Defense industry of Russia

The defense industry of Russia is a strategically important sector and a large employer in Russia. It is also a significant player in the global arms market. Russia is the second largest conventional arms exporter after the United States, with $13.5 billion worth of exports in 2012. Combined, the USA and Russia account for 58% of all major weapons exports.

Russia's defense industry employs 2.5 – 3 million people and accounts for 20% of all manufacturing jobs in Russia. Sevmash directly employs 27,000 people. The combined revenue of the industry's 20 largest companies in 2009 was $12.25 billion. Russian shipbuilders and naval missile manufacturers survived the difficult period of transition from a command to a market-driven economy, and kept skills needed for the development of advanced combat systems. With recently won orders for Project 955 and Project 885 submarines, the share of domestic military orders in Sevmash's portfolio has risen to above 70%.

Visiting Severodvinsk in February, deputy premier of the Russian Government in charge of defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin said the local shipbuilders are contracted to build eight fourth-generation nuclear submarines by 2020, and that more orders are coming. He further said the earlier program for scrapping third-generation submarines is being revised so that “these vessels will get newer missiles and be subjected to a series of repair efforts enabling them to serve for another seven years”.

In November 2011, the Russian defense ministry awarded Sevmash contracts for construction of four Project 955A Borey-A strategic underwater cruisers armed with the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles. This order comes after construction of three Project 955 Boreys (Yuri Dolgorukiy, Aleksander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh). The Russian Navy also ordered five Project 885M Yasen-M fast attack submarines, in addition to the head vessel, the K-329 Severodvinsk. The exact sum of these contracts has not been made public. It is only known that the Alexander Nevsky was built under contract worth 23 billion Rubles.

The last nuclear powered surface combatant built in St. Petersburg was the Peter the Great. The 23,800-tonne cruiser, fourth and the last in the Atlant series (after Ushakov, Lazarev and Nakhimov) was commissioned in 1998, and serves with the Northern Fleet. Saint Petersburg shipbuilders continue to work on civil projects. They have completed one floating nuclear electric power generation station known as Project 20870 with displacement of 21,500 tons. Six more such stations and five nuclear-powered ice-breakers are on order. During the last 20 years Moscow has repeatedly tried to attract the Turkish military with its advanced technology.

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Wikipedia