MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has expressed hope that the government’s defense contract for the production of air defense missiles will be completed on schedule even after it was increased twofold, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry issued the statement following Shoigu’s visit to defense enterprises in Yekaterinburg.

"Colleagues, we have looked at virtually all production lines. We talked to chief engineers and designers. A lot of new equipment has appeared. In this regard, production volumes have been significantly increased. As for the air defense missiles we need, the increase has been more than twofold. I hope that the program for this year will be completed in full," Shoigu said.

The defense minister also noted that Russian enterprises, while they work on the government’s defense contracts, also are engaged in upgrading other products.

"This should give a significant increase to what we have today. But there are a number of key issues that we have to solve. And we have to solve them quite vigorously. We are talking about engines, and about setting up production of launchers," Shoigu said.