VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
“The goal for the next decade will be to equip our armed forces with advanced armaments, which have better visibility, higher precision, and faster response times than similar systems used by any potential enemy.”
“We have begun a large-scale programme to re-equip the Army and Navy and other national security forces. Our number one priorities are nuclear forces, aerospace defence, military communications, intelligence and control, electronic warfare, drones, unmanned missile systems, modern transport aviation, individual combat protection gear, precision weapons and defence capabilities against such weapons.”
“We must restore the lost authority of our military institutions and integrate them into the system of military education, just as we are doing in the civilian sector of the economy. Military science must have a decisive influence on the formulation of the goals of the defence industry. Competent procurement mechanisms and the Defence Ministry departments responsible for military orders must ensure the efficient development of technical specifications for the design and production stages, as well as the specifications of weapons and military equipment.”
“Therefore we will maintain the conscript army, a considerable part of it, for now, but it is necessary – especially for high-tech aspects of the Armed Forces, such as aviation, missile defence, the navy, missile equipment in general – to gradually transition to a volunteer military. It is an expensive army, but we need good experts, including graduates not only from military but also from civilian institutes.”
“We are in the midst of changes in the Armed Forces. We want our weaponry and training level to be up to current challenges, so that our military personnel could use modern methods of warfare, if, God forbid, it happens. They are constantly changing in connection with the development of military equipment.”
“First, we should make the most profitable use of the existing stockpiles because old weapons and ammunition contain rare metals and other valuable raw materials that must be competently used. <…>Secondly, and this is particularly important, it is necessary to ensure safe storage and utilisation of old weapons in order to avoid environmental risks, any emergencies, let alone human casualties.”
“First of all, we need to ensure that there are no disruptions in the implementation of long-term running contracts, because any delay in supplies is unacceptable. Secondly, defence-industry companies need to have a clear idea of the requirements that their products must meet, and of how the funding of contracts is going to be arranged. Thirdly, we should ensure efficient spending, trying to avoid extravagant expenditures and overblown estimates. All expenditures should be meticulously justified.”
“Some 750 billion roubles has been allocated this year for the purchase and upgrading of arms and military hardware, as well as for defence-related R&D. This is one and a half times as much as last year. In 2012, we are planning to increase this amount to 880 billion roubles. Never before has the rearmament of Russia’s Army and Navy been financed so liberally.”
“Our main stake, of course, is on Russian enterprises. Our shipbuilding industry should be prepared for the serial production of advanced models of equipment and armaments that conform with all modern requirements and objectives of the Russian Navy. We need the best available equipment at prices that are cost-effective.”
“I am confident that the implementation of this armaments programme, which is unprecedented in terms of its objectives and its allocated resources, will help us carry out a full-scale retrofitting of the Army and the Navy, fundamentally renovate the Naval infrastructure, create strategic Naval nuclear forces comprising fourth-generation submarines, purchase modern surface ships and conduct upgrades and repairs of the existing equipment.”
