"The
second contract provisionally allows Russia to bring in
communications equipment for integration into Russian
armored vehicles for testing," Sevastyanov said.
He added that the communications equipment would be mounted
on T-90 tanks and BMP-3 armored personnel carriers. Rosoboronexport
did not specify the sum of the contracts.
The
plant in the city of Vologda in central European Russia
will assemble the Thales-developed thermal imaging cameras.
Localized production will allow Russia to reduce production
and maintenance costs by at least 5-10% and manufacture
thermal imagers for civilian purposes in the future. Civilian
uses of the thermal imagers could include monitoring the
efficiency of thermal insulation and detection of heat
leaks, among other applications.
Russia
may only be able to export thermal imagers produced at
its plant with the permission of the French authorities.
The list of potential customers will exclude so-called
rogue states such as Iran. According to experts, Russia
is lagging 20-30 years behind the West in many areas of
technological progress and has recently started attempting
to close the gap by purchasing production licenses abroad.
