KUBINKA, Moscow Region. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Armed Forces will procure the development batch of new MI-28N Havoc night-time combat helicopters in the framework of the state defense order for 2005, Army General Alexei Moskovsky, chief of the Armed Forces armament department and deputy defense minister, said on Tuesday.
"The issue has recently been solved by the defense industry commission, which discussed how to start preparing production facilities and to speed up MI-28N tests and supplies to military units," Moskovsky told reporters.
Tests of the helicopter have not been completed yet, he noted.
According to him, "procurement of missiles and launchers of the Iscander systems will be increased next year, so that an entire battalion will be equipped with them. For more than a year, we have been creating a backlog for equipping a regiment with S-400 surface-to-air missile systems."
Moskovsky said he was hoping that "state tests of the S-400 will be completed next year." "By the way, we have already ordered mass production of some elements of the system for both this and next year," he noted.
The general also said that the state defense order for 2005 includes "upgraded BMP-3 IFVs for equipping up to one battalion, BTR-80 APCs for up to two regiments, and BMD-2 airborne fighting vehicles for up to one battalion." Technical specifications of the combat engines have advanced considerably after the upgrade, he stressed.