The Russian defense industry manufactures poor quality arms for ground forces. NATO and China produce better quality hardware, the commander of Russian ground troops Alexander Postnikov said.
"The combat vehicle arsenal, artillery systems and small arms produced by the domestic defense industry fall behind NATO and even Chinese arms," the official stated.
Postnikov particularly cracked down on the Russian T-90 tank, which, as he said, "was a 17th modification of the Soviet T-72 tank produced since 1973. According to the official, a tank like that currently costs 118 million rubles ($4 million). "It would be easier for us to purchase three Leopards from Germany for this money," he said.
He did not explain, though, why India prefers to buy one Russian T-90 tank instead of three German Leopards. India plans to use T-90s to replace its outdated T-72 and T-55 tanks. Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan also signed contracts with Russia for the delivery of such machines, but Mr. Postnikov disregarded that too.
There are other interesting aspects to the story. According to media reports, in 2010, one T-90 tank was valued at 70 million rubles ($2.3 million). Therefore, it is not clear how the cost increased more than 1.7 times in less than a year.
Here is another aspect. Cheapest and oldest Leopards cost not less than 70 million rubles as of 2009. As for Leopard 2A6, the cost of this machine is 172.2 million rubles ($5.7 million).
"The combat vehicle arsenal, artillery systems and small arms produced by the domestic defense industry fall behind NATO and even Chinese arms," the official stated.
Postnikov particularly cracked down on the Russian T-90 tank, which, as he said, "was a 17th modification of the Soviet T-72 tank produced since 1973. According to the official, a tank like that currently costs 118 million rubles ($4 million). "It would be easier for us to purchase three Leopards from Germany for this money," he said.
He did not explain, though, why India prefers to buy one Russian T-90 tank instead of three German Leopards. India plans to use T-90s to replace its outdated T-72 and T-55 tanks. Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan also signed contracts with Russia for the delivery of such machines, but Mr. Postnikov disregarded that too.
There are other interesting aspects to the story. According to media reports, in 2010, one T-90 tank was valued at 70 million rubles ($2.3 million). Therefore, it is not clear how the cost increased more than 1.7 times in less than a year.
Here is another aspect. Cheapest and oldest Leopards cost not less than 70 million rubles as of 2009. As for Leopard 2A6, the cost of this machine is 172.2 million rubles ($5.7 million).
