Russia comes 2nd in 2010 world arms exports
Tags: Su-30, arms exports , Military news, S-300 , Commentary, World, Russia
Jan 17, 2011 15:37 Moscow Time
Last year global arms trade exceeded $71 billion, which is the record figure since the end of the Cold War. In terms of volume Russia was the world’s second largest arms exporter after the US. According to the Center for the Analysis of the Global Arms Trade, in 2010 Russia’s arms exports amounted to almost $10 billion.
However, in particular sectors of the arms trade Russia is the world leader, the head of the Center for the Analysis of the Global Arms Trade Igor Korotchenko stressed in an interview with the Voice of Russia.
First of all, this is combat aircraft in particular SU-30 fighters, which are in great demand. Many countries, especially the countries of the Asian Pacific Region plan to buy new SU fighters in the coming years. Also I would like to point out such a segment as naval engineering. These are the Kilo class diesel-electric submarines, corvettes and frigates Russia exports quite successfully. Beside there are also mini missile boats, which have huge strike potential despite their small displacement. Of course, we should mention the entire range of anti-aircraft defense, which comprises the short-range Tor missile system, the medium-range Buk system and long-range - S-300 PMU-1, S-300 PMU-2 systems. There are so many potential customers that the current production facilities fail to meet the demand in all these systems.
"That is why Russia’s Almaz-Antei concern plans to build two new plants to meet the domestic and foreign demands. Among the largest importers of Russia’s missile systems are China and other Asian countries," Korotchenko continues.
Our air defense systems are in great demand for example in Vietnam, which bought S-300 systems and in the Middle East, of course. We have not sold S-300 systems to the Middle East countries yet but we have received a number of requests. I hope, the resistance of the US to this cooperation with the Middle East won’t be as evident as its resistance to our cooperation with Iran. I think that the S-300 may appear in Syria and other states of the Middle East and also in Northern Africa.
In 2010, Australia was one of the leading countries in terms of arms import. This country bought weapons worth more than $6 billion and according to Korotchenko, it is not surprising.
Australia is now working on the naval and air components of its defense system. This country is intensively cooperating with other Anglo Saxon nations - New Zealand, the US and Great Britain. In this field they act as a single pool. We can attribute the increase in spending on weapons to the current re-armament of China. Watching this process many countries begin to think of their own re-armament. We are not going to export anything to Australia. It would be strange to expect it from us. But the Asian Pacific region is large and such countries as Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, India Myanmar and a number of others may become or have already have become our clients.
According to our expert, the economic crisis has not directly affected the global arms trade but this situation varies in different regions. For example, Greece has cancelled a number of contracts but the appetites of Saudi Arabia and other Arabic monarchies remain the same and these countries continue to import arms from the US, Great Britain and France.
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