missile "BrahMos". This anti-ship missile is being created by integrating the potentials of the Russian military-industrial complex NPO Mashinostroyenia and the Indian DRDO based on the Russian Yakhont. The project to create and supply two hundred BrahMos missiles to India in financial terms amounted to about $ 4 billion. One can imagine what financial potentials can be unlocked if there will be an order of magnitude more such joint ventures than there are now.
At the end of 2011, Russia ranked 6th in the world, having overtaken, by the way, Germany, in terms of defense spending. This suggests that Russia not only has prospects for cooperation with other countries interested in modernizing their own armies, but there are a lot of such prospects. If we take advantage of the financial opportunities that the state budget allows us to use today, then we can say that tomorrow Russia may face not only the modernization of the military-industrial complex, but also significant progress for the entire economy.
