(AKI) - The Venezuelan army will be provided a new rocket launcher entirely 'made in Venezuela' by the end of October, local media Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias (ABN) revealed on Thursday. The new weapon, which is called VE-Nilangal, was designed by a team of experts of the Venezuelan military academies and it was awarded the first prize at a recent military inventions competitions organised by the Venezuelan army. Colonel Ender Galvis, who took part in the creation of the new rocket-launcher, explained that the weapon's design and components are "100 percent Venezuelan."The VE-Niagal weights nine kilograms and shoots at an initial speed of 360 metres per second, with potential to exceed the speed of sound. It can be used by infantry units as an anti-tank device as well as in air defence and against human targets, and it includes an "self-destruction function aimed to limit as much as possible collateral damages," should it miss the target, Galvis added. A further device which was awarded a prize at the competition is a flight-simulator which is expected to allow "Venezuelan air force pilots to be trained in the country, rather than in the US," the Venezuelan high officer said.
Galvins' reference to the US did not seem accidental, as American authorities banned weapons' export to Venezuela last month, accusing president Hugo Chavez of not contributing enough to the 'war on terror'. Moreover, the new flight-simulator will allow training for the M-17 and M-35 helicopters, and M-28 jet-fighters that Venezuela has recently bought from Russia. Chavez, who will soon pay an official visit to Russia, has also revealed that Caracas will receive the first lot of Sukhoi jet-fighters it bought from Moscow within 2006. Furthermore, he is believed to be willing to set up a factory of Kalashnikov rifles and bullets in Venezuela.