Air Force share in Russian Armed Forces will grow - Putin
KORENOVSK, Krasnodar Territory. June 14 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the task of substantially increasing the capabilities of Russian military aviation.
"Aviation is a special priority in our plans to develop and modernize the Armed Forces, the share of the Air Force in the Armed Forces structure will grow," Putin said at a meeting which focused on the government defense contracts in the aviation industry.
Such an approach is fully consistent with the development trends in modern science, the experience of local conflicts of the past few years also points to the need for it, he said.
"We can see what how aircraft, whether attack, reconnaissance or transport, are effectively playing a decisive role in achieving a military success. This is why we need to seriously build up the fighting capabilities of our strategic, army and military transport aviation so that the Armed Forces can fulfill their tasks, including outside Russia, I mean, for example, when it comes to performing our commitments as ally," Putin said.
The share of modern aviation equipment must be increased to 70% before 2020, and serious attention will be paid to upgrading the airfield infrastructure, the Russian president said.