DUBAI, November 14. /TASS/. Foreign parties have booked in excess of $50 billion worth of orders with Russia's defense industry, Alexander Mikheyev, the chief executive of Rosoboronexport, said at the Dubai Airshow 2023.
"I can say with certainty that the current portfolio of orders is worth more than $50 billion," Mikheyev said. "We will ramp things up because the requests now are for more than our industry has the capacity to produce."
"We will figure out some solution," he continued. "We will fine-tune production to fulfill the contracts of our foreign partners, and first of all, the orders from the Defense Ministry and the government."
The head of Rosoboronexport said the schedule of talks at the exhibition is "very tight."
"Interest from our customers and partners is very high," he said.
Many partners waited for an opportunity to meet with representatives of the Russian defense industry in person, and many others took a short pause to look around and see what other countries would offer.
"Today, we saw that interest is even greater than it was before because our equipment - all aircraft, armored vehicles, air defense systems, small arms, high-precision weapons - performed well in the conditions of the special military operation. So, either the partners are already coming back, or the long pause we had is over," Mikheyev said. "Tentatively, we have projects for which pre-contract negotiations have been going on for more than a year. We continue our work here. <...> The exhibition promises to yield good results, we are sure of it."
The Dubai Airshow is one of the largest international aerospace exhibitions. The event is held every two years, and Russia has taken part in it since 1993. This year, the airshow features 20 national pavilions, with over 1,400 manufacturers displaying more than 180 aircraft. The exhibition runs from November 13 to 17.