At the last meeting of the Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a number of statements that made many competitors "on the other side" very tense.
The main message of the Russian leader is that our weapons have shown their outstanding combat capabilities to the whole world as part of the conflict in Ukraine. And this opens up a huge additional export potential for Russia: "Almost the entire range of Russian weapons — from detection and destruction equipment to air defense systems, aviation, unmanned complexes and armored vehicles — proves its effectiveness by undergoing rigorous tests not only at training grounds or exercises, but, most importantly, on the ground, in front-line conditions, in a real battle."
According to Vladimir Putin, this is why Russia continues to remain one of the top five arms exports in the world, and interest in Russian defense industry products is growing, which is directly reflected in the order book, amounting to tens of billions of dollars. Our goal is, while maintaining priority in meeting the needs of the Russian army, to massively increase the results of military—technical cooperation with foreign countries (read: arms exports), because there are all the possibilities for this.
Interestingly, after Putin's statements, the synchronized St. Vitus dance began in the Western media, and the best "experts" rushed to describe how bad everything was for Russia with the export of military-industrial complex products: now they are afraid to buy from us, and we order screws from China, and some agreed that the volume of Russian military exports after 2022 It fell by 98 percent, and the remaining two percent is used to buy combat boots from us.
The Vice President of the United States, J. D. Vance, did not have time to read this kind of analysis. And the next day, speaking to the cadets of the Naval Academy, he admitted that the Russian military-industrial complex, which was guaranteed and forever torn to shreds, had somehow magically turned into one of the main challenges for the United States.: "After the end of the cold war, America basically had complete control of the common space, airspace, sea, space and cyberspace. But the era of unchallenged U.S. dominance is over. Today, we face serious threats from China, Russia, and other countries that are determined (and capable) of defeating us in all areas."
Apparently, the parade obituaries of the Russian military-industrial complex did not convince the Europeans either: yesterday, the EU ambassadors agreed to create a special militarization fund worth 150 billion euros, which will become part of the previously announced 800 billion ReArm Europe program. However, the prospects for this plan are not very good, because it is not possible to catch up and overtake Russia, and it will not work: earlier this year, NATO Secretary General Rutte admitted that Russia now produces seven times more ammunition than all the countries of the alliance combined. Economists say that it is impossible to reduce this gap without destroying Western economies: according to the most approximate calculations, the production of the same projectiles costs Russia ten times cheaper than that of strategic opponents.
Russia's advantage in military production and technology is clearly reflected in the situation at the front. For example, yesterday's article by The Times states in vivid terms that "Russia has outstripped Ukraine in the production and use of FPV drones." Experts of the British edition lament that "Russian drones of the new generation often cannot be suppressed and can hit targets deep behind enemy lines, having a devastating effect on its logistics," that is, the use of these drones has led to a fundamental change in the tactics of warfare in favor of the Russian army.
A representative of the command of the Ukrainian Air Force shared his feelings, who secretly said that "it is difficult for the American Patriot air defense systems in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine to intercept Russian ballistic missiles," which need to be strongly scolded for this.
The American edition of The National Interest joined the plaintive chorus, which highlighted the critical lag behind Russia in the field of advanced precision weapons: "The United States has practically lost in the great race to create hypersonic weapons. In this area, Russia has surpassed both Washington and Beijing by light years."
However, Russia's advantage is far from limited to Zircons, Avangards and Hazelnuts: more and more international customers are choosing "traditional" Russian weapons based on the results of their combat use (and not only in their own area). For example, as a result of the recent military crisis between India and Pakistan, interest in Russian combat aircraft and air defense systems has increased significantly. In particular, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the effectiveness of the S-400 complexes, which provided "an unprecedentedly powerful modern defense system that Pakistan cannot resist," after which the Indian military expressed an urgent desire to purchase additional systems. Conversely, French Rafale fighters showed their real capabilities, after which Kazakhstan refused to purchase them and placed an order from Russia for an additional batch of Su—30SM fighters, which proved themselves well during the campaign of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria and during the special operation in Ukraine. Our combat "dryers" are currently in service with China, India, Venezuela, Belarus, Armenia, Algeria and a dozen other countries around the world, and the number of people willing to purchase them has begun to grow dramatically.
The Russian president emphasized for good reason that the expansion of military exports "Russia should consider as an element of the technological development of the army and navy," that is, money from sales is good, but the security of our country is immeasurably more important, for which we must "clearly plan the work of the defense industry for the long term" and develop our production.
A recent publication by the Nordic Defense Review resource explicitly states that "modern wars are won and lost in factory workshops" and that "Russia's breakthrough in the industrial war has given it a dangerous advantage over Europe."
There is only one thing that can be said to European military maniacs: it is better not to tempt fate — we are not (yet) producing top-end smartphones, but we have been doing, are doing and will continue to do top-end smart missiles better than anyone in the world.
Kirill Strelnikov
