MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax-AVN) - The designer general for the Topol-M missile (NATO designation Sickle) said in an interview with the Izvestia daily, published on Monday, that the state allocations for the production of this missile in 2004 had been almost halved.
"The state allocations for the production of this missile in 2004 had been almost halved without any discussion with us, though we are responsible for this work before the President," said Yuri Solomonov, who is the designer general of the Thermal Engineering Research Institute.
He said that the real shortage of funds is at least 25 percent. Given that the armament program adopted in 2001 has been consistently failed since 2002, the reference points set by the Finance Ministry, if realized, could stop supplies of hi-tech weapons to the army from 2005, Solomonov said.
"I mean not firearms but strategic missiles, fifth- generation jets, and the like," he emphasized.
He said that the budget allocated "ridiculous money" for the development of production facilities.
"I can say that in 2003 the state investment for the prospective make for the Navy (the new naval ballistic missile - Interfax-AVN) has not been enough to buy a single machine tool," Solomonov said.