Russia Displays Arms and Aircrafts in Jakarta

Russia is presenting its defense industry’s capabilities at the 2012 Indo Defense 2012 show in Jakarta, Indonesia on 7-10 November. This is the one of the largest military equipment exhibitions in South-Eastern Asia, the region which remains a very important market for Russia.
In the last 20 years Russia has successfully exported its weapons and aircraft to the Asian-Pacific region. China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam account for a significant part of Russia’s export income and the significance of this market will only grow.

At the same time, it is already clear that Russia’s further success on those markets will depend on how quickly Russian manufacturers are able to update their product lines. So far, the weapons offered by the Russian manufacturers meet modern requirements but the models designed in the times of the Soviet Union will soon exhaust their potential. With new generation systems coming into the market in the next 10-15 years it will no longer be viable for Russia to place a stake on its old models.

One of the most troubling signs for Russia is its recent failure in India where it lost the tender for the supply of six Il-78M aerial tankers worth $1 billion. India selected the European Airbus A330. Even the fact that India has been operating aircraft of this type did not help.

After Russia moved the production of Il-78M aerial tanker from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to the city of Ulianovsk in the Volga region, the production costs drastically increased. As a result the aerial tanker now is almost as expensive as the A-330 - the price for the basic model of the Il 76 MD 90A assembled in Ulyanovsk, exceeds $100 million. For reference the same aircraft assembled in Tashkent cost not more than $40 million. In any case this upgraded aircraft remains a 40-year old model which is inferior to the A-303 in many aspects. First of all A-303 has lower operation costs.

For Russia the production of the Il-76 is important because it helps to boost the production at the Ulianovsk Aviastar plant. It is also important for the renewal of the national cargo aircraft. But the upgraded Soviet-era aerial tanker is no longer suitable for promotion on the foreign markets.

Such “intermediate” models as the Su-35S jet fighter and latest versions of Su-30 can help Russia to partially make up for this lag. These models are to form the core of the Russian military aircraft exports in the coming 10-12 years.

Another important task for Russia is to develop more intensively high-tech production and aircraft construction is the civilian sector. In this area, Russia focuses on the implementation of its Superjet-100 project and developing the medium MS-21 civilian liner. These two liners are expected to provide additional support for Russia’s aircraft manufacturing industry. Whether this strategy is successful or not, will become clear in the next 5-7 years.