A Tri-Services Defense Exhibition for Land, Sea and Air, held since 1985 in cooperation and assistance of the Defense Ministry of Thailand, has stimulated an enormous amount of keen interest amongst military procurement officials and arms manufacturers throughout and far beyond the region. This year invitations have been sent to 53 countries to visit the Exhibition.

Russia participates in the Show for the third time. This year Russian official delegation at DEFENSE 2005, acting under the aegis of the Rosoboronexport State Corporation, the Organizer of the Russian national exposition, comprises several leading Defence Industries enterprises, among them the Instrument Engineering Design Bureau (Tula), Izhmash Plant Company (Izhevsk), Novosibirsk Instrument Engineering Plant (Novosibirsk), 'Alfa' Company (Moscow).

A wide range of mock-ups, scale models, information and advertising materials on approximately 140 samples of Russian-made armaments and military equipment, as well as a variety of dual-use and civil-purpose export products are displayed at the Russian exhibition stand.

A comprehensive information on combat capabilities of the state-of-the-art and modernized military hardware for land forces, such as the T-90S main battle tanks, BTR-80A armored personnel carriers will be offered at the stand. The BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle will be undoubtedly a highlight of the Russian exposition. The 300 mm 9K58 Smerch Multiple Rocket System, alongside with the organic munitions will be shown at the Company's stand. The MRS is capable to engage practically all types of ground targets with high accuracy and less ammunition allowance.

A wide gamut of armaments and military equipment of long- , medium- and short range air defense systems will be presented at the exposition. In regard to basic combat characteristics many of them significantly surpass foreign analogues, which makes them highly competitive in the world arms market. At the top of the list are the famous Oir-I1 and Buk-M1-2 medium-range SAM systems, as well as the Igla MANPADS. The above ADM systems are capable of destroying all types of aircraft, helicopters and cruise missiles, as well as radio-contrast surface and ground targets.

In view of the growing demand for effective antiterrorist special-purpose weapons and equipment, a number of the highly competitive export versions of conventional and special-purpose small arms are demonstrated at the Russian exposition. Well-known samples of highly effective small arms, such as upgraded versions of the AE-101, AE-102, AK-103 and 5.56 mm AK-104 and 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifles, Dragunov SVD and SVDS sniper rifles, 9 mm Kashtan and Bizon submachine guns are expected to be in the focus of visitors' traditional attention. Also available in full range at the stand are: portable and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, flame-throwers, submachine guns, pistols, various types of rockets, projectiles and shells, fuses and cartridges, modern optical sighting/vision devices and thermal imagers.

The ship-borne weaponry is presented by the Kashtan-M Air Defense Gun/Missile system and other unique and highly competitive anti-ship, air defense and anti-submarine systems, which are always in demand on the arms market.

In addition to the defense products, Rosoboronexport will introduce scores of advanced innovation projects and programmes of the Russian Defense Industries in such fields as machine-building, metering equipment, ecology, brand-new materials, biotechnologies, electronics and others. Among them unique water purification filters, super-strength nano-crystals goods, portable gas-level indicators, to mention a few. A unique 'BARS' transport aircraft, designed for airlifting various cargoes to remote and hard-to-get areas, is expected to be an object of intense interest in many countries of the region. 'BARS' requires no permanent deport aerodrome and can operate from unprepared airfields with various surfaces. The aircraft features a very short take-off run and VTOL capability. Showcased at the stand will be a full-scale copy of the 'Marina' research submersible, designed for the littoral-shelf observation and on-condition evaluation of undersurface construction at depths down to 50 m. The underwater vehicle is also expected to attract a great deal of attention when she is converted for excursion purposes and marine-life studies.

In the context of successful results of the recent Russia-Thai Summit held in Moscow in mid-October this year on bilateral military-technical cooperation, the Rosoboronexport State Corporation considers participation of the Russian delegation in DEFENSE 2005 to be an important step in further extension of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in this domain, and a significant stage in promoting Russian armaments and military equipment to the dynamically developing markets of South-East Asia and Pacific region countries.

Rosoboronexport
16.11.2005