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Issues on the agenda included the implementation of the state defence procurement programme, equipment for the Strategic Nuclear Forces and Aerospace Defence Forces, and a programme for developing the ground forces.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,

We continue to examine issues concerning the development of our country’s military organisation.

Today, we will discuss implementation of the state defence procurement programme, especially regarding equipment for the Strategic Nuclear Forces and the Aerospace Defence Forces. We all know the particular role these forces play in guaranteeing our national security, maintaining international stability, and preserving strategic parity. They must be ready to fulfil immediately the tasks their set missions entail.

This year, we plan to put four missile regiments on combat duty. They will be equipped with the latest weapons systems. Work continues on developing new missile systems that have enhanced capabilities and can penetrate current and future missile defence systems.

I note too that we are building up our orbital satellite constellation and are improving the ground-based space infrastructure. Work continues on construction of turnkey radar stations in Barnaul, Yeniseysk, and Orsk. I ask the commanders of the Aerospace Defence Forces and the Strategic Nuclear Forces, as well as the missile and space sector heads, to report in detail on the state of work in these priority areas.

Developing new and modernising existing equipment and arms for the ground forces is another of our priority areas. Some of this new hardware was on show for the first time at the parade celebrating the 70^th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. This new equipment’s tactical and technical characteristics surpass foreign analogues and it has earned quite high praise from military specialists overall. We need to complete rapidly all of the tests and start serial production.

At the same time, we must make full use of our existing equipment’s possibilities. It has not exhausted its potential and we need to look at possibilities for modernising it and so forth.

Developing combat gear for the service personnel in the battlefield is another area of work. Here, we have the Ratnik equipment system. I will not go into the details right now. You are all familiar with the system. Here too, we need to get this system into serial production and deliver it to the troops.

Let me remind you also that at the meeting in 2013 in Izhevsk, we set the task of drafting and approving an inter-ministerial programme for developing the ground forces. Let’s talk today about the situation with this programme’s implementation.

Let’s begin work.

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