SOCHI. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has tasked national defense companies to start the import-substitution process for components used in making weapons and military hardware.
"You need to start import-substitution of nodes and components for arms and military hardware. The task is not just to replace imported products, although that, too, is important, of course, the point is altogether different: we must ensure high quality of new developments," Putin said at a defense meeting.
"Our products must be better than foreign manufacturers both by quality and price. Domestic companies must gain new competence about technologies, including dual-purpose ones," the president said.
The government has allocated three trillion rubles to re-arm the army and the navy and to modernize the defense industry, he recalled.
"All this money must be spent with maximum efficiency. Costs should be cut, production processes optimized, and clear coordination ensured among suppliers in terms of delivery deadlines and quantities supplied in order to prevent a backlog of uncompleted objects in defense industry, the uncompleted stuff that does not go to the army and only requires additional upkeep and servicing, to prevent defense companies from experiencing macroeconomic problems, including inflationary processes and so on," the Russian president said.