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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Despite boasts, Russia's weaponry shows its age |
| 2008-08-03 |
| ZHUKOVSKY, Russia - At a once-secret airfield outside Moscow, test pilot Sergei Bogdan proudly introduces reporters to what was billed as the latest in Russian military aircraft technology, the Su-35 fighter-jet. But the plane is only an upgrade of a 20-year-old model - and it can't match the speed and stealth of the U.S. F-22 Raptor, which entered service in 2005. Former President Vladimir V. Putin, now Russia's powerful prime minister, has boasted of new weapons systems and of strengthening the armed forces, raising fears in the West of a Cold War-style military buildup. Flush with oil money, the Kremlin is in the market for new weapons. But Russia's state-run defense industries, experts say, face a crumbling manufacturing base and pervasive corruption; they have produced little advanced armament in the Putin era. |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #3 The government has responded by creating huge state-controlled military conglomerates, Are they not referring to KBR??? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-03 15:08 |
| #2 Russian Defense Industry Bringing you last century technology.....TODAY!!! "Yes, even our planes and tanks have computers now. The new T90 is State of the Art! *mumbled* for 1995" |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2008-08-03 15:01 |
| #1 Hee, hee! |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-08-03 12:37 |