ABSTRACT
It is well known that the USSR possessed a vast defence industry able to supply the armed forces with substantial quantities of armaments across the entire range, from small arms to strategic missiles. Institutional arrangements to secure the procurement of weapons and the performance of associated research and development (R&D) became firmly established and remained essentially unchanged for several decades. Less is known about the process of weapons procurement after the collapse of Communism in Russia: how have the institutional structures changed? Have the basic principles of procurement been reformed to meet the requirements of a market economy? How do the volume and structure of procurement compare with Soviet times? What are the future prospects? An important issue now is the ability of the Russian defence industry to supply the armaments required by the armed forces: is it possible that there may be increasing resort to imported equipment in future years? Finally, prospects for the future must be considered: will it prove possible to achieve a genuine, comprehensive, modernisation of the weapons and other military hardware of the Russian armed forces? 1
