Posted on 10/06/2010 10:25:23 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Russia will buy foreign and possibly U.S. arms because the domestic industry has failed to modernize, Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has said.
In an interview with Russian Newsweek, Serdyukov said Moscow was forced to buy from companies abroad as it plans to spend more than $600 billion to modernize its armed forces.
"Our weapons often do not meet the required standards," he said. "We are acting as consumers in this situation ... our producers want to issue outdated models but we don't want to buy them."
Serdyukov in the interview even suggested that Russia might buy weapons from its former Cold War enemy United States but didn't go into detail.
The Kremlin wants to completely overhaul the Russian armed forces. Moscow plans to radically cut the number of officers and overall troops to create a more modern and mobile force and has vowed to replace its Soviet-era equipment.
However, Russian officials are unhappy with the domestic industry and have in the past urged firms to step up their product portfolio and internal procedures to become more competitive.
It has to be noted, however, that Russia still is the world's second-largest arms exporter behind the United States, with Russian-made tanks and helicopters among the best-sold products -- albeit mainly to developing and emerging countries.
In a first sign that Russia is increasingly looking abroad for major weapons deals, Moscow is locked in negotiations with France over one or several Mistral class helicopter carriers, with the price tag for one vessel reportedly at $380 million.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
How the mighty has fallen.
Why the hell would we sell them weapons? That just goes against my life during the “cold war”.
Ping
It would be nice if they expanded that out somewhat. Russian airframe manufacturers seem to be doing ok. The new T-50 they’re selling to India is being touted as better than the Raptor. Even if it isn’t, it’s still a very advanced aircraft. This is much more about land-warfare systems and naval vessels. Apart from their tanks, Russia’s land forces don’t have much in the way of advanced weapons systems. And their navy is a rusting joke.
I’d much rather see them buy from other countries. The two alternatives are not pleasant. First, they could completely modernize their own production capabilities. That is bad in that they’ll get advanced weapons, and be able to build more whenever they want. The other alternative is that a supra-national arms manufacturer comes into being, selling anything to whoever can afford it, and having control of the level of technology out of the hands of governments who have a stake in preserving civilization is a bad idea. As long as we’re the ones selling, we can always sell them lower-grade stuff than we have.
Oh, and it might be useful to note that the reason Russia is the second biggest arms exporter is because their stuff is cheap.
It may be a very advanced aircraft if it is ever built, but I am finding it very hard to convince myself that the Russians can make those things in the quantities they are talking about and that performance characteristics will match the hype if they do.
The Russkis talk a great game about that thing, but what we have actually seen is one flyable airframe prototype. We have no idea what it's stealth characteristics are, we have no idea what the airframe's actual performance characteristics are, we have no idea what the aircraft's avionics are like, or if they are going to be able to do the jobs the Russians claim they will do. I could go on...
Then there is this story here. Russia is buying a French ship and is looking to buy other goodies from overseas because their defense industry is not up to producing them. That being the case, how in the world are they going to manage to produce this aircraft in the numbers they project?
So - - - it looks like the merger of the US and Russia is far enough along, at least in the planning stages, to drop the 50-year charade of Russia developing its own aircraft.
Buying an LPD or surveillance drones is not the same as building a stealth aircraft. France and US have purchased and continue to cooperate with Israel on UAVs while still still developing systems on their own while the South Koreans offer LPDs and other ships for export while still buying F-15s. The fact is that Russia’s shipyards are in pretty bad shape. They would lose considerable money and time in renovating them to build new LPDs and similar vessels. LPDs, while big vessels, are not exactly cutting-edge for most parts; however European builders do have a range of attractive ships available for export.
Your point would be valid if they were buying guidance seekers for missiles or other classified systems.
If you’ll note, in my response I point out that some parts of the Russian defense industry are doing better than others. It’s not just one gigantic factory that makes all materiel for the Russian army. Aircraft and heavy armor are doing ok, because of the large number of countries willing to buy them. Likewise small arms. However, naval equipment and all other vehicles are much worse, and very few countries want them.
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