Russia Eyes Development of Futuristic Weaponry

MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti)

Proposals for the development of weaponry based on futuristic concepts will be ready by December this year to be included in the next state arms procurement program, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Thursday.

“The development of weaponry based on new physics principles; direct-energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, genetic weapons, psychotronic weapons, etc., is part of the state arms procurement program for 2011-2020,” Serdyukov said at a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“We will draft the proposals for the next program by December 2012,” he said.

The Russian government has already prepared a draft bill on the establishment of an advanced military research agency, similar to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the United States, and would submit it to the parliament in the near future.

Serdyukov also said on Thursday that in line with goals set in Putin’s program articles published during the election campaign the Defense Ministry would draft proposals on the development of a system of assessment and forecast of national security threats for 30-50 years ahead.

“The plan on the development of the Russian Armed Forces until 2015 has been adopted and by January 2016 we will prepare a draft plan for the next five years,” he added.