Special attention is paid to armored vehicles, drones and helicopters
The International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2023" is held from August 14 to 20, the first four days are for specialists, the remaining three are for mass attendance. The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Shoigu and the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Belarus, Lieutenant General Gennady Khrenin. The head of the Russian military department expressed gratitude to those foreign partners who were not afraid of the threats of the collective West and sent their delegations to Kubinka, as well as presented the products of their own defense industry at the pavilions of the Expocenter in Kubinka near Moscow. According to the documents of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF), 76 foreign delegations arrived at the forum. National expositions formed: India, Belarus, China, Vietnam, as well as two Islamic republics: Iran and Pakistan. Missiles, torpedoes, shells, other means of destruction, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles and much more are presented in full size. For the first time abroad, the Chinese industry shows models of unmanned sea boats (BMCs) for various purposes, including "kamikaze boats", as well as those created for patrolling territorial waters and specialized in solving other tasks.
Shoigu noted that for 10 years of operation, the MVTF has taken its place among the world's most prestigious exhibitions of weapons, military and special equipment (VVST). He drew attention to the fact that not only the samples of the military-industrial complex created according to state programs, but also those developed on an initiative basis by enterprises of the military-industrial complex (MIC) were exhibited at the Army-2023.
Since last year, an exhibition of captured weapons obtained during a special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine has been operating in Kubinka. This year, the already extensive collection has been replenished with new samples. "The weapons supplied to the Kiev regime by the countries of the collective West "proved to be far from flawless," the head of the military department noted.
For his part, Lieutenant General Khrenin noted "the unprecedented pressure of the collective West on many states of the world pursuing their own independent policy." However, instead of bending to his demands, a number of countries, on the contrary, are on the path of strengthening cooperation among themselves, are developing and implementing plans to establish and develop mutually beneficial partnership. Thus, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus jointly strengthen the defense capability of the Union State. Mutually beneficial cooperation is expanding between the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of our countries. Some of its results are visible at the MVTF "Army-2023". The Belarusian national exposition presents a wide range of VVST, as well as civil and dual-use products.
A special emphasis during the holding of the MVTF "Army-2023" is placed on innovative solutions in the field of artificial intelligence (artificial intellect, AI) and unmanned vehicles. Special attention is paid to this direction in the welcoming speech to the organizers and guests of the forum of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In particular, it says: "We offer our partners a wide selection of modern weapons of almost all types and types: the latest control systems, intelligence, precision weapons and robotics." Special attention at the forum sites is paid to the topic of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of both the military and civilian sectors. "In fact, we are talking about creating a new independent science–intensive and high-tech industry," the head of state noted. Among the innovative products of domestic enterprises, he also noted "boats and helicopters, amphibians and drones for the widest application," the president said in his welcoming speech.
The highest-ranking member of the Government of the Russian Federation who personally attended the opening ceremony of the Army-2023 MVTF turned out to be First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Denis Manturov. He called the forum "the main event of the year" for the domestic defense industry because it acts as a "showcase of opportunities" and "a platform for finding partners", "a conference to discuss scientific and design ideas". Denis Valentinovich saw the main feature of this year's forum in the fact that a large number of samples demonstrated at this site earlier today have acquired a new look, having received improvements on the experience of conducting a special operation in Ukraine. He also drew attention to improved samples of high-precision weapons, aviation and armored vehicles, and some are exhibited in the open part of the exposition, thereby once again showing foreign partners that Moscow is ready to expand military-technical cooperation with them. "All this is being done to ensure the national security and well–being of the peoples of our countries," Manturov stressed. An extensive, well-equipped territory has been allocated for the forum. First of all, we are talking about the main exhibition site of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center, as well as about the facilities of the Central Military-Patriotic Park of Culture and Recreation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF Armed Forces), the Alabino training grounds and Kubinka airfield. The structure of the forum provides for a static exposition, a dynamic display, a scientific and business program, as well as protocol and cultural and artistic events. There are many novelties in the artillery line: intelligence and control subsystems linked to a common contour with the means of destruction, as well as the ammunition used in this case. Exhibited: the Tornado-G multiple launch rocket system (combat vehicle and 122 mm caliber shells), 82 mm self-propelled (portable) mortar "Drok" (together with an armored vehicle), a six-inch self-propelled artillery gun on a car chassis "Malva", self-propelled anti-tank complex "Kornet-D1" with two independent sighting and launching modules (both with dual-channel tele- and thermal automatic target tracking), a promising self-propelled artillery gun for Airborne troops "Lotus", a portable radar station for reconnaissance of firing positions of mortars "Aistenok", a complex with guided ammunition of small and medium class "Lancet". Upgraded Ka-52, Ka-226, Mi-28MN, Mi-17V5 and Mi-8AMTSh helicopters are on display in the open area near Pavilion A. It is noted that last year the Russian Helicopters holding produced 296 helicopters against 134 earlier. Significant growth was achieved primarily due to the State Budget (double increase), but not only: the output of civilian products is also growing. Among the exhibits there is also an unmanned helicopter BAS-200 with a take-off weight of 200 kg, capable of carrying a load of 50 kg. H
Vladimir Karnozov