Russian state-owned arms producer Rosoboronexport says it expects 2010 sales to reach in excess of $10 billion—a $1.5 billion increase over last year—said the company’s top management on Thursday.
This would be a record year for sales, which doesn’t include the roughly $30 billion in unfulfilled contracts the company has on its books, wrote Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute, in an e-mail.
Rosoboronexport is essentially the arms producing organ of the Russian Federation. A 2007 report by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College called the company “more than a seller of weapons; rather, it has become an industrial behemoth that is monopolizing whole sectors of this industry on behalf of the state.”
“[Rosoboronexport] is a key player in a foreign and defense policy that is increasingly anti-American and anti-capitalist, or anti-liberal,” states the report.
Rosoboronexport has a client list of 62 countries, including with India, Algeria, China, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Syria topping the list.
The expected increase in Russian arms exports comes at a time when NATO countries have announced major cuts in defense budgets, particularly among European members.
Russia is the world’s second largest arm exporter with 20 percent of the global export market, second only to the United States at 40 percent. France, England, and China follow. The top five arms sellers are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Globally, arms exports have increased most to countries in North Africa, South America, and Southeastern Asia over the last few years, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Analysts say that given weak control over the final user of the weapons, they can easily fall into the hands of terrorist groups.
The United States and Israel criticized Rosoboronexport earlier this year for planning to export high-precision S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran.
The deal was canceled when the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against Teheran, mostly targeting investment connected to Iran’s military to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program. Russia supported the U.N. sanctions.
Rosoboronexport’s General Director Anatoly Isaikin said that there was no absolute ban on arms supplies to Iran, adding that the company would seek to deliver unforbidden weapons to Iran without violating the U.N. restrictions.
“If there are requests for military equipment not included in the sanction list, these are subject to negotiation,” Isaikin told reporters according to Russian media reports.
Isaikin also said that Russia did not have a contract with Syria in order to sell P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles. The statement contradicts news reports confirmed by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukhov in September that Moscow was going to make a $300 million missile deal with Damascus.
“[The company] … does not allow illegal arm proliferation all over the world, neither does it allow it to come to the hands of international terrorist organizations,” said Isaikin.
The United States and Israel have criticized Russia’s attempts to sell weapons to Syria, which has close ties to Iran and is believed to have ties with terrorist groups such as the Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Barack Obama placed sanctions on Syria in May this year.
“Syria continues to transfer weapons to Hezbollah,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley at a press briefing on Oct. 26.
This would be a record year for sales, which doesn’t include the roughly $30 billion in unfulfilled contracts the company has on its books, wrote Richard Weitz, director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute, in an e-mail.
Rosoboronexport is essentially the arms producing organ of the Russian Federation. A 2007 report by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College called the company “more than a seller of weapons; rather, it has become an industrial behemoth that is monopolizing whole sectors of this industry on behalf of the state.”
“[Rosoboronexport] is a key player in a foreign and defense policy that is increasingly anti-American and anti-capitalist, or anti-liberal,” states the report.
Rosoboronexport has a client list of 62 countries, including with India, Algeria, China, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Syria topping the list.
The expected increase in Russian arms exports comes at a time when NATO countries have announced major cuts in defense budgets, particularly among European members.
Russia is the world’s second largest arm exporter with 20 percent of the global export market, second only to the United States at 40 percent. France, England, and China follow. The top five arms sellers are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Globally, arms exports have increased most to countries in North Africa, South America, and Southeastern Asia over the last few years, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Analysts say that given weak control over the final user of the weapons, they can easily fall into the hands of terrorist groups.
The United States and Israel criticized Rosoboronexport earlier this year for planning to export high-precision S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran.
The deal was canceled when the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against Teheran, mostly targeting investment connected to Iran’s military to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear program. Russia supported the U.N. sanctions.
Rosoboronexport’s General Director Anatoly Isaikin said that there was no absolute ban on arms supplies to Iran, adding that the company would seek to deliver unforbidden weapons to Iran without violating the U.N. restrictions.
“If there are requests for military equipment not included in the sanction list, these are subject to negotiation,” Isaikin told reporters according to Russian media reports.
Isaikin also said that Russia did not have a contract with Syria in order to sell P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles. The statement contradicts news reports confirmed by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukhov in September that Moscow was going to make a $300 million missile deal with Damascus.
“[The company] … does not allow illegal arm proliferation all over the world, neither does it allow it to come to the hands of international terrorist organizations,” said Isaikin.
The United States and Israel have criticized Russia’s attempts to sell weapons to Syria, which has close ties to Iran and is believed to have ties with terrorist groups such as the Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
President Barack Obama placed sanctions on Syria in May this year.
“Syria continues to transfer weapons to Hezbollah,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley at a press briefing on Oct. 26.
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