President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russian weapons exports had grown 15% since the start of the year, in comparison with the same period last year.

“The first results of the year once again confirm that Russia’s ties abroad in regard to military-technical collaboration are continuing to strengthen,” Putin told a gathering of defense industry officials this past week.

Last year, Russian weapons exports were up 12% year-on-year, at $15.7 billion. In April, Putin said Russia controlled more than a quarter of the world’s arms market.

Putin emphasized the need for Russia to consolidate its positions on the global aircraft market, especially in after-sales servicing.

Russia has a “solid portfolio of orders” for helicopters, he said, adding that about 9,000 Russian-made helicopters were currently in operation in more than 100 countries.

Putin reiterated state support for arms manufacturers, recalling that in the past three years they received more than 27 billion rubles ($820 million) from the federal budget in subsidies alone.

Meanwhile, Russia’s state arms exporter said Wednesday that its order portfolio stood at $34 billion as of June 1, 2013.

Rosoboronexport delivered $6.5 billion worth of weaponry to foreign customers in the first half of this year, Deputy Head Igor Sevastyanov announced, adding that the current order portfolio included contracts with 67 countries.

Russia, which last year sold $15.2 billion worth of weaponry, is the world’s No. 2 arms exporter, behind the United States.

Sevastyanov added that his company was in talks regarding contracts worth a total of more than $80 billion. But it was not immediately clear in what time frame those contracts could be concluded.

Russia’s main arms customers are India, Algeria, China, Venezuela, Malaysia and Syria.

Vietnam also emerged as a significant purchaser in 2010, when it signed a deal to buy submarines, aircraft and other military hardware.

 

Source: RIA Novosti