MOSCOW, July 3 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia will spend about $600 billion on its state armaments program by 2020, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said on Thursday.

“About 80% of the funds have been set aside for the purchase of modern and promising types of armaments and military hardware,” Borisov said, adding the share of modern weaponry in the Russian Armed Forces would reach 70% by 2020.

The provision of the Russian Armed Forces with modern weapons has prompted the need to reform the system of military hardware repairs, the deputy defense minister said.

“We have taken and are implementing decisions, under which current repairs will be carried out by maintenance and repair bodies, including in field conditions while labor-intensive and major repairs with upgrade will be conducted at defense and industrial enterprises,” the deputy defense minister said, adding the correctness of these decisions had been proved by the recent surprise combat readiness checks of the army and the navy.

With account taken of existing arms arsenals, the Russian Defense Ministry will keep 26 out of 131 repair enterprises while the rest will be transferred to industry, the deputy defense minister said.

Russia’s state-run hi-tech corporation Rostec will receive about 50 such enterprises, while another five will be offered to the United Ship-Building Corporation, he said.

“In the process of its establishment, it already received shipyards that belonged to the Defense Ministry. Today we have five enterprises that have been offered to the United Ship-Building Corporation and we are currently in the negotiating process,” the deputy defense minister said.

Chief of the Russian General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov said late last year that the share of modern weaponry and military hardware had reached 62% in the Aerospace Defense Force, 45% in the Strategic Nuclear Forces, 52% in the Navy, 42% in the Air Force and 21% in land troops.

Last year, the Russian Defense Ministry signed additional contracts with industry worth 120 billion rubles ($3.5 billion) on the maintenance of military hardware under serial combat equipment supplies. This figure will continue growing in the future, the deputy defense minister said.

“Now we are implementing four pilot projects under a full lifecycle contract,” he said, adding the Defense Ministry had concluded contracts with the Novosibirsk Aviation Plant, the Ship-Building Corporation, Uralvagonzavod tank manufacturer and KAMAZ truck maker.