The scandal around the state defense order threatens the death of the military industrial complex
Scandals around the Ministry of Defense and the Russian military industrial complex do not stop. Moreover, if the conflict caused by an interview with Academician Solomonov was, as it were, in itself, the series of scandals timed to the Moscow-based MAKS-2011 air show finally demonstrated that it is not only a price conflict between manufacturers of military equipment and military department buyers. And not about product quality claims. In fact, we are talking about frank resistance of the activities of the Minister of Defense and his team, on the one hand, and a number of military-industrial complex leaders, on the other.
Scandalous publications flashed in the domestic media with an incredible frequency. Moreover, the emergence of some of them without the assistance of stakeholders not the lowest level would be impossible.
When the Hero of Russia, honored test pilot Magomed Tolboev, in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, said: “What is the fifth generation of fighters are 80-s, we then flew them! They were invented thirty years ago, and we show them in 2011” - it is unpleasant, but not too surprising. It does not cause much surprise to his own message that the central base of the Moscow Military District Air Force, the Kubinka airfield, is to be sold to some billionaire. Of course, this is a direct accusation against the Minister of Defense, but we have become accustomed to such things.
But when a journalist from the same newspaper is carried out in the shops of the C-300 production unit of the Avangard plant, giving a detailed account of how things are going in the enterprise, this is already something new. Especially when, from the explanations of an anonymous factory worker, it turns out that the military are deceiving everyone: the C-300 missiles are no longer being produced, the C-400 missiles allegedly put into service are not yet, and the promised rocket " C-500 "- in general, so far a myth. And the beautiful maxim expressed by the representative of Avangard: "We are led by people who hardly imagine what the rockets look like, what we do. With the composition of the officials who lead our direction and in the group and above, it will take at least another year three so that the C-400 complex takes place. "
No, it is not only the issue of the price of weapons that underlies the conflict that has flared up.
But the MAKS began, and the problems of army purchases again came to the fore. On the very first day of the air show, it turned out that a whole series of contracts, which, as previously planned, will be concluded between the Ministry of Defense and aircraft building corporations, will not take place. The first to report this to the press conference was Mikhail Pogosyan, head of United Aircraft Corporation. In this case, it was about the delivery of the ship-based MiG-29K. Following this, Russian Helicopters announced that the contract for the supply of Ka-52 helicopters for the ground forces was still being negotiated. And with the helicopters for the French "Mistral" nothing has been decided: the military still do not know how much to order them for this ship.
By the way, after the scandal caused by an interview with Academician Solomonov, President Dmitry Medvedev instructed to finish the design of contracts for state defense orders in the summer. Summer ends, and representatives of almost all firms say that they have no new contracts for this year on state defense orders.
Of course, in the defense industry, we are optimistic, hoping that contracts can be concluded in September-October of this year (this is at best). However, the time of technological execution of the order for most military products - 8, 9, 10 months, so that the state defense order-2011, despite the insistent demands of the leadership of the country, is again broken. And the question of whether our army will have a modern weapon, is discussed not only in the offices of officials, but also in the media, almost completely losing its former secrecy.
It may well be that the publicity of the conflict forced the military to eventually agree with the holding company Helicopters of Russia and the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology. Even before the completion of the aerospace show, the Ministry of Defense signed contracts with helicopter builders for the supply of more than 450 helicopters by the end of the year. "As part of the state defense order for 2011, seven long-term contracts were signed with the Ministry of Defense, three short-term contracts, and one contract for the supply of Ka-52 helicopters is in the signing stage," Dmitry Petrov, director of the Russian Helicopters holding company, said expressing confidence that the state order for the supply of helicopters will be fulfilled. From day to day, an agreement is expected to be signed with MIT, the institution of the first troublemaker, Yuri Solomonov.
But there are no signed contracts with the United Aircraft Building Corporation (UAC) and the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). The Defense Ministry is still dissatisfied with the prices of the products offered, considering them to be unfounded. As a result, according to informed sources, contracts for the supply of 24 fighters MiG-29K and 65 training Yak-130 with a total cost of about 3 billions of dollars will not be concluded by August 31. This will happen only when the Ministry of Defense agrees with the manufacturers price.
True, there are still export orders, which representatives of the military industrial complex in the heat of struggle with Minister Serdyukov forget. But the head of Rosoboronexport, Anatoly Isaykin, is full of optimism. Arms shipments to Syria continue under previously concluded contracts. And among them, by the way, the Yak-130 aircraft and various simulators for them. Good prospects, in his opinion, are opening up in trade with Jordan and Bahrain. According to Isaykin’s forecast, Rosoboronexport will exceed last year’s plans for the supply of arms to foreign customers in 2011 and export it to more than 9 billion dollars. And the order book of the company he heads, according to Isaikin, exceeded 36 billion dollars in the first half of this year. And the greatest volumes fall on equipment for the Air Force.
Why, communicating with journalists, representatives of the military industrial complex sidestep these questions? Is Rosoboronexport trading military equipment produced in other countries?
What is happening today between the military-industrial complex and the Ministry of Defense is not just a struggle for money. It is also a struggle for a whole complex of interests, first of all, the interests of groups of people standing at the head of the opposing sides. That is what determines their tactics: the military is trying not to make a fuss, and representatives of the military-industrial complex give lengthy interviews and lead journalists to the shops of closed enterprises. The military and the officials, who saddled the defense industry, strive to resolve all the issues in their favor in the quiet of the cabinets. Producers who find themselves in a disadvantageous situation are trying to “wash the dirty linen out of the hut”, seeing in it the only hope for a fair, from their point of view, distribution of funds. If the confrontation drags on, the defense industry may simply be bent, leaving the army at the mercy of Western manufacturers of weapons.
If the country's leadership does not want the situation to develop according to such a scenario, it is time for him to use power to immediately end the conflict between the Ministry of Defense and the military-industrial complex. Until it's not too late.
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