ABSTRACT
Chief of the Russian General Staff Nikolay Makarov said in mid-September 2011 that most goals of the modernisation process launched by President Dmitry Medvedev in late 2008 had already been achieved or were nearing completion. By the end of 2010, reorganisation of central headquarters and related staffs, including the work to reallocate responsibilities between the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff, was announced to be largely complete. Preliminary results from the October 2010 census indicated that the overall resident population in Russia fell to 142.9 million, from 145.2m in 2002, a drop of just over 1.5%. Reorganisation plans continue to be made and unmade, affecting the careers of tens of thousands of servicemen, and calling into question the underlying planning process. Moscow aims to bolster its domestic guided-weapons inventory and to reinforce its presence in the export market with conclusion of state tests of several key air-launched systems, along with continued development of weapons for its fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
