Tank production grows sevenfold in Russia
Russia has greatly boosted production of military hardware over the past year, having multiplied by seven the number of tanks it manufactures, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of defense conglomerate Rostec, said on Wednesday.
Speaking on Rossiya 24 TV channel, Chemezov added that the state-owned corporation has been continuously modernizing and improving its products as well.
“Over the past year, we ramped up production of tanks by seven times,” Chemezov said, adding that output of light armor, including assorted infantry fighting vehicles and armored cars grew by a factor of around 4.5. The official did not elaborate whether the figures include modernization of older vehicles or production of new ones from scratch.
Earlier this week, Rostec subsidiary Uralvagonzavod released a video showing a new batch of T-90M tanks, Russia’s most modern, undergoing final testing before being sent to the military. The tanks appeared to feature new improvements, such as additional ‘soft hull’ blocks for its turret, while external armor blocks on the hull are now cased in more robust-looking containers, compared to previous versions made of fabric.
In mid-October Uralvagonzavod completed a large batch of T-90M and T-72B3 tanks and delivered them to the military. At the time, Russia’s Deputy PM Denis Manturov said the tanks of this type were most in demand, having performed strongly during the conflict with Ukraine.
Rostec has also greatly expanded ammunition production, Chemezov added. Since the beginning of 2023 it has produced 20 times more munitions for multiple rocket launcher systems than in all of 2022.
Back in September, Rostec’s industrial director Bekhan Ozdoev revealed the conglomerate has expanded production of high-precision weaponry, namely Iskander ground-based tactical ballistic missiles and air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. He said at the time that “among other things, the production of missiles for the Kinzhal, Iskander, and Pantsir [anti-aircraft] systems, aerial bombs, artillery and tank shells is being ramped up.”
