Over the past couple of years, Russia have seen China and India both cutting down their military purchases from Rosoboronexport. The Southeast part of Asia has really emerged as a primary destination of Russian military exports. In cases such as the one below with Vietnam, their military purchase selection is basically a typical Southeast Asian country effort to prepare against the emerging Chinese military.
MOSCOW, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Russia and Vietnam have signed a string of arms deals, including Hanoi's purchase of submarines and jet fighters from Moscow.
The deals elevate Vietnam to one of the top clients of the Russian arms industry and revive ties between Moscow and the former Soviet-era ally.
The agreements were signed during a recent visit to Moscow by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"Vietnam signed contracts for the purchases of submarines, planes and military equipment with the corresponding cooperation of the Russian side," the Vietnamese prime minister told reporters after inking the deals.
No details of the agreements were afforded by officials on either side.
Still, Russian news agency Interfax quoted unnamed sources as saying that Russia would sell Vietnam six diesel electric Project 636 Varshvyanka submarines for a total price tag of $2 billion.
The submarines are known within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by the nickname Kilos. The submarines are set to be built for the Vietnamese navy
at a rate of one per year, Interfax reported.
The agency also cited unidentified Russian officials in claiming that Vietnam would purchase 12 more Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighter jets for $600 million.
Hanoi has already ordered and is awaiting delivery of eight similar aircraft from Russia in 2010. The Russian exporter will be Rosoboronexport.
The arms deals also included an agreement for the construction of Vietnam's first atomic power plant, a lucrative -- and controversial -- project that has drawn the keen attention of the West and potential foreign partners.
Despite the global economic slowdown, trade between Vietnam and Moscow has flourished by an estimated $1.16 billion in the first nine-month period of 2009.
Concern, however, has primarily spawned from the latest arms deals between Russia and Vietnam. The weapons purchases, in fact, have come at a time of
increasing tension in the South China Sea, which Hanoi calls the East Sea.
The dispute focuses on the sovereignty of the oil and gas-rich Spratly and Paracel island chains for which Vietnam and China have competing claims. Several other Asian countries also claim part or all of the Spratlys.
A regional defense analyst told the BBC that the rising tension in the South China Sea was "clearly a source of concern" to Hanoi. The submarine acquisition would "increase Vietnam's negotiating power in the maritime disputes," the BBC
reported quoting Professor Carlyle Thayer of the Australian Defense Force Academy as saying.
Earlier this year Vietnam demanded China investigate allegations that armed Chinese personnel beat and robbed Vietnamese fishermen who sought shelter on the Parcels during a typhoon.
This article is kind of interesting, because China has been seriously competing against Russia in countries like Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia. A lot of times, China has been winning out recently. This time, Russia managed to win out with the a more advanced version of Mig-29 fighter jet (SMT variant) to beat out JF-17 for this order.
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Officials from Russia and Myanmar
have signed a set of contracts on the delivery of Russian combat
aircraft and other weapons to Myanmar, a source in Moscow's military and
diplomatic circles told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"The backbone of this package is a contract on the delivery of 20
MiG-29SMT jet fighters to Myanmar. Deliveries of helicopters and other
military purpose products are also expected to be made to Myanmar," the
source said.
The package of deals is estimated at more than $600 million, he
said.
"The first MiG-29SMT planes are expected to be sent [to Myanmar]
next year," he said.
Russia's state arms trader Rosoboronexport and the MiG Corporation
have declined to comment on the report.
The MiG-29SMT is a qualitatively new version of the MiG-29 light
frontline jet fighter. The new airplane is equipped with a wide range of
air-to-air and air-to-surface airborne weapons and is designed for high
precision operations against air-, land-and sea-based targets. The
modernization has helped triple the combat efficiency of the MiG-29SMT
and reduce the cost of its use by around 40%, as compared with the basic
MiG-29 version.
And just to rehash on the previous entry a little bit. Antaoly Serdyukov admitted to importing helo carrier, but developing its own stealth bomber. While both are extremely complex projects, I would consider a stealth bomber project to be even more difficult than building amphibious ships (just looking at the number of nations being to independently produce each). So even though the Russian military aviation sector is not as strong as 1989, the military still has a lot of faith that it would be able to design and produce state of art systems. As Galrahn said, they simply don't have any faith in the shipbuilding industry.
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The chances are “very high” that
the Russian military will buy a helicopter carrier abroad,
Interfax reported, citing Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.
Russia is still studying the issue, the Moscow-based news
service reported, citing Serdyukov.
MOSCOW, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Russia's new strategic bomber
will use stealth technology, a senior military official said
Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev, commander of Russia's
strategic aviation, told RIA Novosti the stealth technology
will make "the new aircraft difficult to detect by radar,
although it is impossible to make airplanes of this type
completely invisible."
Russian officials say the new type of bomber is expected
to debut between 2025 and 2030 and is meant to replace the Tu-
95MC Bear and Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, as well as
the Tu-22M3 Backfire long-range bombers now being used by the
country's strategic air forces.
Zhikharev added, however, that Russia's Tu-160 bombers
(which, sources say, currently number 16) and its fleet of Tu-
95MS and Tu-22M3 bombers will continue to form the backbone of
its air defenses after extensive modernization efforts.
"We expect to receive two upgraded Tu-160 planes from
the Kazan plant and will have two more aircraft in for repair
by the end of December, so this process is continuous,"
New Russian bomber to have steal
Zhikharev told RIA Novosti.
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