Russia eyes international partnership in ARMY 2019

The Russian defence industry held ARMY 2019 and several international partners were present at the meet. The forum showcased the latest from the Russian defence Industry. The highlight was the cooperation between the Indian and Russian defence industries over the last four decades.

The much touted International Military-Technical Forum was held at Patriot Park, Kubinka in Russia. The forum became the ground for sharing of experiences and exploring collaborative projects that are meant for the modern battlefield. The forum which is known as ARMY was having its 5th event. ARMY 2019 has become a major platform for showcasing state-of-the-art Russian weaponry. It is also a forum were strategic cooperation is explored with Russia's allies. The Russian military-industrial complex has been breaking-off from the traditional Soviet legacy designs of its weapons and the T-14 Armata has been a pointer into the new design philosophy.

The General Director of joint-stock company Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev is convinced that ARMY-2019 has made remarkable contributions to developing his company's reputation in the international arms market and also in contributing to paradigm change to Russia's military equipment. The forum is aimed to conduct negotiations with representatives of partners, to organise detailed presentations, to sign major contracts and also to form a strategic plan of cooperation.

The main trend in the international arms market is to have a partner that will help in the development of indigenous defence industries. Rosoboronexport had already implemented a number of military projects and is well known in India, Jordan, Southeastern Asia, the Near East, North Africa and Latin America.

The official part of ARMY 2019 has been quite successful. The 46 government contracts for the combat aircraft totalling over Russian Roubles 1 trillion were signed within a day. Also, big contracts were signed for the naval sphere as well. ARMY-2019 is not only for Russian representatives of its military-industrial complex. It’s also for their foreign partners. The foreign military delegations too have showcased their military projects, which might be interesting for customers and investors.

Representatives of Turkish Foreign Trade Company Turaç Dış Ticaret Ltd participated this year for the first time. The official company representative, Sevinc Askarova is convinced that ARMY-2019 could help to find new clients and partners for ammo sales in the international arena. Furthermore, China’s sales-managers from the Jighua Group are searching for new sources of financing. They said that the forum provided them with immense possibilities of connecting with new clients for their products.

India, being Russia's traditional partner had a significant presence in ARMY 2019. The Director of the Directorate of DRDO's Public Interface, Manish Bhardwaj said, “Russia is a very important partner for India. Both of the countries have a strategic partnership. They are trusted friends and India participates very regularly in Russian Army events.

When Manish Bhardwaj was telling us about his exhibitions, he said that here we can see the newest defence prototypes for army, navy and air force. All of it are made by Indian government defence organisations which consist of ordnance factory board and goa shipyard limited.

DRDO is looking for a partnership and collaborative activities with countries who can be associated with it in its innovative projects. India has it's own military-technical forum branded DEFEXPO. Indian and Russian companies in the defence sector have a history of more than four decades of collaborative partnerships. It forms the basis of the strategic partnership between Moscow and Delhi. And that’s why as India took part in ARMY 2019, Russia will reciprocate with its specialists participating in DEFEXPO 2020 which will be held in Feb.