The defense industry of Russia is a strategically important sector and a large employer in Russia. Combined, the US and Russia account for 57% of all major weapons exports.
The Russian government has announced its intention to restructure the debts of Russian military–industrial complex in the amount of 750 billion rubles, half of this amount will be written off, then Deputy Prime Minister, Yuri Borisov said, speaking at a board of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Tatarstan.
President Vladimir Putin considers the Syrian Civil War to be a good platform for advertisement of the capabilities of Russian weapons capable of boosting Russia's military sales. Russia accounted for 22% of global arms sales in 2013-17, that figure dropped to 16% in 2018-22 (SIPRI's statistics).
The New York Times newspaper reported in an article on 13 September 2023, citing US and European officials, that Russia overcomes the Western sanctions and its missile production now exceeded pre-war levels. It was also reported that Russia now produces more ammunitions than the United States and Europe and it can manufacture 200 tanks and two million units of ammunition in a year.
Economic significance
Russia's defense industry employs 2.5 – 3 million people and accounts for 20% of all manufacturing jobs in Russia. Sevmash directly employs 27,000 people. The combined revenue of the industry's 20 largest companies in 2009 was $12.25 billion. Russian shipbuilders and naval missile manufacturers survived the difficult period of transition from a command to a market-driven economy, and kept skills needed for the development of advanced combat systems. With recently won orders for Project 955 and Project 885 submarines, the share of domestic military orders in Sevmash's portfolio has risen to above 70%.
Visiting Severodvinsk, then-deputy premier of the Russian Government in charge of defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin said the local shipbuilders are contracted to build eight fourth-generation nuclear submarines by 2020, and that more orders are coming. He further said the earlier program for scrapping third-generation submarines is being revised so that "these vessels will get newer missiles and be subjected to a series of repair efforts enabling them to serve for another seven years".
In November 2011, the Russian defense ministry awarded Sevmash contracts for construction of four Project 955A Borey-A strategic underwater cruisers armed with the Bulava intercontinental ballistic missiles. This order comes after construction of three Project 955 Boreys (Yuri Dolgorukiy, Aleksander Nevsky and Vladimir Monomakh). The Russian Navy also ordered five Project 885M Yasen-M fast attack submarines, in addition to the head vessel, the K-329 Severodvinsk. The exact sum of these contracts has not been made public. It is only known that the Alexander Nevsky was built under contract worth 23 billion Rubles.
The last nuclear powered surface combatant built in St. Petersburg was the Peter the Great. The 23,800-tonne cruiser, fourth and the last in the Atlant series (after Ushakov, Lazarev and Nakhimov) was commissioned in 1998, and serves with the Northern Fleet. Saint Petersburg shipbuilders continue to work on civil projects. They have completed one floating nuclear electric power generation station known as Project 20870 with displacement of 21,500 tons. Six more such stations and five nuclear-powered ice-breakers are on order. During the last 20 years Moscow has repeatedly tried to attract the Turkish military with its advanced technology.
A new attempt was made at the IDEF 2013 exhibition. Russia presented its Ka-50-based Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter and the Mi-28NE Night Hunter. The proposal to start joint development of a surface-to-air missile system with Ankara was perhaps the most intriguing development of IDEF 2013. The SAM would be based on the Russian S-300V Antey-2500 system. Besides the Antey, Moscow has offered the Buk-M2E and the Tor-M2E surface-to-air missile system, and the Pantsir-S1 combined missile and artillery system. Exhibited mock-ups included the T-90S tank, Terminator fire support combat vehicle, the BMP-3M infantry combat vehicle, the BTR-80 and the BTR-80A Armored Personnel Carriers, the Smerch multiple rocket launcher, the Kornet and the Metis-M anti-tank missile systems, the Msta-S 152-millimeter howitzer, the 2S9 120-millimeter self-propelled mortar, and the Vena self-propelled automated artillery system.