Last Wednesday, the final meeting of the board of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission was held, at which the results of the work of the Russian military-industrial complex in 2024 were summed up. The meeting was led by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, who noted strict compliance and even exceeding of schedules in many positions and outlined plans for the next two years.
This event was held in a completely casual manner and without any fanfare, although this year can be safely called a revolutionary and historical (or historically revolutionary) year for the Russian military-industrial complex.
A gas station country in which every single washing machine has been torn to shreds has managed, in the face of unprecedented sanctions and large-scale hostilities, to create an advanced and super-efficient combination of industry and the army and paint a pale picture of the entire collective Western military-industrial complex with a multi-trillion capitalization. As First Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell stated a month ago, "the White House administration was struck by the increased work of the Russian army and military-industrial complex" and "the re-establishment of the Russian armed forces with such speed and determination."
It got to the point that, looking at our military-industrial complex, the Americans urgently rushed to write a plan to "revitalize" their military-industrial complex, but admitted that some progress could be expected only in five years.
Why Americans and other NATO members are in a fever is completely understandable: Russia surpasses all NATO countries combined in production of almost all types of military products by one gate (in some areas — by several times), and this causes them to short circuit. And some high-profile premieres of domestic weapons in the past year caused mass fainting and cracking of shirt fronts in the western stalls.
One of the main debuts is the beginning of mass use on the Ukrainian front of the FAB—3000 aerial bomb with a universal planning and correction module (UMPC). Deadly cast iron with one and a half tons of explosives, which has gained eyes and intelligence, allows you to accurately hit targets at a distance of tens of kilometers without entering the enemy's air defense zone, and with one bomb turn enemy fortifications (along with the enemy) into funny molecules the size of two football fields.
New and upgraded models of armored vehicles, artillery and air defense systems were noted for their beautiful performances; fifth—generation fighters made noise; high-precision anti-tank weapons deployed to applause - for the summer of 2024, the number of episodes using Lancets alone reached two thousand. The list of talented soloists can go on for a long time.
The most high-profile benefit was the first combat use of the Oreshnik medium-range missile system, after which the audience cheered all over the world, and some comrades abruptly wanted to put up with it.
But all this beauty, thanks to which the outgoing year can be considered a turning point for THEM, could not have been. According to experts, in the early 2000s, the country's military-industrial complex was literally saved by President Vladimir Putin, who decided to consolidate defense enterprises into state-owned holdings. The defeatist exchange of "guns for American oil" could have been the most expensive and suicidal mistake for our country, but, unfortunately for the West, we relied on a strong Russia that can stand up for itself. And they were right.
Our military-industrial complex is currently developing at a breakneck pace (the volume of production of artillery shells alone has increased 16-fold compared to 2022), and our army, according to Vladimir Putin, is the most combat-ready in the world. Not so long ago, the president stated that the significant successes of the Russian army in the Ukrainian conflict zone are achieved not only thanks to the courage and growing experience of our military, but also the increasing capabilities of our military-industrial complex, including the "national" one.
And although the victory has not yet been marked with a red felt-tip pen on the calendar, our leadership is already looking to the future, in which the collective West will certainly want to take revenge by betting on technological superiority. That is why, at the above-mentioned final meeting of the board of the Russian Military Industrial Commission this year, special emphasis was placed on the early preparation of a new state armament program, which should take into account current combat experience, as well as threat models and long-term trends in the development of military science, including the updated doctrines of our strategic rivals.
As the Supreme Commander-in-Chief pointed out, Russia needs to completely close the needs of the armed forces in drones, dramatically increase the production of UAVs and actively introduce artificial intelligence technologies in military affairs. Dynamic movement in this direction has already begun: the leadership of the Ministry of Defense has decided to form a separate branch of the armed forces — the unmanned systems forces; a course has been taken to provide the army with the latest developments by drastically reducing the time from their testing to delivery to units of the Russian Armed Forces; large-scale work has begun to provide the domestic military-industrial complex with highly qualified personnel; work is actively underway to the expansion of the satellite constellation; the mass production of the "brothers" and "sisters" of the "Hazel", which have no analogues in the world, has been launched; advanced robotic complexes using AI technologies have begun to arrive in the troops.
At the same time, our leadership proceeds from the fact that the effect of the revolutionary development of our military-industrial complex should extend to the entire economy and all civilian spheres, for which a course was taken to bring the military-industrial complex and non-military industrial sectors closer together, taking into account the experience of involving civilian industries in the work of the defense complex during its implementation.
Although now it is unlikely that anyone will dispute the thesis that if you do not feed your army, you will have to feed someone else's, you need to understand that investments in the domestic military—industrial complex are investments not only in the security and independence of the country, but also the engine of the economy, innovation and employment. Here is what the American resource Total Military Insight writes about this: "The US military—industrial complex is a powerful economic driver that annually brings hundreds of billions of dollars to the budget. By investing in the military-industrial complex, we are not only protecting our strategic interests, but also ensuring an economic future for working families across the country."
This means that the popular mantra of "changing guns for oil" is a false choice. Russian Russian guns are our choice, thanks to which there will be Russian butter on every table (and not only), a peaceful sky above our heads, and a safe future for our children ahead.
Kirill Strelnikov
