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Moscow to host first-ever exhibition of land forces weaponry

RIA Novosti

MOSCOW , (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin) -

International exhibitions, including arms fairs, are usually held in summer. The Eurosatory 2006 international exhibition of land forces weapons has just ended in Paris , and the Russian Expo Arms 2006 international exhibition of weaponry, military equipment and ammunition opened on July 11 in Nizhny Tagil in the Urals District. Farnborough, near London , will host its annual aerospace show starting on July 17. Finally, the International Defense Exhibition of Land Forces IDELF 2006 will open on August 2 at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow and at the testing site of the Geodezia R&D Institute in the town of Krasnoarmeisk outside Moscow .

Russian Expo Arms 2006 and IDELF 2006 are similar exhibitions that compete against each other because they feature the same weapons and military equipment, although to a varying degree. Moscow and Nizhny Tagil both offer weapons and combat support systems for land forces. Although each exhibition is an international event, Nizhny Tagil will mostly display products that were developed and produced at regional design centers and defense-industry enterprises. Thirty national delegations are attending Russian Expo Arms -2006, and IDELF 2006 will offer weapons and military equipment from all Russian regions. Also displaying their products in Moscow will be 1,287 foreign companies and 347 enterprises from nine CIS countries.

Relations between exhibition organizers are strained because this is the fifth Russian Expo Arms fair, whereas IDELF is being held for the first time. Vladimir Paleshchuk, deputy director of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, told RIA Novosti that the decision to hold a new exhibition was motivated by the failure of Russian Expo Arms organizers to create suitable conditions for foreign military and industrial delegations, businessmen and participants from other Russian cities. Nizhny Tagil has relatively few hotels, and the ones it has do not meet international standards. Foreign companies and experts find it too expensive to visit far-away Nizhny Tagil and ship their products, which are not very popular on the Russian market, back home.

Moscow , in contrast, has many hotels, theaters and cafes, as well as a well-developed local tourist industry. The city also has many federal institutions, and foreign visitors can meet with top officials from the Russian defense industry, promptly solve various problems and ink the required contracts or letters of intent.

"We must face the facts. For a military exhibition to have international status, it must involve foreign producers. And foreign companies do not attend the current Nizhny Tagil exhibition," said Paleshchuk.

But he also said he recognizes the advantages of the Nizhny Tagil fair's impressive exhibition potential because Moscow cannot effectively display armored fighting vehicles and weapons in action. Demonstrations of long-range and point-blank target shooting are also a problem. Neither the airfield of the Gromov Flight Institute, which usually hosts the famous MAKS international aerospace show, nor the army's firing ranges and testing sites are suitable for this.

However, this problem has now been solved. Although the testing site at the Geodezia R&D Institute is a bit smaller than the Staratel testing site in Nizhny Tagil [where Russian Expo Arms 2006 is being held], it meets all the firing range, safety and infrastructure requirements.

The exhibition center's grandstands can accommodate 6,000 spectators, including the press, TV personnel and VIPs. IDELF 2006 organizers expect all top Russian leaders, including the President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, to attend.

Russia 's First Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel General Alexander Belousov, and Mikhail Dmitriyev, director of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, are co-chairing the exhibition.

Sergei Marichev, Chairman of the Board of the exhibition association Bizon, the exhibition organizer, told RIA Novosti that IDELF 2006 would feature the latest achievements of the Russian and foreign defense industries, specifically, motor vehicles, armor, missile and artillery systems, anti-tank weapons, short-range missiles, firearms, optical systems, gun silencers and cold steel.

The exhibition will also display: automated command-and-control, radio, radio-relay, tropospheric, communications-satellite, telegraph and telephone communications networks; encryption, signals intelligence and ECM (Electronic Counter-Measures) systems; as well as munitions, specialized chemicals, warplanes, air-defense weapons, and combat-engineer and sapper equipment.

Exhibition guests and participants will visit the No. 21 central R&D and testing institute of the Land Forces' automobile and armor department. The institute's proving ground in Bronnitsy tests all wheeled army equipment. They will also visit the No.38 central R&D and testing institute in Kubinka, where the world's largest armor technology museum is situated. Spetsnaz reconnaissance teams of the interior troops and the General Staff's Main Intelligence Directorate will show their skills.

Paleshchuk told RIA Novosti that the rivalry between IDELF 2006 and Expo Arms 2006 is a useful thing, and one should not think that one exhibition wants to "shut down" the other or diminish its reputation. He added that each exhibition has a unique identity and is therefore important, and that there cannot be too many good arms fairs. Any exhibition plays an important role if it promotes Russian weapons on the global market, helps provide the Russian Army with the most advanced weapons systems, develops contacts between experts and tells taxpayers about the way their money is spent, Paleshchuk said.