SOCHI, May 27. /TASS/. The modern Russian Army must be compact, but display efficiency, Russian President Vladimir Putin believes. To achieve that goal, Russia must develop its military transport aviation, he says.
According to Putin, the development of the military transport aviation, its coordinated operation and the high readiness of its fleet of planes "largely determine the mobility of the armed forces and the ability to rapidly move them across large distances."
"I reiterate that, for our country, with its huge territory, the largest territory in the world, this [development of the military transport aviation] has special importance, so that our army can stay compact, as we always say, but efficient. This is also important for successful landing operations," the head of said during a meeting on defense.
The Russian Armed Forces must have enough military cargo planes and heavy helicopters, Putin noted, adding that "there are certain successes and a strong foundation in this field right now."
For example, Russia is about to wrap up trials of the Il-112V light transport plane, with two planes scheduled for commissioning this year. Additionally, Russia is resuming production of the Il-76 plane with a new technological basis: five Il-76MD-90A planes must be commissioned before the end of this year. Besides, Russia maintains its fleet of An-124 superheavy airlifters with domestically produced parts.
"Meanwhile, according to the presented data, the Ministry of Defense needs a significantly larger number of transport planes and helicopters," Putin said. "Let us discuss today how to solve this task efficiently, define our measures for the increase in production and modernization of the military transport aviation.".
"Let us discuss today how to efficiently solve this task and define measures for building up the production and modernization of military transport aviation," the Russian leader said.
Putin has added that "the Russian Army and Navy must be sufficiently provided with advanced long-range precision weapons".
"The analysis of military conflicts of the past few decades and the experience of the development of the world’s leading armies underscore the growing role of the efficient employment of, say, cruise missiles of various basing and also guided munitions," the head of state claimed.
In Putin’s opinion, "it is important to ensure that our Army and Navy are sufficiently outfitted with such advanced precision weapons".
In the coming years, "It is important to keep the required pace of producing advanced strike systems for the purposes of their employment and testing in the course of intensive combat training," Putin highlighted.