Putin sets sights on increasing share of navy’s advanced weapons to 70%

RYBINSK, April 25. /TASS/. The share of state-of-the-art weapons in the Russian Navy must be raised to 70%, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

"In 2016, state-of-the-art weapons and hardware in the Russian Navy accounted for 47% The figure from the Armed Forces in general was 58.3% Our task is to bring the share of state-of-the-art weapons and hardware in the navy up to 70% by 2020. We have everything to achieve this goal and we will do it," Putin said at a meeting of the defense industry commission.

He said production of naval weapons requires longer technological cycles. Apart from that, ‘forced import substitution’ also told on the plans for the production of weapons for the Navy. "Key priorities of the development of the navy are to strengthen naval strategic nuclear forces, to rearm the navy with state-of-the-art weapons and to synchronize the development of auxiliary infrastructure," the president said.

Russia needs to have balanced navy by 2025

By 2025, Russia needs to ensure it has a balanced navy capable of fulfilling the entire range of short and long-distance tasks, Putin said.

"By 2025, we need to have a balanced navy that is capable of fulfilling the entire range of short and long-distance tasks, particularly ensuring Russia’s naval presence in all strategically important areas of the world," Putin said.

The president also said that in the near future, the vast majority of weapons components should be produced in Russia in compliance with the import substitution program.

"On the whole, experts say that thanks to the import substitution program, by 2025, 85% of our weapons and military hardware parts will be made in Russia, besides, they should strictly meet the Defense Ministry’s requirements," Putin added.

Domestic production of gas turbine engines for Russian Navy

Putin gave start on Tuesday to a large-scale project to launch the production of domestic shipborne gas turbine engines and get rid of Russia’s dependence on Ukrainian supplies for the navy.

The engine production was launched on the premises of Saturn research and production association, a leading enterprise of Russia’s United Engine-Making Corporation. The tests of the M-35R-1 gas turbine assembly with the M-70FRU-2 engine for maritime programs were started at the enterprise in the presence of the Russian president.

Putin gave command from the control room for the technical launch of the gas turbine assembly. Its tests are being held in a unique assembly and testing workshop built at the enterprise.

Putin thanked the enterprise’s workforce for the launch of the new engine production, adding that today’s event was rooted in the year 2014 "when some partners refused to make deliveries to Russia."

"It was at that time that we made a decision: we won’t do something intermediate but will develop our own new products, our new solutions and our new machines and we even had to reschedule the program of the Russian Navy’s rearmament, waiting for your machine," the Russian president said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin noted that the project "is not just the launch of new engine production but marks the beginning of a new sector, gas turbine engine-building."

"Up until now, all shipborne gas turbine engines were assembled only in Ukraine, in Nikolayev. Today is the day of the actual launch of a new sector, shipborne engine-making," the vice-premier said.

As the Russian deputy prime minister said, the new sector was created within a record short period of time - actually within two years and a half from the day a decision was made.

"These will be very diverse assemblies of various sizes, including for air cushion ships," Rogozin said.

"We have never done this before. They [the Ukrainian side] thought that they had driven us into a corner and that we would be unable to finish the construction of frigates. But we have done this," the Russian vice-premier said.