Russian President Vladimir Putin has outlined the factors he believes make the country’s military equipment competitive against foreign analogues in the face of tightening competition.
“I am confident that Russian military equipment will continue to remain competitive and in demand, owing to its unique properties and characteristics, as well as advanced developments,” Putin said, speaking at a meeting of the commission on military-technical cooperation, including the chiefs of a number of Russia’s defence concerns, on Thursday.
According to Putin, the continued global demand for Russian arms is based on their reputation for quality, as well as their proven effectiveness on the battlefield.
“There’s no doubt that the successful experience of the use of our weapons, which demonstrated themselves admirably in Syria, also plays in our favour,” Putin said. “Our weapons’ effectiveness, accuracy, reliability and ease of maintenance are the qualities which determine their demand on the global arms market,” he noted.
Russian arms exports topped the equivalent of $15 billion+ in 2019, with the portfolio of current orders equivalent to over $55 billion, Putin said.
At the same time, the president noted that Russia’s military industries will need to adjust their efforts to enable them to preserve their market share amid growing competition and new global economic risks, such as the coronavirus.
Russia has been able to preserve its number two position among the world’s top arms exporters in recent years, notwithstanding growing competition from fledgling exporters like France, Germany, South Korea and Israel. Russia’s military industry has also faced non-economic pressures from its chief export rival – the United States, which has slapped sanctions on Russian defence-industry-related entities, and threatened countries purchasing Russian arms with sanctions under the so-called ‘Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) of 2017.