(Adds paragraph 5)
BRONNITSY (the Moscow Region), March 14 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian army will receive 31 T-90 main battle tanks in 2006, a Defense Ministry official said Tuesday.
"A tank battalion will be equipped with 31 T-90 tanks," Colonel General Vladislav Polonsky said. "Another battalion will receive T-72 tanks that have been modernized to the level of T-90 tanks."
The official also said that only 6%-8% of the current armor met modern requirements and the future modernization should be focused on "integration into automated battlefield command-and control systems."
"The Russian army will be fully equipped with modern armor no earlier than in 2020," Polonsky said.
In addition, the general said that the armed forces would receive 4,000 new Ural and KamAZ trucks in 2006. These models will become the core of the truck pool by 2020. At present, the Russian army has about 103,000 of these trucks, which are used for transportation and as chassis for more than 730 types of weaponry.
