Ministry of Defence summing up results of activities for 2016

Today an extended session of the Russian Defence Ministry Board has been held in the National Centre for State Defence Control. The participants summed up the results of activities of the Russian Armed Forces in 2017 and defined the tasks for 2017.

The President of the Russian Federation – the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin made a speech at the session.

The head of state paid particular attention to the necessity of following all the changes in the balance of forces and in the world military and political situation, especially along the Russian borders, and to adjust timely the plans on neutralization of potential threats to the country.

The Supreme Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces demanded to focus on achieving the following key objectives next year: to ensure a balanced development of all branches and services of the armed forces, to strengthen the combat potential of the strategic nuclear forces, and to meet the schedule of rearmament of the Army and Navy.

Full statement of the Supreme Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is on the website of the President of Russia.

The Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei Shoigu gave a report on the Extended Board Session.

According to the head of the military department, this year has included a lot of large-scale events linked with security of the Russian Federation. Character and geography of challenges for the country has been extended, role of the military force in international relations has grown.

"Instead of joining efforts to fight the common evil, the NATO claimed Russia to be the main threat and continued building up its military potential near our borders," stated General of the Army Sergei Shoigu.

As the Defence Minister said, the missile defence system of the United States in Europe has been put on a level of initial operational readiness. Its elements are being deployed in Japan as well as in South Korea in 2017.

The head of the military department elaborated on results of building-up of the Russian Armed Forces as well as the improvement of their quality condition.

Turning to the tasks, which had been assigned to the Russian Armed Forces before the start of the operation in Syria, the Minister of Defence stated that activities of the Russian Aerospace Forces turned the tide of fight against terrorism in this country.

In total, 12.360 square kilometers of the Syrian territory and 499 inhabited areas have been liberated from insurgents. The Russian aviation has performed 18,800 flights and carried out 71,000 strikes on terrorists' infrastructure.

In conclusion, the head of the military department has assigned priority to the tasks to be implemented in 2017.

The Russian Defence Ministry pays special attention to issues concerning armament and hardware, which have not delivered to the troops. The number of such samples has reached 49 this year.

Decisions, which had been made by the President of the Russian Federation at the sessions in Sochi, influenced the situation and allowed to meet requirements of the State Defence Order for 2016.

Therefore, the rate of modern armament and hardware in permanent readiness units of the Russian Armed Forces has reached 58.3%. 94% of the hardware and armament are in good state.

State Defence Order funding control system, which had been created by the order of the President of the Russian Federation, promoted reaching these results.

Adoption of the system has changed the level of information awareness of the Defence Ministry as a contracting authority.

Today, when we receive data from the authorized banks, it is clear how every ruble is spent.

Implementing the system allowed the Defence Ministry to carry out more effective advance payment policy by turning to quarterly advance payment for implementation of the State Defence Order in accordance to the engineering and manufacturing cycle.

Therefore, the military department managed to reduce risks of overpaying the manufacturers and decrease outdated accounts receivable by 3 times: from 363 billion rubles to 120 billion rubles.

Due to the Law about the State Defence Order, debiting 63 billion rubles from the account for aims not referring to implementation of the State Defence Order has been prevented.

In Syria, 162 samples of modern and modernized armament have been tested in course of warfare in Syria and demonstrated their high efficiency.

Su-30SM and Su-34 newest aviation complexes as well as Mi-28N and Ka-52 helicopters are among them. High-precision munitions and sea-based cruise missiles, which had been used in course of warfare for the first time, have confirmed the announced specifications.

Drawbacks, which had not been shown up during the range trials, have been identified. Delivering of 10 samples of armament has been stopped until the defects are removed.

Quality of hardware has been significantly improved. This fact guarantees the hardware operational reliability in combat.

This year, the Russian Defence Ministry has received great output from the programme "Effective army"

Automated filing system "Passport" is being introduced within it. It includes the usage of special personal electronic cards by servicemen. In 2016, all the 275 thousand conscripts of the Russian Armed Forces received such cards.

The system includes all the period of a citizen's military service – conscription, the service itself and the subsequent period in reserve.

Next year, the "Passport" electronic cards will be integrated into the control and management system used for reservation of food allowance for servicemen.
That will allow planning the expenses effectively, taking into consideration the allowance and financing rates within a military unit, an army or a military district. The control and management system is used in 729 canteens and has already saved 700 million rubles.

118 thousand metering devices installed at the Russian Defence Ministry facilities have already saved 3.5 billion rubles.

Transition of 28 boiler houses from solid and liquid fuel to natural gas has reduced the expenses of heating by 108 million rubles.

After re-equipment of 410 boiler houses by 2020, the annual costs will have been cut in half, this will effect a saving of 3.7 billion rubles.

Deployment of reparing units in 2013, expenses for outsourced maintenance of military hardware have been cut by 4 times. Repairing units will save 1.4 billion roubles every year.

This year, 16 arsenals have developed workshops to carry out repairing of munitions that had not been performed for 15 years. Over a million munitions have been repaired this year. That has saved 69 billion rubles.
Moreover, the works aimed at munition life extension have saved over a billion rubles.

This year, about 60 thousand modern storage containers made of polymer materials have been delivered to arsenals.

Taking into consideration its extended life time, since 2020 the storage of missiles and munitions will save up to 900 million roubles a year.

Within sapper training courses, the Engineer Troops have conducted tactical exercises and demolished 785 written-off buildings at 54 objects of the Russian Defence Ministry that has saved 8 billion roubles. Earlier, such works were outsourced.

The Russian Defence Ministry has opened eight fuel complexes jointly with the Russian fuel companies. Four others are about to be finished and in 2017 another 11 are to be erected.

The total amount of investments from oil companies in all the 23 complexes will constitute 18 billion roubles, 12 billion roubles are already invested.

Personal electronic cards of servicemen
295.000 were introduced in 2014-2015	275.000 recruits received the cards in 2016
System of access control and meals ordering
The system was introduced in 729 dining facilities	The system allowed to save 700 millions rubles
Introduction of public utilities accounting devices into facilities of the Defence Ministry
118.000 devices have been installed	The economic effect exceeded 3.5 billion rubles
Gasification of boiler compartments
28 boiler compartments have been gasified	The economic effect exceeded 108 million rubles
Military hardware recovery by repair bodies
More than 113.000 repair works have been conducted	Annual economic effect exceeded is 1.4 billion rubles
Munitions maintenance
1 million munitions have been recovered	The economic effect exceeded 69 billion rubles
Prolongation of munitions storing period
Storing of more than 100.000 munitions have been prolonged	Munitions recovery by the Defence Ministry bodies will allow to return 4.2 million munitions with overall cost of 300 billion rubles
Introduction of new and advanced packing
60.000 items have been purchased	The economic effect will have exceed 900 million rubles starting from 2020
Discarded building demolition
785 buildings have been demolished	Building demolition by engineer troops saved about 8 billion rubles
23refueling complexes are to be built by 2020
8 complexes have been introduced; construction of 4 ones is being finished	Investments by oil companies totalled about 18 billion rubles