Russia is ready to offer the United Arab Emirates (UAE) license-production of ammunition for BMP-3infantry fighting vehicles previously sold to the country (photo), Pribor defense firm Chief Oleg Chizhevsky said.

“About 700 BMP-3’s have been delivered to the UAE; naturally, there is high demand for those shells and we are ready to meet it in any form, in any format,” he said at the ongoing IDEX 2013 International Defense Exhibition in Abu Dhabi (17-21 February 2013).

Chizhevsky did not specify which ammunition was being discussed.

The BMP-3 is armed with a 100-mm low-velocity main gun, capable of firing 9M117 anti-tank missiles and shells, as well as a 2A72 30-mm cannon, according to its maker Kurganmashzavod.

Russian arms manufacturers are ready to provide the entire range of modern high-quality ammunition to its foreign partners, he said, adding that Pribor supplies its products to 30 countries and another 15 states have ammunition manufacturing licenses.

Sergei Rusakov, General Director of the Tekhnologii mashinostroyeniya (Machine-Manufacturing Technologies) concern, said it usually takes several years to reach a final agreement.

Russia and the UAE signed a $70 million contract in 2011 for modernization of 135 of the UAE’s fleet of BMP-3 vehicles.