More Military Reforms: Putin Meets With Contractors to Outline New Standards for Russian Army
Contractors will bear personal responsibility for compliance with the terms of the Russian Army rearmament, Vladimir Putin warned the heads of defense contractors today. The President held a meeting with the heads of armaments factories and senior Ministry of Defence officials. The main topic was defense procurement. Among the priorities was prospective weapons. New, groundbreaking ideas are awaited from the developers.
Alexander Balitsky with the report.
The Russian Armed Forces have changed, they've become more effective, but most importantly, a technical breakthrough has been achieved. The task, which the President has assigned once more: to continue to work on a proactive basis. The generals and industry leaders discuss the implementation of the military procurement order. The President personally makes adjustments and demands a full report.
Vladimir Putin: "In 2018, the Ministry of Defense allocated almost 1.5 trillion rubles for procurement. This is a significant sum and those resources should be used to their maximum effectiveness. I draw your attention to the fact, that the contractors bear personal responsibility to strictly adhere to the terms of production of weapons and equipment including approved delivery schedule, thus maintaining the gains in the last years of the high pace of rearmament of the army and navy".
According to the plan, the armed forces are to receive more than 500 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 160 planes and helicopters, the most advanced ones are the Sukhoi SU-34, SU-35S, and SU-30SM, but as Putin reminds, the Aerospace Forces are not just aircraft. Rearmament will involve all aspects: anti-aircraft defenses, missile defense system and, of course, space systems. There are 14 new systems for communications, navigation, and reconnaissance.
Just a month ago, the Ministry of Defence put the "Kosmos-25" satellite into orbit. The area close to space is the new prospective field for the armed forces. And the new S-500 missile defense systems will be able to hit targets at extreme altitudes. But firstly, the anti-aircraft missile units will continue their rearmament to the S-400 SAM defense systems. In fact, this is the new face of the Russian Army, capable of instantly achieving objectives in any corner of the globe. But the President says that there's still something to improve, and details this to the contractors.
Vladimir Putin: "Among the priorities, is the continued of development of advanced weapon systems, which should surpass the best foreign ones. From the development laboratories and research institutes, we await innovative and effective technological and engineering solutions, which, among other things, will allow the reduction of the time and costs of developing and implementing new weapons. Which of course, go along with their higher quality".
Those innovative and groundbreaking solutions have allowed the introduction of high-tech weaponry, of which Putin spoke about in his recent address: the ballistic missiles "Sarmat", "Kinshal", "Avangard", which allow Russia to maintain the balance of power in the world.
Alexander Balitsky, Stanislav Ponomarenko, Valery Glushakov, Vesti, Sochi.