Yury Solomonov: Nuclear Arms Program 2011 won't be executed

21.06.2011 Russian state arms program for strategic nuclear force will not be fully realized in 2011 unless contracts are tied in June, said academician Jury Solomonov, Director General of JSC Moscow Thermotechnics Institute in his article published by Vedomosti on June 20.

According to Solomonov who had been heading works on submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) Bulava for a long time, the State Arms Program 2020 will not be implemented in full. The reason is at least two system drawbacks in organization of Russia's state defense order.

First, it was declared about significant investments in the State Arms Program 2020, but the major portion of budget financial inflow is scheduled in 2015-2020. To finance their activities within the first five years, the companies are recommended to make use of bank services. As for Solomonov, that looks at lest strange: "If the state lacks money to finance the key branches of arms development, why all this gossip at every step?"

Second, if defense industry companies are forced to borrow funds from commercial banks, "one should work out game rules for that", says the academician. As for Solomonov, the state must give loan guarantees and allocate funds to maintain credits. Russian Ministry of Finance have elaborated such tool late in 2010; the document was even formalized as a government resolution, although does not work de-facto.

"When summing up all above-mentioned things, the cheerless prospect comes in sight. That is just why I'm sure the current program will be in effect only for the next five years, and they would definitely manage to do something. Then will come a new arms program for 2015-2025, and everything will start from scratch again. If contracts are not signed in June, one can say for sure that neither state defense order nor nuclear arms program will be executed", concludes Yury Solomonov.