Weapons export is one of the key sources of revenue for Russia.
Russia’s arms industry consists of some 1,300 companies employing about two million
people.
Russia accounts for nearly 19% of worldwide weapons shipments
Russia has consistently been second only to the US in arms export from 1992 to 2021 ,with
France topping it once in 1998,
But unfortunately for Russia, this has seen a decline.
According to the latest Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report titled,
‘Trends in International Arms Transfers’, Russian arms export fell by 26% between 2012
and 2016 followed by a steep fall in its global share from 24% to 19% between 2017 and 2021.
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched the military invasion of Ukraine, the same year, Frances
seem to have consolidated its position as the number two arms exporter in the world
displacing Russia for the second consecutive year.
2011 was the high-water mark for the Russian arms industry when it nearly matched the U.S.
and deliveries were made to 35 different countries.
From that point to 11 years later, in 2022, it fell about 70%, with deliveries to just
12 countries.
While the decline is evident, the conflict in Ukraine is expected to accelerate this.
In this video Defense Updates analyses how Ukraine War could be the death knell for the
Russian military-industrial complex?
Let's get check the reasons one by one.
The protracted conflict in Ukraine is taking a toll on Russian inventory.
From tanks to combat jets, Russia has lost a lot of weapons in Ukraine.
The country has also expended huge quantities of munitions and missiles.
The obvious priority is to replenish the stocks.
This means that it is unable to fulfill its commitments to other nations.
A specific example is that of the S-400 air defense system
The delivery of the S-400 to India has been delayed due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In all, five such missile systems have been ordered under a $5-billion deal signed in
October 2018.
Of the five missile systems, three have already been delivered.
The delivery of the remaining two has been delayed.
As per reports, Russia has given India - a key buyer of its equipment, in writing, that
they are not able to deliver it.
It is not hard to see that this will have ramifications for future orders.
No buyer will like to buy platforms from a country that can’t make deliveries on time
and will most likely have issues with supporting the products in the future.
With no end in sight, when it comes to the end of this conflict, any buyer will be circumspect
about ordering weapons from Russia.
"Chip" - short for a microchip, is a tiny but incredibly complex module that stores
computer memory or provides logic circuitry for microprocessors.
From smartphones to automobiles, electronic components are ubiquitous in the majority
of products we use daily.
Additionally, semiconductor chips play a crucial role in a wide array of applications, including
essential weapon platforms like fighter jets and tanks.
Ukrainian technical experts have found Western chips in many Russian platforms when some
of these captured systems were taken apart and investigated.
As per reports, Ukrainian specialists found eight microchips from U.S. manufacturers like
Intel, Micrel, Micron Technology and Atmel Corp. in its communications systems Barnaul-T
air defense command post vehicle.
Ukrainian specialists also concluded that the Pantsir air defense system had several
U.S.-origin chips - manufactured by AMD, Texas Instruments
Similarly, there were more than 30 U.S.-made chips in the Kh-101 cruise missile, including
those manufactured by Cypress Semiconductor and Maxim Integrated.
Sanctions on Russia will mean the military-industrial complex will find it difficult to procure
the Chips and this will be a bottleneck for serial production of equipment.
The inability of the Russian military to subdue Ukraine swiftly has partly been attributed
to the poor quality of weapons
Last year, three US officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters
that Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine.
This is a massive number, the failure rate of 20% is considered high.
For example, it was reported that on 20 May 2022, Russian troops launched a Kalibre missile
strike on the Odesa region using aircraft.
The missile costing $6.5 million failed to hit any important Ukrainian asset, instead,
it destroyed a beach toilet in the south of the region.
We have also seen from fighter jets to tanks, Russian weapons platforms have underperformed.
This has grave implications Russian military-industrial complex which has already been faltering.
For example, a well-recognized symbol of Russian might, the Su-35 fighter jet has been rejected
by several counters.
Russia has already lost Su-35 deals from multiple countries that includes Algeria, Indonesia,
and Egypt due to technical shortcomings.
Given the poor show of Russian platforms in Ukraine, the decisions by these countries
will be seen as the correct one by potential buyers and this will have a spiraling effect.