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Russia may import armor for military vehicles

15 June 2010 17:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Russian Defense Ministry will wait for an answer from researchers before it decides to acquire foreign technology for the production of armor for light military vehicles, a senior military official said Tuesday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
"The decision on the purchase of light armor or its production technologies [abroad] has not been made," Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said at the Eurosatory-2010 arms show in Paris.
"Our researchers have not given us an answer as to whether they are ready and capable of producing this type of armor. If they are, we will make our own armor, but if they are not, we will find ways to acquire Western technology for production in Russia," Popovkin said.
The official added that Russian Armed Forces reform envisions the creation of light brigades equipped with wheeled armored vehicles, medium brigades with a mix of wheeled and tracked vehicles, and heavy brigades with tracked vehicles only.
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov earlier said that Russia may purchase light armor or technology for its production from Germany.
According to experts, Russia is lagging 20-30 years behind the West in many areas of military technological progress and has recently started attempting to close the gap by purchasing production licenses abroad.