The production of ballistic missile systems in Russia will double starting in 2013, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday, March 21, 2011.

"The Armed Forces will receive new strategic and tactical missile systems, such as RS-24 Yars, Bulava and Iskander M," Putin said at a meeting with defense industry officials in the southern Siberian republic of Udmurtia. "Starting from 2013, the production of [ballistic] missile systems must be doubled."

Putin said Russia will invest 77 billion rubles ($2.6 bln) in the production of ballistic missiles in line with a state program on the modernization of the defense industry until 2020.

Missile manufacturers, including a missile production plant in Votkinsk, will receive 15 billion rubles ($500 mln) in the next three years for the development of production capacity, the prime minister said.

"The financing will gradually increase in the future," Putin added.