TULA. Feb 2 (Interfax) - Russia's Pantsir-S1 air defense systems are in high demand on global markets, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"The demand for Pantsir systems is very high. I should say they are very popular on global arms markets. Selling like hot cakes, and more are demanded," Putin told participants in the Everything for Victory forum on Friday.
Last year, Russia supplied a substantial amount of military hardware worth of billions of dollars "to the global market, no matter how odd that may seem," Putin said.
"But, of course, we need them [Pantsir systems] today to protect our civilian sites and infrastructure, because they [...], the [Ukrainian] regime strikes civilian facilities, they need to be protected, and the border needs to be protected, too," he said.
Pantsir is a modern close-range air defense missile and artillery system designed by the Shipunov Instrument Design Bureau of Rostec's High Precision Systems holding. The system is operated by the Russian Armed Forces and is exported.