Vladimir Putin visited the eighth international arms and ammunition show, Nizhny Tagil 2011. Virtually all ground-based weapons systems, including tanks, howitzers, armoured vehicle-launched bridges and mine-clearing equipment, demonstrated their combat power at a local proving ground.
The exhibition was held at the Uralvagonzavod plant, Russia's major tank manufacturer, and so the plant's products were given the most presentation time. Engineers displayed operational military and civilian vehicles, including crawler fire engines. In all, the exhibition involved 300 companies from 50 countries. In addition to military equipment, the exhibition featured die-cast car-wheel disks, water-resistant laptop and desktop protection systems and semi-precious stones from the Urals region.
The most entertaining and spectacular part of the exhibition were the simulated war games at the proving ground, where various new weapons systems demonstrated the extent of their capacities. They crossed water obstacles, spun on their axis, hit all sorts of targets, built bridges, removed obstacles and even put out fires.
"We have a lot to show," Putin said, while opening the exhibition. "Ground-based and advanced models of all military systems will be displayed here for the first time. We allocate three trillion roubles towards the modernisation of Russia's defence industry. This makes it possible to facilitate the long-term security and sovereignty of our homeland," Putin said.
The Rys (Lynx) reconnaissance vehicle, the Tunguska M1/SA-19 Grison and Buk M2E/SA-11 Gadfly self-propelled air-defence systems and the Iskander M/SS-26 Stone theatre-level missile system were displayed at the proving ground. A revamped T-90S tank featuring a guided missile with a range of five kilometres stole the show. The previous version of the tank lacks this missile capability. Moreover, the T-90S features a new, more fuel-efficient engine, a steering wheel which reduces the physical stress on the driver and an air conditioner.
The tank dived into the water, jumped off a ramp and fired its weapons in mid-air, as the prime minister looked on.
Putin inspected the T-90S tank from every angle. He took off his jacket, climbed inside and spent several minutes examining the interior. Putin then pulled himself up easily and climbed out of the hatch.
Nikolai Makarov, Chief of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff, told the paper that the T-80 and T-90 tanks previously received by the army no longer met modern requirements.
Anastasia Novikova
