Latin American countries are interested in Russian aviation, air defense systems and armored vehicles, he announced through Anatoly Punchuk, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC). Equipment “is in demand in the region. Along with this, Rosoboronexport said that Latin American states want to modernize in the past provided national weapons. According to experts, Moscow has smart opportunities to expand its presence in the arms market in Latin America.
Latin American states are showing great interest in Russia’s defense industrial complex (MIC). Anatoly Punchuk, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of the Russian Federation, spoke to TASS about this.
“Today, countries in the region are ordering almost all Russian equipment. At the same time, the biggest demand is for aeronautical equipment, air defense systems and armored vehicles,” Punchuk said on the sidelines of SITDEF. 2021 International Arms Exhibition in Peru.
According to him, among the aircraft of Moscow’s partners in the military-technical cooperation (MTC) framework, they are basically interested in MiG-35 and Su-30, Yak-130, Mi-171Sh, Mi-17V-5 fighters and Mi 35 fighters, short- and medium-range anti-aircraft systems, drones and anti-drones.
Punchuk also spoke about the imminent auction of the structure of a technical and service center for the maintenance and repair of helicopters in the Peruvian town of La Jolla, whose commissioning is expected until the end of the year.
“According to our estimates, the release of the medium and its full capacity will be wonderful for Peru to keep the country’s helicopter fleet in smart condition. In addition, in the future, the medium can gain the prestige of a regional medium. “, given the number of Russian-made helicopters operating in the Latin American region,” Punchuk noted.
The SITDEF-2021 Forum was inaugurated on October 28 in Lima in the territory of the General Staff of the Ground Forces of Peru 192 corporations from 27 countries participate in the exhibition.
Russia presents here about three hundred models of weapons. Rosoboronexport’s joint exhibition includes products from the almaz-Antey corporation, Kronshtadt corporations and Rostec corporations: Kalashnikov corporations, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), high-precision complexes with corporate and other manufacturers.
In the form of mock-ups, Rosoboronexport presents the Yak-130, the Mi-28NE Night Hunter attack helicopter, the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile formula and the BTR-82A armored carrier corps. This technique, according to the company, has “strong prospects in Latin America. “
Rosoboronexport told SITDEF-2021 that it would “undoubtedly be interested in” the “Tiger” and “Typhoon-K” armored vehicles, the “Chrysanthemum-S”, “Kornet-E” (“Kornet-EM”), BTR-80A and BTR-82A anti-tank systems, new K-16 and K-17 wheeled combat vehicles, built on the basis of the unified “Boomerang” platform.
Exhibition participants are invited to get acquainted with a wide diversity of air defense and electronic warfare (GE) systems, adding the S-400 Triumph and Antey-4000 (anti-aircraft complex on the S-300V4), Viking (export Buk-M3), “Buk-M2”, “Tor-M2KM”, portable complexes “Igla-S” and “Verba”.
“In addition, Rosoboronexport is in a position to provide complete data on samples of Russian weapons and army apparatus presented at the exhibition. In particular, about Su-35, Su-30SME and MiG-35 fighters, Mi-35M, Mi-171Sh, Ansat helicopters, as well as fashionable means to destroy aviation,” said the rosoboronexport press service.
It is also reported that the corporate “Special Technology Center” is in a position to supply data on the “Orlan-10E” unmanned aerial car complex, which is “immensely popular among Russia’s partners in the global arms market. “
On the eve of the inauguration of SITDEF-2021, rosoboronexport CEO Alexander Mikheev Peru, “a long-term and trusted spouse of the company,” effectively operates Russian aircraft and helicopters, armored cars and anti-tank systems.
Mikheev is under pressure that Rosoboronexport is in a position to further expand mutual cooperation with the South American country’s army, special operations forces, police and other law enforcement agencies.
At the end of October, in an interview with TASS, the head of the corporate said that Moscow considers Latin America “as a region of vital and promising work. “According to him, Latin American States are interested in the new models of weapons of the Russian Federation and the modernization of the equipment provided in the past.
In particular, Rosoboronexport is doing “intensive work” with Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia and several other states. According to Mikheev, South American countries want their fleet of fighter jets. In this sense, the corporation provides facilities to modernize the source. of fashion samples.
For example, as the CEO of a Russian company thinks, the Latin American Air Force wants Checkmate-class aircraft. Recall that this fighter jet was first presented in July at the International Aviation and Space Show – 2021 in Zhukovsky near Moscow.
As expected at the UAC, Checkmate is expected to fill the empty niche in the market for a single-engine fighter at an “acceptable and economically justified price. “The cost of the car is expected to be $25 million to $30 million.
According to available information, the armed forces of Latin American countries use Russian aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, small arms, anti-tank systems, air defense systems, rocket launch systems (MLRS) and other artillery facilities. began to operate drones of the Company Zala Aero (part of the Kalashnikov Group). Venezuela is considered to be the largest customer of Russian military products.
Last September, RAS Latin America magazine published an article written through Tatiana Alekseeva, a member of the Academy of Military Sciences, and Sergei Goreslavsky, CEO of Rosoboronexport.
The document states that “the total volume of Soviet/Russian weapons and military equipment” reaches 20-25% in countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Cuba and Nicaragua. , this equates to $18-20 billion.
According to the researchers, since the time of the Cold War, countries in the region have striven to diversify the import of military products, a policy that is helping to diminish the degree of influence of the United States, which interferes in the internal affairs of the United States. Latin American states.
In the 2000s, according to Alekseeva and Goreslavsky, the states of the region how they deserve to expand their armed forces. According to the authors, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Latin America became a “fairly promising and vast market. “”for the sale of arms, adding Moscow.
“The greatest attention in the processes initiated for the modernization of army arsenals in almost all Latin American countries has been (and continues to be) paid to the progression of military aviation (combat, maritime transport and training), in terms of a multidisciplinary approach. helicopter fleet,” the article read.
In addition to aviation, countries in the region are focusing on modernizing maritime and river transport, integrating virtual technologies in the security sector, equipping anti-drug equipment with all-terrain vehicles, apparatus, small arms, electronic warfare devices and anti-drug air missile systems (MANPADS).
At the same time, as the researchers point out, in some countries (Brazil, Chile, Peru) the so-called repayment law is in force, which prescribes the mandatory charm of foreign technologies in a certain proportion to the volume of the source contract.
Alekseeva and Goreslavsky that Russia, with many years of delight in “the effective application of various tools” in the framework of military-technical cooperation, is able to meet the needs of the Latin American market.
An opinion shared through Dmitry Burikh, advisor to the president of the Russian Social and Political Center, in an interview with RT, noted that the reliability, power and moderate load of the Russian military’s products are highly valued in Latin America.
“Yes, the arms market in Latin America is not like that of Asia or the Middle East, however, the Russian Federation has a very clever base to expand its presence here. In addition, the products of the Russian military are amazing for their Western counterparts in terms of price for money,” Burykh explained.
At the same time, from his point of view, Moscow has no dangers in the Latin American arms market in the context of the current US sanctions policy.
“In my opinion, Americans can only threaten to block monetary transactions. But we see that Russia and its partners locate the bureaucracy by mutual agreement when concluding contracts on the ERM line. And in cooperation with Latin America, I think, the same mechanisms are being applied,” Burykh emphasized.