MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia will fully rearm its Airborne Troops with new BMD-4M airborne assault vehicles and Rakushka armored personnel carriers by 2025, the executive director of the Kurganmashzavod company said Tuesday.
"At the moment a contract on the supplies of advanced BMD-4M airborne assault vehicles and multirole Rakushka armored personnel carriers with the Russian Defense Ministry is implemented. The number of vehicles produced by 2025 will allow the Airborne Troops to fully replace all outdated BMD-2 airborne assault vehicles and BTR-D armored personnel carriers," Aleksander Klyuzhev told RIA Novosti.
Russia is planning to modernize up to 70 percent of its military hardware by 2020. Total modernization program cost is estimated to reach about 20 trillion rubles (some $280 billion).
