Rosoboronexport: Resetting the Military Technical Cooperation with Major Manufacturers

June 19, 2012 defpro.com

At the Eurosatory 2012 international land defence and security exhibition Rosoboronexport, JSC has struck new agreements on cooperation with major arms manufacturers.

On the first day of the exhibition the company signed contracts with Thales Optronics for licence production, repairs and servicing of the Catherine XP new-generation thermal imagers at the facilities of the Vologda optical-mechanical plant.

During Eurosatory 2012 Rosoboronexport held talks with its traditional French business partners and defined priority projects that both sides are to start in the near time. Similar talks were held with a number of European and American companies.

"Summing up the exhibition's results I would like to underline that we have risen to a totally new level of cooperation with our Western counterparts. There has been cooperation before, but now one can speak of the beginning of a full-scale cooperation that embraces almost all types of armaments," said Igor Sevastyanov, deputy director general of Rosoboronexport and head of the joint delegation of the Russian Technologies State Corporation and Rosoboronexport at Eurosatory 2012.

On the invitation of the US company General Dynamics the Russian delegation visited its stand at the exhibition. "We have familiarised ourselves with the presented wheeled armoured vehicles and discussed potential areas for effective cooperation. It concerns projects mainly in the interests of third countries," noted Igor Sevastyanov.

The US-Russian military technical cooperation was started after working together in the interests of the Afghan armed forces. At the present time Afghanistan is receiving Russian military transport helicopters, and issues related to the procurement of smalls arms and ammunition for the International Security Assistance Forces and local law enforcement units are under discussion.

"We welcome the positive approach taken by our American partners. It shows that we can be not only competitors in the world market but also reliable partners. It is all the more true when this kind of cooperation helps to upkeep stability and strengthen security in some regions," said Igor Sevastyanov.

Rosoboronexport noted special attention of foreign delegations to some defence equipment items showcased at the Russian exposition. A great deal of specialist attention was drawn to full-scale exhibits such as the modernized T-90S main battle tank, Kornet-EM antitank missile system mounted on the Tigr armoured car, BMPT tank support combat vehicle, new Ural hardened truck, small arms, high precision munitions.

"It is true that there are Russian defence products popular with Western armed forces, police and special-purpose units. In our opinion the era of the "iron curtain" in military technical area is over. Although there is still certain inertia and a degree of distrust remaining, we do our best to get rid of these vestiges," noted Igor Sevastyanov.