MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Troops of Russia's Eastern Military District will receive the latest unmanned aerial vehicles designed for electronic warfare by the end of this year, the district's spokesman Alexander Gordeev said on Friday.
"New specially equipped Leer-3 unmanned aerial vehicles will be received by electronic warfare troops until the end of 2015," Gordeev said.
Russia launched a major rearmament program in 2008. The state armaments program intends to modernize up to 70 percent of military hardware. Total program costs are estimated to reach about $379 billion. Some $5.8 billion is reserved for drone development and acquisition.
Leer-3 is a drone equipped for electronic warfare. Developed by the JSC Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET) in 2014, the aircraft is designed to locate electromagnetic emission sources and suppress wireless communications, including cellphones, within a 3.7-mile radius.
