Moscow. January 5th. INTERFAX - Concern Almaz-Antey, a Russian manufacturer of air defense systems, intends to increase the production of electronic equipment and communications equipment, including civilian ones, against the background of a slight decline in exports, said Pavel Sozinov, the concern's general designer.
"Today it is necessary to state the fact that in the field of production of complex electronic equipment, radar, radio communications and related types of equipment, we have an underutilization of about 40 percent, that is, we are able to reload with other types of equipment - defense or civilian - a fairly large volume, and this is normal," Sozinov said at a working meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Unfortunately, the volumes of export defense equipment are somewhat worse than in previous years, so this should also be taken into account. Therefore, we are quite able to develop this direction," the general designer said.
According to him, under certain restrictions, including on export orders of weapons and military equipment, the concern is searching for civilian products not only for the needs of the Russian Federation, but also for partners and consumers abroad.
Almaz-Antey Concern of East Kazakhstan Region JSC is a developer and manufacturer of short-, medium- and long-range air defense systems, as well as Kalibr cruise missiles.
The S-400 Triumph air defense systems developed by the concern have been delivered under contract to China and Turkey. In 2021, it was officially announced the start of deliveries of S-400 under a contract to India.
In early October 2018, a contract for the supply of S-400 Triumph air defense systems to India was signed "on the sidelines" of the Russian-Indian negotiations at the highest level. India will receive five S-400 regimental kits, the deal amount exceeds $5 billion.
Almaz-Antey Concern has developed a new generation air defense system - the S-500, which will be able to shoot down targets in near space.
On August 23, 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Interfax that the S-500 system was being mass-produced. On July 20, at the MAKS-2021 air show, Borisov announced that serial deliveries of the S-500 to the Russian military would begin in 2022. On the same day, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on the successful firing of the S-500 and for the first time published footage of tests of this system.
The Defense Ministry then said that after the completion of the full test cycle, the equipment plans provide for the delivery of the first S-500 system to the air defense-missile defense association near Moscow.