TULA. May 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian army needs transition to hi-tech promising types of armament, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters on Friday when visiting defense industry enterprises of the Tula region.
According to him, the ministry is planning to purchase conventional armament systems, "primarily for general purpose troops," from Tula armament makers. These systems are "multiple launch rocket systems, light small arms and air defense systems for the Land Forces," Ivanov said.
The state defense order placed with the region's defense industry enterprises increased by RUB100m (USD3.2m) in 2002. "Forty percent of the funds will be transferred in the first half of the year," Ivanov stressed.
The defense minister mentioned that the aim of his one-day visit to the region was to discuss issues related to state defense order placement with heads of local enterprises and to study modern armament samples.
During the trip Ivanov visited the Instrument Engineering Design Bureau and Splav federal state-owned unitary enterprise.
A spokesman for the regional administration said, a holding company specializing in production of precision-guided weapons will be established on the basis of the design bureau. The company is expected to include 15 enterprises.