MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin) - The Russian governmental military-industrial commission went into session the day after President Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly on May 10.
It reviewed the objectives which the president set for the national defense industry and army.
One of the goals is to "ensure that at least half of the defense budget is spent on development (of the armed forces - author). Every budget ruble must be spent rationally and on its intended purpose." It is also essential to "establish a unified procurement and supply system for arms, military hardware, and logistics support," to "substantially increase the number of modern long-range aircraft, submarines, and launchers in the Strategic Missile Force."
These goals require a well-orchestrated effort of the entire defense industry and security structures. The military-industrial commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will be in charge of coordination.
Implementation of the 2005 state defense order was the first issue on the commission's agenda. Certain achievements have been made in this respect. The order was fulfilled by 97.3%. The army and navy have received new types of armaments, military equipment, and battlefield support systems. All in all, there are more than 400 new items. But at the same time, more than one billion rubles earmarked for the production and purchase of arms have not been spent. There are several reasons for this failure. One of these is lack of coordination between different branches of the defense industry.
For instance, the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant, subordinated to the Federal Space Agency, produced eight single-warhead SS-27 Topol-M strategic missiles, which were supposed to be placed on combat duty in the Taman Missile Division in the village of Tatishchevo near Saratov. But the Russian Special Construction Agency, which was charged with re-equipping silos used by the decommissioned MIRVed UR-100 UTTKh (SS-19 Stiletto in NATO classification), failed to adapt the launching sites for the new weapons. As a result, there are no missiles in silos at all.
Although this failure did not strongly affect the general readiness of the strategic deterrent, it brought to the fore the need to coordinate the work of different departments and make them a single entity. Such setbacks happen not only to the strategic deterrent, to which the president and government attach priority importance.
Lack of coordination is not the only problem of the Russian defense industry. There are more important and serious challenges. Vladimir Putin mentioned one of these in his address. This is the need to upgrade industrial production capacities, including those which produce hardware for the Russian army and navy, as well as for exports. In this industry, the service life has expired for 80% of the machine fleet. Meanwhile, the development of military hardware requires precise and highly productive technologies. Huge funds will have to be channeled into technological re-equipment.
Another problem is skyrocketing prices on energy carriers, materials, inventory materials, and labor. Curbing their growth, making it at least predictable and gradual is as important as coordinating all branches of the defense industry, all the more so, since in Russia they are all dual-purpose. The Votkinsk Machine Building Plant, which turns out Topols, Bulavas and Iskanders, manufactures equipment for the oil and gas industry, agricultural machinery, and other competitive commodities. A drop in unforeseen expenditures will benefit the plant by allowing it to channel its floating assets into the products which will pay off quicker. In addition, the plant could invest extra money in the training of professionals.
Lack of personnel is another big problem for the defense industry. The average age of its specialists will soon make them eligible for retirement. It will take at least five to ten years to train young specialists for their replacement.
In this context, it is important to make the state defense order consistent and predictable. It should be planned for five to ten years ahead, not for one year, as is the case now. The military-industrial commission has put this problem on kits agenda as well.
In 2007, the state defense order will grow by 20% to reach 302.7 billion rubles (over $10 billion). Out of this sum, 145 billion rubles (about $5 billion) will be spent on the purchase of new arms and military hardware. This is a 22% increase over this year. Expenses on repairs will be 60 billion rubles ($2.2 billion). They have gone up by 15.7%. R&D will receive[m1] 98 billion rubles ($3.5 billion) - a 20% growth. In addition, 14.6 billion rubles ($500 million) will be spent on re-equipping the internal troops and Interior Ministry bodies.
These figures show that in 2007 the purchases of arms and hardware should surpass arms exports, as in 2006. In other words, the army and navy will start receiving reliable weapons, which can cope with armed conflicts of the 21st century. This fact alone instills with optimism those who serve and those who work for the Russian armed forces.
