MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Armed Forces will receive a number of Russia-made robotic military systems of new generation in 2016, the country's deputy defense minister said Monday.
"Advanced robotic systems of new generation designed for military application are tested within the framework of development work. A number of them will be delivered to the army in 2016," Col. Gen. Pavel Popov said in an interview with Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star) newspaper.
He added that dozens of land- and sea-based robotic systems as well as hundreds of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems were used by the Russian Armed Forces, despite the fact that they did not exist several years ago.
Russia is planning to modernize up to 70 percent of its military hardware by 2020. The total cost of the modernization program is estimated to reach about 20 trillion rubles (some $284 billion at the current exchange rate).
