MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The current stock of orders placed with the Rosoboronexport state-owned arms trading company amounts to $12.7 billion, Rosoboronexport Director General Sergei Chemezov said on Thursday.
"Speaking about our stock of orders, it currently equals about $12.7 billion. Their implementation will cover the period until 2007. This means that contracts worth $4-5 billion will be implemented every year, which guarantees stable functioning of our defense industry until at least 2007," Chemezov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He noted that he was referring only to the contracts that have been signed and are being implemented.
Speaking about the structure of Russian arms exports, Chemezov said that aircraft will account for most of it in the near future. The reason is not the high number of aircraft ordered, but rather their high cost," he said.
Armaments and military hardware for the air forces amount to 59 percent in the total volume of orders, those for the navy to 24 percent, those for the land forces to 10 percent, those for air defense to six percent, and other hardware to one percent, Chemezov said.
According to him, the share of naval armaments is expected to grow in the future. "The main reason is that ships are getting more expensive, because they are being fitted with more and more sophisticated armament and control systems. I believe that the share of air defense assets will grow, too, because they are getting more expensive with each year, and the demand for them has been quite stable lately," he concluded.