Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu holds teleconference with top military brass

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held a teleconference with top military brass in the National Defense Command Center. The minister recalled that the supreme commander-in-chief held a series of meeting with the military last week to consider the guidelines of Navy development and the implementation of arms procurement order in construction, modernization, overhaul and maintenance of naval hardware. The Russian president also chaired a meeting of the Security Council on November 22 to consider prospects to streamline the military organization in the coming decade.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu (Picture source: Russian MoD)

The president ordered to ensure a balanced development of arms of forces due to prudent and rational use of budget funds and material resources. The share of modern arms has to rise to 70 per cent by 2020 and the level should be maintained in future.

The armed forces, mostly the strategic nuclear forces, precision weapons and aerospace defence should be equipped with the latest arms. The Navy has to have a bigger number of blue-water warships capable of firing Kalibr cruise and Tsirkon hypersonic missiles. The line of drones, robotic hardware and weapons on new physical principles has to be expanded. "The decisions of the Security Council will be the basis for the buildup of the armed forces," Shoigu said.

The minister dwelt on the beginning of a new training year. "The focus is on improved combat training and intensity," he said. Over 4,800 drills and over 9,000 combat training events are planned. Specific attention will be paid to the experience of modern combat, non-standard decisions and compliance with established norms.

The Caucasus-2020 command-staff exercise is the main event of the New Year. It is scheduled in September and has to maintain a high level of combat readiness, defend the national interests and react to potential aggravation of the military situation in any strategic direction, Shoigu said.

The conference discussed the state of strategic bombers. In 2019, the Tupolev Company upgraded Tu-95MS and replaced outdated radio and navigational equipment. "Today we can say that the renewal of the long-range aviation fleet and the creation of new aircraft have reinforced the air component of the nuclear triad," the minister said.

Another item of the agenda was receivables of the United Aircraft Corporation. Shoigu said his ministry and the corporation signed over 150 contracts for upgrade, overhaul and maintenance of aircraft and the creation of prospective ones according to the arms program.

Twenty contracts still have receivables, mostly servicing contracts. The minister said the receivables have been halved in the past years. Nevertheless, their repayment lags behind the approved schedule this year. The conference discussed measures to repay receivables to the corporation and complete the contracts.