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Russia’s Air Force to get new long-range bomber in near future

The Russian government will invest 21.5 trillion roubles in the armament programme by 2020

MOSCOW, July 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian Air Force will get a new long-range bomber in a not-so-distant future, Long-Range Aviation Commander Anatoly Zhikharev said during President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with top officers at the Kremlin on the occasion of their promotion.

“A new long-range aircraft is being designed in close cooperation with the defence industry, using the latest scientific and technological achievements,” Zhikharev said, adding that the new plane should be adopted by the Air Force “in a not-so-distant future”.

“The new bomber will have high fighting efficiency, low radar visibility and will be able to get through model air defences during combat missions,” he said. “The aircraft will be provided with up-to-date electronic warfare systems and high precision weapons with no match in the world in terms of effectiveness.”

According to Zhikharev, a new type of simulators for pilots is also being designed now. A simulator to practice midair refueling has already been supplied to the long-range aviation units.

Russia plans to rearm its Armed Forces in the years to come. The share of new weapons should be no less than 30 percent in three years from now and 70 percent in 5 years.

To this end, a state programme of armaments and a programme for the development of the defence industry up to 2020 have been adopted.

The Russian government will invest 21.5 trillion roubles in the armament programme by 2020. The money will come from the Defence Ministry and 20 other ministries.

The bulk of purchases should be made in 2011-2020. This is a period when the Armed Force will have to be completely overhauled by 30-50 percent, and in some areas, by 80-90 percent.

The Russian government plans to invest about 1,000 billion roubles in serial production of new arms in the next three years.

In the next three years, 400 new systems and pieces of hardware will be adopted by the Armed Forces. During this time, 1,500 R&D works will be carried out under government defence contracts, and 487 samples of hardware and arms will be submitted for testing.

The Russian Armed Forces will get over 1,500 new aircraft and helicopters and about 200 air defence systems in the next ten years.

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