More ammunition, tanks and hypersonic weapons - Russia says it is increasing the production of numerous types of weapons, explains armaments chief Chemezov. However, there are hurdles as many parts are missing due to sanctions. The Russian efforts do not seem hopeless.
According to the Russian armaments industry, it has significantly increased the production of hypersonic missiles of the Kinzhal (Dagger) type. "It has been put on the assembly line for a long time, at first it wasn't necessary in large numbers. Now we're increasing it," said the head of the Russian arms holding Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, on Russian television.
According to him, Russia has increased production enormously in all areas of the armaments industry. "In some cases 50 times as much," Chemezov said. According to him, the ammunition factories in particular have significantly increased their output. However, Russian military bloggers recently reported that the units at the front were suffering from a lack of ammunition.
Chemezov, who is considered a close confidant of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, also said that Russia would produce 300 new combat helicopters by the end of the year. That's about the amount the Ukrainian military says they've shot down since the war began.
Ex-President Dmitry Medvedev recently announced that Russia would significantly increase its production of modern tanks. This is in response to the announced Western tank deliveries. Medvedev demonstratively visited a tank factory in Omsk, Siberia.
Russia has lost more than 1,700 tanks in Ukraine since the invasion began, according to independent experts from the Netherlands. A good 40 percent of them still come from Soviet production. The latest invention, the Armata 14 main battle tank, is not yet used there. So far there are about 20 pieces, which were only delivered for test purposes. Actually, Russia once wanted to produce 2300 tanks of this type, but gave up the plans due to high costs. Most recently, 100 to 200 pieces were targeted.
Before the invasion, the figure of 20,000 tanks in Russia's inventory was repeatedly circulated. However, this seems to be significantly overestimated. It is estimated that Russia is currently deploying around 4,000 tanks in Ukraine.
In addition, there are always doubts about the possibility of building modern weapons, since essential parts do not come from Russian, but from Western production and are subject to sanctions. However, the Kremlin was able to partially circumvent this, explained András Rácz, an expert on Russian defense policy at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in the editorial network Germany. "Russia still gets microprocessors and semiconductors from third countries," said Rácz.
Other tech products would also be misused. Mobile phones or laptops are not affected by the sanctions. Their components are simply used for rockets, tanks and other weapons. "No production line has been completely shut down, but production numbers are falling sharply," said Rácz.
