The Ministry of Defense is trying to save up to 100 billions of rubles annually on the State Defense Order

July 11 2011 4

At the end of last week, the traditional monthly meeting of the Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov with military journalists took place. But unlike previous conversations, in which the writing fraternity set the tone, bombarded the head of the military department with a wide variety of questions, the last (extreme) conversation, which was also attended by the responsible editor of the IEE, was devoted to one, but important topic - the implementation of the state defense order and supply to the army of modern combat equipment and combat support equipment. Some plots from the conversation with the minister are worth being told about in our newspaper.

FROM FAR FRIENDSHIPS RETURN

Our conversation began with the minister’s story about a recent business trip to Germany, where during a visit to the Rainsmetal Defense test center, the largest producer of defense products in Europe, the parties signed a construction contract in Russia on the basis of the combined-arms training ground of the Western Military District (Mulino settlement , Nizhny Novgorod region) of the modern Training Center for the Russian Ground Forces. The agreements reached determine that the center will be commissioned in mid-2014. As the Chief of the General Staff, Army General Nikolai Makarov, explained more than once, on the basis of this center it will be possible to train the personnel of the motorized rifle and tank brigades both in units and in general, in conducting modern combat on complex electronic simulators, which instantly give marks to each military man and commander for his specific actions in battle. (more details in “NVO” No. 23).

Anatoly Serdyukov explained that the software of this training center, as well as military equipment and weaponwhich they plan to use there will certainly be domestic, and the system for analyzing and evaluating the work of commanders and those or other specialists will be German. We do not produce this.

But besides the training center, the Russian military delegation got acquainted with the Boxer armored combat vehicle (BBM), which Krauss-Maffei Wegmann supplies to the Bundeswehr. By the way, these machines are armed with the 292 th Jaeger battalion, which takes part in the hostilities in Afghanistan. Anatoly Serdyukov said that he really liked this car.

The Russian delegation was represented by the entire line of these BBM. But our chiefs sat and rode only in the commander’s office. As the minister said, “the car is very good, it has very good security, controllability and a powerful power unit. In short, the car is very promising. They made it more than 10 years, but the car turned out. "

The minister did not say that the military department has plans to purchase such machines, but noted that the criticism that was heard from military leaders against Russian producers of BBM had its effect. At the recent shows in Bronnitsy were shown very interesting cars. Including the "Typhoon" family. According to the minister, “these are absolutely new, modern and very promising cars”. “I believe that in the coming years, the Ministry of Defense will purchase just such machines,” he said.

"Typhoon", in theory, should compete with the armored car of the Italian company Iveco LMV M65, which they have now begun to assemble in KamAZ in the form of an armored jeep called "Lynx".

Serdyukov noted that both Ural and KamAZ “have made significant progress in creating the necessary machines for the Russian army over the past year. Much borrowed from abroad, but it turned out very well. I believe that if they continue to move at such a pace, then there are prospects. ” “Just last week,” Serdyukov told reporters, “I went to KamAZ to get acquainted with these machines in more detail. True, not driving, but inside drove. A good car, the chassis component is all ours, protection is in two versions. One of the ceramic armor, the second - from metal. And we have practically removed all our claims related to the security and safety of servicemen. ”

The only problem so far, said Serdyukov, is the combat module for placement on the armor. Those that we offer today, weighing in 300 kg, but you need at least kilograms in 120. Moreover, there are 70 kg abroad. They even on the UAZ can be placed on top. It is necessary to adopt the best that is there.

In conversation with the Minister, another topic arose related to army vehicles. Serdyukov said that the military adopted a kind of recycling system for old wheeled vehicles. 6 thousand of them were sent to Uralmashzavod, four thousand - to KamAZ. Instead, the Ministry of Defense gets new cars. On each saves 100 thousand rubles. Part of the equipment given to manufacturers will be recycled, part of it will be modernized and put into the national economy. Profitable and the army, and plants. In addition, the military department removed vehicles that had been stationed there for more than 10 years from the “NZ”, mainly tankers, and also carried them through factory workshops. Now there is a study of the contract for warranty service of all these machines by manufacturers. If they are not ready to take on such a duty, Car Repair, which is part of Oboronservis, will take care of this work. “We want to get away from the repair brigades that we have in every military unit and optimize the service maintenance of military equipment,” said Serdyukov. “A soldier who has served for one year and underwent special training for three months while this cannot be trusted.”

DOLGORUKY, NEVSKY AND AIR TRAINERS

We will return to the topic of cooperation of the Russian military and defense industry with foreign partners. And now about the most important event of the last week - about the successful launch of the Bulava from the Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear submarine cruiser (SSBN) native to it.

"Good news, - Serdyukov told us, - “Mace” flew. This is a good result. Now we understand that we can launch it into mass production. Those missiles that are already there, we will test and will load into the boat. "Yuri Dolgoruky" will be with rockets, which should be in it. " “First of all, I congratulate myself too,” he added. - The work, as you know, was serious. There were a lot of talk about positive and negative about Bulava. And somewhere even offensive to developers. Nevertheless, we have achieved the necessary results, which are very important for our country, and therefore very pleasant. ”

The success of the Bulava (PCM-56, or SS-NX-30 according to the Western classification) and the Borey-class 955 SSBN under the name of Yuri Dolgoruky is not only the achievement of the MIT, the rocket developer, and the Rubin concern, the developer 955 project, and Sevmashpredpriyatiya, on which the Boreev series is built. This is proof that the domestic defense industry is still worth something, since it can implement such projects. But let's not rush to the final conclusions. "Dolgoruky" with "Bulava" still need to take in the combat system of the Russian Navy. While they only pass tests. Nevertheless, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, said at the St. Petersburg Naval Salon that by the end of this year the fleet plans to receive three nuclear submarines. “This is the Severodvinsk multipurpose submarine,” said the admiral. - This is a strategic nuclear submarine "Yuri Dolgoruky." And we are planning the “second strategist” of this series “Alexander Nevsky”.

Roman Trotsenko, president of the United Shipbuilding Company (USC), told reporters there that the design of a new heavy aircraft carrier cruiser (aircraft carrier) would begin in 2016, and the first such ship would be built in 2023. Then he said that the construction of the aircraft carrier will begin in 2018 year. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov last Friday once again repeated to journalists that there was no money for building aircraft carriers in the 2011 – 2020 State Defense Order, you first need to understand which aircraft carriers we need and why, and then make a decision. But, apparently, the head of USC is clear and obvious - he needs large and financially capacious long-term orders. Whether they build an aircraft carrier or not is another conversation.

Moreover, there is nowhere to build it. The Nikolaev plants where they created the only "our everything" - the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral fleet Soviet Union Kuznetsov ”, located in Ukraine. They did not join the USC, and, as you know, they are not going to join. The docks of Sevmashzavod in Severodvinsk, corresponding to the size of the aircraft carrier, are occupied by the colleagues of Yuri Dolgoruky, who should have already built eight pieces by 2020 ... In a word, everything is based on the famous fable: “When there is no agreement between the comrades, / Their case will not work, / And it will not come out of it, only flour. "

But despite the controversy over the construction or creation of an advance project of the future Russian aircraft carrier, Anatoly Serdyukov told us that all contracts for the state defense order for the past and this year are closed. Of the 580 billion rubles allocated for the purchase of military equipment in 2011, 40 – 50 billion remained unfulfilled. There are several reasons - somewhere the partners cannot agree on the price of the product, somewhere - That will not approve those tactical and technical characteristics of the new technology, which can go to the production and that will suit the customer. The minister told us that the government had set him the task of saving on the state defense order annually up to 100 billion rubles.

“If we don’t find any mechanism for price reduction,” he said, “it will be very difficult for us to keep the amount we planned. Although some models will be disrupted by someone, replacement will occur. I understand that the planned volume may shift in some direction, some positions will be reduced - this is possible. In general, we can again return to the original position - something will be trimmed, incomplete. There is no such solution yet. But we are seriously working with manufacturers on this issue. ”

And it is planned as much as to increase the supply of Topol-M and Yars strategic missiles threefold. The Bulava and Sineva missiles for strategic submarines are 1,5 times, aircraft are 4 times, helicopters are 5 times, air defense systems are 2,5 times. The minister added that the number of multipurpose submarines and surface ships for the Russian Navy will increase significantly.

PASSIONS FOR THE PRICE

The pricing of military equipment, its coordination, the calculations of the Defense Ministry on the weapons purchased are a matter that is particularly acute today in relations between the military and the defense industry. On the eve of the meeting with the Minister of Defense, I visited one of the Moscow defense enterprises. They complained that the military was arbitrarily charged to the price agreed at all levels up to 10 – 15%. After that, the production of defense products is not only unprofitable, but also unprofitable. This also applies to those R & D, which the company does at its own expense, and then tries to knock them out of the customer. I asked the minister to clarify this situation. Here is what he said about this:

- Today's procedure for negotiating prices is about the same. The manufacturer calls some value. In the Armaments Department — and there are armaments specialists sitting there, but in no way in terms of pricing or finances — they look at this, partly agree. Further, this figure goes to the FTS (Federal Tariff Service. - V.L.). The FTS also agrees with them, although they have no real methods for determining the exact price. And then they bring us and say: this is the price. Such an order.

Armored combat vehicle "Boxer"

But in practice, continues Serdyukov, everything looks different. The manufacturer comes to the FTS, coordinates everything, comes to us and says: here is the price. Agreed - it means you have to buy. And a very interesting thing happens. We have some models more expensive than imported counterparts, which are much higher than them in technical specifications and warranty period. But not because the FTS incorrectly assessed the product, but because the manufacturer begins to drive into its price all its costs, including the social sector.

If one boat at Sevmash is produced for nine years, he says, then all the costs, including a pig farm, a children's and summer camp, a rest house, a clinic, all of this falls on one poor unfortunate boat. Even the contracts that they broke down, for example, the construction of a platform for Gazprom (the money went somewhere, but it was necessary to finish building it), they also dumped on this boat. "Pot" again sticks there. Well, how much will this boat cost ?!

Previously, this boat was worth 47 billion rubles. And now, the minister said, they are proposing a new boat to be laid for 112 billion. There are no miracles. You then either cut down your platform, or put aside a non-core business, a social sphere that doesn’t bother us much ...

We have been butting for a long time about this. Then they came and said: guys, you show us all the costs that you want to include in your price, make it transparent, and to this price we are ready to add you 20 – 25% profitability. Discover all. And when they start to open it, the price instantly flies to 20 – 30%.

And the question arises, where have these 20 – 30% gone, depending on who has any appetites, so we are now in a position of principle that is tough and understandable for us. Everything that you buy (components), on this you can drive the profitability of no more than 1%. And for all that you yourself produce, for God's sake, we are ready to agree to 25%. Only open everything clearly and explain that there are no black bags or any articles of incomprehensible, undeciphered ones.

“As for the money invested,” explains Serdyukov, “we also discussed this issue with Pogosyan (President of the United Aircraft Building Corporation. - V.L.). If you show us what funds you take, what interest you pay. If these percentages are reasonable, there is a Central Bank rate 10% and if you pay 12 – 13, then we understand this, if you pay 30%, then it is not clear to us. If you show us where this money has been spent, if there is rationality there, we are ready to pay the funds that you have invested in the price of the products, we will compensate everything. But you open - that is the problem. The problem is opacity. As soon as they open price transparency, we are ready to compensate for it. ”

None of us wants to bankrupt any company, we are for them to develop, make profits, switch to more modern technologies. We are just for this. Therefore, we have come up with this credit scheme. Yes, we say: take loans, but reasonable. We are ready to sign an agreement with you if you undertake to make such and such a thing with such characteristics by that time. We are ready to buy this equipment, give a guarantee to the bank, says Anatoly Serdyukov. Any bank will agree to such a long loan, it is profitable to him, his ratings will start to grow. You just show open and transparent. But it does not take root.

Give money to OCD, but the designer does not know what will happen. Give money for a series, produce a series - you need to invest money in production. And again, the director is not sure what will give the quality and those characteristics that are required of him. So it turns out that our defense products cost so much money and of such quality that it is easier for us to buy analogues abroad. They are much cheaper there.

Therefore, on the one hand, we want the industry to really help, that is, to find such options so that she feels comfortable enough that she has working capital. On the other hand, we want our requirements to be fulfilled.

“Yesterday I went to look at the samples presented to us,” said the minister, “and I ask the designers: you were at the exhibition, saw something. He answers: no. They were not at any international exhibition. And I ask, how do you then produce your equipment, if you do not know what your competitors are doing, what are the trends in its development today? No, they are at local exhibitions. There are two companies that produce body armor, and they are competing with each other. And they do not know what they produce in the world, they have no idea that there are already flexible ones, it is easier several times more protected. Special collars are made, the same helmets - well, just do not want to know and see.

I instructed my subordinates to take these guys with them and show them the specific things that interest us. Or at least they understood which directions exist here, otherwise they will stew in their own juice. And all the time to modernize what was invented several decades ago. Although there are examples with the same "Typhoon", when people drive, cooperate, for example, with the French, the Italians. And in the end got the product. Very good product, I think. "