Russia pushes billions into upgrading its forces
A massive rearmament plan to modernise Russia’s arsenal has been announced by President Dmitry Medvedev today.
It was needed to fend off threats posed by Nato’s expansion, international terrorism and local conflicts, Mr Medvedev said.
“All that requires a modernisation of our armed forces. We now have all the necessary conditions for that despite the current financial difficulties,” he said.
Russia’s windfall oil wealth over the last decade allowed the Kremlin to nearly quadruple its defence spending and start upgrading ageing arsenals. The financial crisis has raised doubts about the government’s ability to meet the military modernisation goals, but the government has pledged that weapons orders will not be cut.
Military officials have said the government budgeted £30bn (€32.3bn) for weapons purchases this year, about 25% of it to be spent on upgrading the nation’s ageing, Soviet-era nuclear force.
“Let me mention the top priorities. The main one is a qualitative increase in the troops readiness, primarily of strategic nuclear forces. They must guarantee the fulfilment of all tasks of ensuring Russia’s security,” Mr Medvedev said.
The military has said it will use the money to put more than 10 new intercontinental ballistic missiles on duty by the year’s end – a much faster pace of deployment than in previous years.
It also intends to complete tests of the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile and put it into service by the year’s end.
Russian leaders have boasted of the submarine-launched missile’s capability to penetrate missile defences and have described it as the core of the military’s future nuclear arsenal. But the Bulava has failed in five of its 10 test launches. Some experts blamed the failures on manufacturing flaws.
Mr Medvedev wants the military to focus more on new weapons purchases than repairs of the existing arsenals, saying that new orders were essential for keeping the nation’s military industries afloat during the financial crisis.
Military modernisation efforts have gone slowly, despite Kremlin pledges to revive the nation’s power and global prestige. The military’s weaknesses, such as shortages of precision weapons and modern communications, were spotlighted during Russia’s war with Georgia in August.
“That conflict has revealed our flaws,” Mr Medvedev said, adding that “problems linked with supply of certain weapons and means of communication require a quick action”.
He also said the military must increase the pace of combat training.
Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Russia and six other ex-Soviet nations which are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation will hold the first exercise of their newly created joint rapid reaction force in Kazakhstan in September.
