MOSCOW. Nov 16 (Interfax-AVN) - About 5 trillion rubles ($187.51 billion) will be allocated to Russia's state armaments program, intended for the period between 2007 and 2015, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
"This funding will be spent to develop, purchase, upgrade and repair armaments and military hardware," Ivanov told the top military commanders in Moscow on Thursday.
A uniform system of orders is being created to ensure effective spending, Ivanov said.
"We are completing the work to form a center for ordering and delivering armaments and military hardware, and are hiring civilian personnel to run it. A federal agency for purchasing armaments, military and special equipment, and materiel will be formed on the basis of the center next year," he said.
The Russian armed forces' military hardware was mostly developed in the 1960s-1980s, Ivanov said. "Many of the weapons are obsolete and they are being taken out of service faster than they are being repaired or replaced," he said.
But improvements can be seen in funding the program to overhaul the armed forces. "Allocations to the armed forces' equipment have been growing with every passing year. And they have increased nearly three times over the past five years, reaching nearly 237 billion rubles ($8.89 billion) in 2006 compared with 80 billion rubles ($3 billion) in 2002.