The president appointed Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as chairman of the committee and a former departmental director at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Vladislav Putilin, as his first deputy.
"We have already had a committee like this. The difference is that it will work on a permanent basis. All decisions of the committee will become government resolutions," Putin said.
The six-member committee will interact with the ministries and departments related to the defense industry, Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, told a Cabinet meeting.
"We do not need to create a special ministry, but issues such as the management of the industry and state defense orders require constant work," he said.
Ivanov, who has been touted as a possible successor to Putin, also said the committee would begin work once its regulatory framework had been established.
Putilin was appointed deputy chief of staff of the strategic missile forces in 1992. From July 2002 to May 2004, he served as deputy head of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and was later appointed director of the ministry's defense and security programs department.
