Defense Ministry Drops Contracts for ‘Inferior’ Arms

PERM, February 8 (RIA Novosti)
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120208/171214913.html

Substandard and uncertified models of arms and military equipment have been excluded from the 2012 state defense order, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Wednesday.

This refers to models whose “tests have not been completed or which do not meet the needs of the Armed Forces,” he said.

The list includes a variety of products such as armored fighting vehicles, mortars, self-propelled guns and personal gear and equipment worth hundreds of billions of rubles. Defense Ministry officials have repeatedly criticized the deteriorating quality of products manufactured by domestic defense firms.

First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov said in January that in 2010 the number of formal complaints filed against arms manufacturers was up 20 percent, exceeding 6,800, while in 2011 it rose to 7,100.