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Russia's Defence Industry "Outdated": Putin
President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia's defence industry was "outdated" and needed to become more effective as a result of the changing context of international security.
The defence industry is "outdated and does not meet modern military and political needs," Putin told a meeting of Russia's Security Council in Moscow.
"We are facing new threats, we are living and working under conditions that set different, higher requirements on the reliability of national defence," he added.
The Kremlin boss ordered military and political bosses to conduct a "detailed inventory" of the defence industry, formulating its interests and priorities.
Putin called for "modern effective management and control mechanisms" to replace what he called the industry's excessive structures.
As part of the modernisation effort, the number of holding companies operating in the Russian defence industry would be cut to 40 or 50 over the course of the next decade, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said after the meeting.
Putin has been trying to reform Russia's poorly equipped and cash-strapped armed forces, which are just a shadow of the feared Soviet Union force.
In March, Putin introduced Russia's first civilian defense minister, charging Sergei Ivanov with drafting a comprehensive plan of action.
Putin also said he wanted to reduce conscription to a minimum by 2010.
Klebanov, who is nominally the head of Russia's military-industrial complex, told journalists Tuesday that Putin was about to sign a programme of armament that would guide the activities of the industry over the next decade.
"This is the basic instrument for the development of the defence sector," Klebanov said, adding that with this programme at hand, "we have a clear picture of how defense hardware should develop in the coming 10 to 15 years."
Russia currently sells US$4 billion worth of weapons each year, making it the world's fourth biggest arms exporter, after the United States (US$26 billion), Britain (US$10 billion) and France (US$6.6 billion).
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