Russia’s capacity to produce tanks and heavy flamethrower systems should be expanded to meet the demands of the military operation in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said while inspecting a defense enterprise in Siberia's Omsk Region.
The minister referred to the TOS family of combat vehicles, which, despite being classified in Russia as flamethrowers, are effectively heavy, short range multiple rocket launcher systems.
Shoigu told the plant administration that the state defense order must be fulfilled strictly on schedule, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
He was told that the facility, which wasn’t named in the statement, has increased its output several times over the past few months, with engineering solutions allowing improvements in the quality of the hardware, and faster production.
Shoigu stressed that special attention should be paid to increasing the protection of the crews and machines being deployed on the battlefield.
Among other things, he was shown a Krysha (roof) dynamic defense module, which, according to the manufacturer, can be applied to a tank in just four hours.
Major General Alexander Shestakov, who heads the Armor Department at Russia’s Defense Ministry, told the minister that a stockpile of integrated armor protection modules has already been created for the Russian units involved in the military operation.
Shoigu also checked the state of the hardware being prepared to be sent to Russian troops at a base in Omsk Region, the statement read.
A video published by the ministry shows dozens of tanks being put on trains, ready to be sent to the battlefield, as well as rows of armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces and other weaponry.
In early June, Ukraine launched a large-scale counteroffensive, which had been long anticipated by Kiev’s backers in the West. According to Moscow, Ukrainian attacks across the frontline which, among other things, have employed German Leopard 2 tanks and US-made Bradley fighting vehicles, have so far been fruitless.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Kiev’s troops have been “taking heavy casualties,” which outnumber Moscow’s by a factor of ten, in their failed attempts to advance.