JAKARTA. Nov 15 (Interfax-AVN) - New forms of military-technical cooperation are emerging between Rosoboronexport and its foreign customers in line with the latest trends on the global arms market, Rosoboronexport Director for Special Commission Nikolai Dimidyuk told Interfax-AVN on Saturday.
"We note changes in the customer's demands every year. Today the customer is more demanding than ever. He wants to not just buy a weapon model and use it, but he is looking at the longer term. He wants to be sure that the weapon model he is buying will remain combat-ready and in good condition throughout its life cycle of 20-30 years. This is why a reservation is being made straight away as to whether Russia meet this condition," Dimidyuk said at the Indo Defence 2010 international arms show held in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
Customers' demands for service of purchased weapons and military hardware are also increasing, he said. "Today customers normally want post-sale service to be provided by joint ventures. Moreover, requests are made for technology transfer," Dimidyuk said.
Apart from proposals to open joint service centers, customers, including those from the Asia Pacific regions, stated their desire to receive technologies or to take part in the production of weapon models, he said. "This was stated, for instance, by almost all representatives of the Indonesian Armed Forces who we met during the exhibition," Dimidyuk said. Such questions are also being raised by representatives from Malaysia and other countries in the region, he said.
Rosoboronexport is taking into account new trends in military-technical cooperation, he said. In particular, in Jakarta Russian specialists held a number of meetings with local industry representatives, with whom they discussed a possibility of setting up joint ventures for providing post-sale service of Russian equipment.