RUSSIANS AT DEFENDORY '98

 Despite political and economic turmoil in Russia - with the threat of hyperinflation looming - one of the few sources of hard currency revenue is arms exports.

During recent years Russia has re-established its position as one of the world's leading arms exporters, regaining a lot the ground it lost in the years immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The demise of the old Soviet system meant several major Russian arms manufacturers were able to establish new relationships with the state arms exporting agencies.

These manufacturers sought independence and eventually gained government licences to sell their own military products. This set them free from the chains of the state owned Rosvoorouzhenie company, which had previously controlled all Russian arms exports.

These developments did not come easy. Even the famous KBP-Instrument Building Design Bureau at Tula, seemed to be being penalised for its independence when it was impossible to cut through the Moscow Bureaucracy and bring some of its most modern products to Defendory in Greece. The company is a world leader in guided weapon design and manufacture, producing more than 100 different types of weapons many of which to do not have rivals around the world, including the Kornet-E anti-tank guided missile, Kashtan missile-artillery system amoungst others.

Unlike Americans, French and Germans with their massive presence at the show, the Russians were divided between themselves to gain the advantage from the own labours and the desire to keep everything under one umbrella. Even though their stands were opposite each other, the companies desire for the spirit of free enterprise did not sit easily with the strict state control coming from Rosvoorouzhenie.

On the day, two ministers of defence - from Russia and Greece - were the first of a flood of visitors to the KBP stand. Many more defence ministers from other countries and other official delegations followed during the course of the show. Many of the high profile visitors were suitably impressed by the performance of the anti-tank weapons on display. Also on show were already well known high precision guided artillery projectiles, infantry anti-tank weapons and the Pantzir-S1 close range air-defence gun/missile system.

There is currently no co-operation between KBP and Rosvoorouzhenie but there is believed to be considerable hidden animosity on the latter's part.

During the last two years Rosvoorouzhenie has not sold a single item from KBP's portfolio while the latter has signed eight contracts and is in the process of concluding the ninth contract. During the Defendory KBP received an attractive offer from US giant Lockheed Martin to buy 3,000 of KBP's Kornet anti-tank guided missile system. No comment is needed on who seems to be the main beneficiary of independence.

There were some other interesting Russian exhibits on display during Defendory. A talking point was the new version of the S-300PMU1&2 air defence system, the S-300PMU3, which is now has two new missiles. Each missile varies in weight and ranges due to size of the rocket motors. One missile weights 420 kilograms and has a range of 120 kilometres and the other weights only 333 kilograms and a 40 kilometre range. Both types of missiles can be used against any type of aerial targets, including stealth-type aircraft, tactical ballistic and other missiles flying at altitudes ranging from five metres to 30 kilometres. The intercept probability against air breathing targets, including stealth, loitering and manoeuvering objects, is 0.9 to 0.98, and against ballistic targets is 0.8 to 0.98. Besides a 0.7 minimum probability is provided by detonating the target's warhead in the trajectory of flight. High level of intercept probability is provided by the fact that in mid-course the missile's flight is controlled by an onboard inertial navigation system. The missile is under radio command from a ground based radar station until the final stage of flight, when guidance is provided by an active radar seeker. For the first time, the developer of the system, the Fakel Machine-Building Design Bureau, has fielded its latest know-how - a cross control engine ( DPU ). It provides super manoeuverablity of the missile at the final stage of its approach to the target, ensuring the an almost zero miss-probability. At the moment of activating the DPU, a 20G overload is developed within 0.025 seconds.

Tactical characteristics and overall performance of the new S-300PMU3 are extremely advanced. Defendory was the first defence show where the new Russian system was on display and the Russian government only granted permission for it to be exhibited in Greece three days beforehand.

There were also some other new Russian products displayed for the first time ever. Among them was a new laser system which can detect and suppress any kind of active or non-active optics between 1 to 4 kilometres, whether in a car with tinted windows or even deep within a building.

The biggest success of the Russians was the decision by the Greek armed forces to buy the TOR short range air defence missile system from the ANTEY company. Some reliable sources within the Greek Ministry of Defence told Global Defence Review that only their obligations to their NATO allies prevented more Russian weaponry being purchased.

From 19th October more news from the Russian Military Industrial Complex will be available on www.radea.com