KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, August 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry has signed over 40 state contracts worth over 500 billion rubles ($6.8 billion) at the Army 2021 International Military-Technical Forum on the delivery of more than 1,300 weapon systems to the Russian troops, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko announced on Tuesday.

"Today four state contracts have been handed in and 41 state contracts have been signed with 27 defense enterprises to the amount of over 500 billion rubles," the defense official said, following the results of concluding the deals.

The package of contracts that has been signed will become a major stage in implementing Russia’s state armaments program, he stressed.

"As a result of fulfilling these state contracts, the Russian Armed Forces will get more than 1,300 new types of hardware while over 150 items of armaments, military and special hardware will be repaired and upgraded," he said.

The Army 2021 International Military-Technical Forum is running at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center outside Moscow on August 22-28.