Russia's Military Exports

Andrei Kislyakov has a commentary up on RIA Novosti about the state of the Russian military in light of its extensive exports:

"According to the latest estimates by the international independent expert
organization SIPRI, Russia even has a slight edge with 31% of the market against the U.S.'s 30%," Chemezov said.

In other words, Russia has leapfrogged over the U.S. in the most important category, weapons of mass destruction; and that is the main indicator of national prosperity today. But real strength is determined not by the amount of weapons and military equipment sold, but by the type in one's own army. The drum-beating becomes dull if we look at the modern weapons available in the Russian army.

...According to the most positive estimates, Russian forces have no more than 200 modern T-90 tanks, whose production began in 1992, stopped for economic reasons four years later, and was not resumed until 2004. Many reports say that only one battalion (31 vehicles), in the showcase Tamanskaya Motorized Rifle Division, has highly advanced tanks, or ones equipped with second-generation thermal imagers as night sights, improved explosive reactive armor, and a diesel engine of 1,000 hp.

...Almost the same can be said of the Iskander high-precision tactile missile system meant for ground forces and equipped with stealth devices and air defense shields. To date, Russian troops have only one battalion (12 launchers) of this system in the North Caucasus. Their batch production is running up against difficulties and rearmament deadlines are being pushed further and further back.

...The Iskanders, meanwhile, are destined for a truly unique future. Russian troops will not have access to them. There are plans to export these systems, each costing an estimated $25 million, to Belarus as a response to American plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe.