Russian state arms operator Rosoboronexport has pledged to sell weapons worth 6.1 billion U.S. dollars this year, a senior official of the company said Wednesday.
"Despite all those negative factors in expanding Russian arms exports, such as the heritage of planning economy, old production facilities and poor human resource, Rosoboronexport has set its target for this year and is striving to hit or even exceed it," deputy general director Igor Sevastyanov told an arms trade fair here.
Russia, the world's second largest arms exporter after the United States, sold 7.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of arms in 2007,mostly via Rosoboronexport, the sole state agency for arms export and import.
Many companies in Russia's military industry have increased their productivity, improved quality and enlarged scale by taking bank loans or refunding in the stock market, which could facilitate arms trade, Sevastyanov said.
In a bid to speed up weapons development, Russia has also engaged in international cooperation in the military industry.
Rosoboronexport signed a contract with the French company Thales International during the ongoing Russia Expo Arms and Defense Expo near the once-secret city of Nizhny Tagil, some 1,500km east of Moscow and home of Russia's largest tank maker Uralvagonzavod.
According to the agreement, Thales will provide thermal imaging equipment for T-90S tanks, the export model of the T90 main battle tanks of the Russian ground forces.
Source:Xinhua
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