Moscow, 320 billion for rearmament race with the US

Expected cost for anti-missile systems, upgrades of Ratnik equipment for "soldiers of the future": armoured materials, day and night vision, psycho-morphological adapters. In addition, tanks, cruisers and 10 naval projects. Obtaining military self-sufficiency is Putin's plan for the next presidential term.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - According to the newspaper Kommersant, one of the most authoritative in Russia, the Russian government has launched a powerful rearmament plan for the next 10 years, which, moreover, has not made public. To this end, according to the program, 19 trillion rubles (about 320 billion euros) has been allocated. The priority of this program should focus on nuclear deterrence systems, on ultrasound weapons and also on technical supplies for airborne troops.

According to Kommersant, after long discussions between the various institutions involved, the definitive variant of the state armaments program in the period 2018-2027 has now reached the Kremlin. It may be signed by President Vladimir Putin as early as this week. The document provides for the allocation of almost 20 trillion rubles for the rearmament of the army and the Navy fleet.

Referring to sources very close to the presidential administration, the newspaper explains that proposals for nuclear deterrence include the adoption of  ultrasonic and high precision remote controlled weapons (the so-called smart weapons), such as the new strategic complex RS-26 "Rubezh" and RS-28 "Sarmat" (the new intercontinental ballistic anti-missile systems, also known as Avangard systems).

Furthermore, the focus will be on the general armed forces, which have not been adequately funded in the past few years. Airborne or VDV troops will have to be re-equipped, according to their needs, with Ratnik technology, also known as the "the soldier's uniform of the future", in which the latest supplies of armoured materials, navigation aids and night vision systems are used, and adapted to the psycho-morphological conditions of the individual soldier. The anti-aircraft defense systems will obtain the S-300B4 missile systems, which defend ships from any type of air attack and "Tor-M2" ZRK, to protect strategic ground targets. The army will be able to use the T-90 and T-14 "Armata" tanks, and other armored vehicles of the latest generation such as the "Kurganets-25" modular platform and the "Boomerang" troop transport vehicles.

For the aeronautics, more jets are to be purchased, Su-30CM and Su-35, able to dominate the skies in any daytime or night-time weather conditions, and also Su-34 bombers, which achieved great successes during the Syria raids, as well as Mig-35 jets and strategic missile transporters Tu-160M2. Finally, more than 10 new naval projects, different supplies of super-modern aircraft carriers for naval aviation and sea-based missile batteries and new diesel-electric submarines, including newly developed nuclear submarines, of the Huskey type, are expected in the next decade.

The Russian specialists are convinced that they can return to the splendor of the Soviet period, in which Russian armaments competed with the Americans as leaders of the global arms race. This way Russia will be "able to solve its problems without the help of anyone", as President Putin has been repeating for days, putting this self-sufficiency (military, economic, political) as the main purpose of his next presidential term. At a military exercise in the Sary-Shagan polygon in Kazakhstan, in recent days, Putin said that "the ability of the economy to rapidly increase the size of arms production at the right time, is one of the main conditions to guarantee the safety of the State. To this end, major industries, both state and private, must be kept ready".

• russia
• economy
• armaments
• vladimir putin
• defense
• arms
• united states