Belarus and Russia are creating a unified defense-industrial space within the Union State. This was stated in an interview with the magazine “Natsyianalnaya Abarona” by Dzmitry Pantus, chairman of the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry.
“Today we are effectively observing the formation of a unified defense-industrial space within the Union State. The isolation regime that certain actors are trying to impose on our countries has become a powerful incentive for deepening our joint work,” said Pantsus.
According to him, Russia today cannot fulfill its state defense order without Belarusian components.
“Our cooperation is bilateral in nature and is based on the mutual exchange of technologies. At present the Russian Federation, in carrying out its state defense order, cannot do without Belarusian components, just as we cannot do without Russian ones. The range of mutually used assemblies, parts and units is so broad that one can speak of full integration of production chains,” said Pantus.
He noted that the State Authority for Military Industry has established a working dialogue with the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation and with leading Russian enterprises. The parties are increasing the number of joint R&D projects aimed at obtaining fundamentally new types of armaments. According to Pantus, the results of this work will become visible in the near future.
As the most notable examples of industrial cooperation, Pantus cited the creation of the lightweight multipurpose aircraft “Osviej”, the organization of the production of parts and assemblies for Russian aviation equipment, and the establishment of a service center for the repair of air-defense systems at the OAO “2566th Electronic Armament Repair Plant” in cooperation with the Russian concern Almaz-Antey.
“We are working on new, even more significant projects. Together with Rosoboronexport and the United Aircraft Corporation, we are studying the possibility of Belarus’s participation in the production of the lightweight single-engine fifth-generation fighter Su-75.
For the Russian side, such cooperation in the field of highly advanced technology helps shorten the development and production time of new equipment; for us, it brings new competencies and access to cutting-edge technologies,” added Pantus.
