MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Work is underway to prepare the Buk-M3 medium-range antiaircraft missile system for sales abroad and issue its export configuration passport, Director of the Tikhomirov R&D Institute of Instrument-Making Yuri Bely told TASS on Monday.

The R&D Institute of Instrument-Making is part of Almaz-Antey Group, the producer of S-300 and S-400 long-range air defense missile systems.

"Our developments in the niche of medium-range antiaircraft missile systems have been successfully exported for already half a century. We hope that the Buk-M3, for which an export configuration passport is currently being prepared, will see a bright future on the external market," he said.

Air defense missile systems are divided into portable, small-, medium-and large-range complexes distinguished by their technical characteristics and their cost, he said.

"Foreign customers’ interests depend both on missions they have to accomplish and financial possibilities. It is well-known that domestic antiaircraft missile systems of all classes hold a worthy place on the external market," Bely said.