Russian arms get free publicity from war

AFP ^ | 4-4-03 | Viktoria Loginova-Maroon

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The war in Iraq, which has seen stiff Iraqi resistance against US and British troops, has opened up market opportunities for Russian weapons used by Baghdad's forces, military experts say.

"We got a great advertising gift for our weapons in Iraq," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax-AVN news agency on Friday.

The conflict will "generate a surge in interest in anti-aircraft defences and radio-electronic equipment," predicted Alexander Nozdrachev, head of the state-run Russian Agency for Conventional Weapons, quoted by Interfax-AVN.

Russian weapons sales last year totalled $4.5-billion, concentrated mainly on just two countries, China and India, although Russia has expanded sales to other regions.

"The war is useful for Russia. The Iraqi army is creating publicity for Russian weapons," respected business daily Vedomosti commented recently.

"Old launch-grenades, anti-tank missiles and mines, as well as primitive anti-aircraft equipment" from Soviet times "are inflicting losses on the coalition forces," Vedomosti said.

US M1 Abrams battle tanks, the most advanced tank in the world, have been damaged by hand-held rocket-propelled grenades, the RPG-7s, and Malyutka anti-tank missiles, which were designed in the 1960s, defence analyst Konstantin Makienko said.

"The scandal around the Kornet anti-tank missiles could boost interest in these arms," added Makienko, from the Centre for Strategy and Technologies Analysis.

Russia accused of violating UN embargo

The United States has accused Russian firms of selling Iraq anti-tank missiles and satellite jamming devices as well as night-vision goggles, in violation of the UN embargo. Moscow has firmly denied the allegations.

One of the firms concerned hit back at Washington, accusing the United States of "trying to find a scapegoat because their bombs are not falling as accurately as they want."

"The US weapons have been the cause of many mistakes in Iraq," hitting their own forces or civilians, Makienko pointed out.

With significant ground operations in the Iraq war, the "demand for Russian tanks and anti-tank missiles will rise," predicted Ivan Safranchuk from the Centre for Defence Information.

This will be particularly the case in other members of Washington's "axis of evil," Iran and North Korea, who fear the United States will target them after Iraq, Marat Kenzhetayev from the Russian Centre for Disarmament Problems told Vedomosti.

Most in demand will be TOR-M1 Short-range Air Defence Missile Systems (SA-15 under NATO classification) and S-300 surface-to-air missiles (SA-10 Grumble), from Syria, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, according to Makienko.

According to some analysts, there has already been a surge in interest for Russian weapons at the IDEX-2003 arms exhibition, the biggest in the Middle East, which took place on the eve of the war in Abu Dhabi from March 16 to 20.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Russian weapons surrender real good!

[DudleyDoright]

Whole buncha AK-47s on the market now. Never fired, only dropped once. You can get those French FN-MAS rifles with the same kind of deal and a bonus white flag. Act now! Just three low, low payments of $19.95...

Uh, forget it... :)

[thewah]

good publicity, hey buy these and get your butt kicked

[trebb]

Rusian technology - we export it to you because we couldn't get it to work...

[chachacha]

What are those idiots going to do, show film clips from Iraq? This should really help sales.

[Happy2BMe]

A few more tidbits to the arms database:

#1. France manufactures military hardware for the United States, one being the landing gear and apparatus for the new C17.

#2. China just recieved multi-year contracts for manufacturing the magnets utilized in JDAM munitions targeting technology.

#3. Russia is still mass producing weapons, while at the same time recieving hundreds of million$ each year from the United States for disposal of antiquated nuclear weapons systems. Sweet deal, eh?

Next . .

[Gefreiter]

Yeah, well...it really doesn't take much- relatively speaking- for an RPG to damage a tank, ie damage a road wheel, throw the track, damage the engine from behind, etc.

Problem is that stuff can all be repaired. There is a huge, yawning gulf between throwing track and being destroyed.

I think if anything, arms consumers will be far more interested in US/UK systems.

[ctdonath2]

A client country got overrun in two weeks flat.
A GPS jammer got blasted by a GPS-guided bomb.

Yeah, that'll make for good advertising.

[Blueflag]

You sure this wasn't published by the Onion?

One could read this as sarcasm/satire.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

You sure this wasn't published by the Onion?

Close. It's from the French media.

[Rocky]

Yeah, they'll be lining up for some of those great Russian tanks. Got any more T-55's?

[RusIvan]

A GPS jammer got blasted by a GPS-guided bomb. ==\\

Sir it is not wise to repeat the incorrect remarks done by media.

GPS jammer isn't destroyed by GPS guided bomb.
It may be destroyed by HARM. Because GPS jammer realy emits EMW on which HARM homes.

Then consider the price of jammer like $200 and HARM which is like $500000.
You may see that GPS jammer inflict damage to military budget.

It is the purpose of that device.
To make impossible to use most of high precision munitions which all use GPS.
But if advesary choose to take jammer out. It has to be done with larger expensive mean.

So if one side buys real big amount of those jammers. Like 1000 devices. It can paralize the high precision munitions of other side or to make the war very expensive for that side.

[KriegerGeist]

The only advertisement that I saw worth anything was in a story about the Kurds. It says that they prefer to pay $600.00 for an authentic Russian-made AK-47 over the Chinese made ones they can pick up for around $100.00.

I wonder what the difference is? The Kurdiish Peshmurga love their Russian-made Kalashnikovs

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Ever seen a Russian color TV ?

[boris]

"Ever seen a Russian color TV ?"

You mean they're not HD-ready and 16:9?

[q_an_a]

nice line. The generals need the same lessons in capitalism as their political leaders. If it isn't the best people buy something else.

The world has got to be wondering how we can take afganistan in 60 days, while the russians took 5 years to lose it and the Iranians have to be a little nervous that they lost an entire generation of men to a country we crossed in 21 days.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Their arms aren't doing too much good so far. I'd say they are a failure.

[ctdonath2]

Sir it is not wise to repeat the incorrect remarks done by media.

I'm not. I'm repeating the correct remarks done by our military leaders.

Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, showed video footage of an F-117 jet using a satellite-guided (i.e.: GPS) weapon to take out what he said was the last GPS jammer that U.S. troops had been able to find. He even commented on the irony.

[archy]

Yeah, they'll be lining up for some of those great Russian tanks. Got any more T-55's?

Funny thing, but the T-55 has proven itself to be more a more survivable vehicle than either the Russian T-72M tank design used by the Saddamites, or the BMP personnel carriers. Accordingly, both the Russians and Israelis, and probably others have noted the vulnerability of lighter wheeled and tracked personnel carriers to RPG and other AT weapons fire, and have been busy converting removing the turrets from former T-55s and turning them into heavy personnel carriers. So modified, the vehicles are both lighter and offer a lower target profile, and the increased power-to-weight ratio improves their speed and handling ability in rough terrain from desert sand to mountains to mud. Their only serious drawback is a lack of amphibious capability, though most have excellent fording characteristics. And they're particularly cost-effective.

Fitted with a 9M133 Kornet-E, 9K123 Krysanthima, or a U.S. M299 Hellfire with 8KM range well beyond that of a tank's guns, some T-55s just might acquire another generation of service life. And even as a tank, they can be upgraded considerably to equal the firepower and mechanical ability of a new T-84 or T-90.

Israeli Achzarit Armored Personnel Carrier, formerly a captured T-55 tank:

[archy]

Their arms aren't doing too much good so far. I'd say they are a failure.

Funny, those on the receiving end of them seem to be reasonably impressed with them, particularly the light guided missiles and light antiaircraft guns used in a antivehicle-antipersonnel role. And likewise, those US troops seem to have a much more respectful impression of their adversaries' ability as soldiers than many of the cheerleaders here who wouldn;t know a tank's bustle rack from its travel lock.

Failure? Doesn't look like it, and I doubt that the families of more than a hundred American families would agree.

-archy-/-