KRASNOGORSK (Moscow Region), May 6 (RIA Novosti) – The share of new weaponry in service with the Russian armed forces must reach up to 75 percent by 2020 in order to ensure the country's defense capability is sufficient, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday.
“We have several major rearmament programs planned through 2020,” Medvedev said at a meeting with World War II veterans.
“Our goal is…to bring the proportion of new weapons in the armed forces to between 70 and 75 percent, and in some units to 100 percent," he said.
Russian officials previously cited rearmament goals of 30 percent by 2015 and 70 percent by 2020.
The Russian prime minister called the current scale of peacetime rearmament “unprecedented” and compared it with that of the WWII and post-war period.
“I hope we will be able to accomplish this goal because it is vital for Russia’s defense capability,” Medvedev said.
Taking advantage of high oil and gas prices on global markets, the Russian government has allocated 22 trillion rubles ($730 billion) for its ambitious armed forces rearmament program through 2020.
The program stipulates the purchases of eight strategic nuclear submarines equipped with Bulava ballistic missiles, 600 aircraft, and S-400 and S-500 air defense systems, among other types of advanced weaponry.
