No tanks shown at Russian ground troops exhibition – TV
Sources:
RBK TV, Moscow 4 Aug 06
Centre TV, Moscow 4 Aug
Bad weather precluded the demonstration of heavy armour and artillery
pieces at the Krasnoarmeysk artillery range in Moscow Region as part
of an international arms exhibition, Russian RBK TV channel reported
at 1400 gmt on 4 August quoting the exhibition organizers.
The report said the organizing committee of the MVSV 2006 International
Defence Exhibition of Ground Troops blamed poor weather conditions on
the show day for the absence of tanks and howitzers, whose performance
was eagerly awaited by foreign spectators.
Despite the fact, Russian defence industry officials were reportedly
upbeat on the Krasnoarmeysk range’s prospects of becoming more
prominent than the Staratel artillery range near Nizhniy Tagil,
Sverdlovsk Region, which has until now been the primary showground
for Russian ground weapons systems.
Vladimir Palishchuk, deputy director of the Federal Service
for Military-Technical Cooperation, said: "We are on the right
track. Yesterday we held preliminary talks with Nizhniy Tagil, so
far unofficially; we will be doing everything possible to ensure
that the Russian Federation has one major exhibition of conventional
weapons – I would not like to limit its scope to the ground troops –
of conventional weapons of the armed forces, and also a good exhibition
in the Urals."
A later RBK TV report on the same day showed a motionless tank at the
range but made a special mention of no heavy equipment having been
shown in action, likewise quoting the show organizers as blaming the
poor weather. Military observer Viktor Litovkin commented that the
exhibition, whose static part was held at the VVTs national exhibition
centre in Moscow, had "numerous drawbacks". "Far from the entire range
of ground weapons systems was demonstrated. The absence of ground
troops’ air defence also stuck out: only the Igla [MANPADS system]
and other products of the Kolomenskoye machine-building design bureau
were displayed in the pavilions, but neither the Tor, nor the Buk,
nor the Osa [SAM systems] were shown on static display," Litovkin said.
The correspondent quoted the Defence Ministry’s explanation
that the exhibition venue was not decided on until days prior to
its opening. The original plan was to hold the exhibition at the
Zhukovskiy airfield in Moscow Region, which traditionally hosts the
MAKS aerospace exhibition in the summer of every odd year, but the
MAKS organizers refused to host the MVSV. An agreement eventually
reached with the VVTs management does not include the permission to
deploy heavy tracked vehicles. The MVSV organizers were therefore
forced to urgently move the demonstration part of the exhibition to
the Krasnoarmeysk range. Said Palishchuk: "All MAKS [2007] floor space
is currently sold out or earmarked for sale. The aerospace exhibition
organizers have therefore decided to build a new pavilion to measure
6,000 sq.m. Due to the construction work we were asked not to hold
the ground weapons exhibition at Zhukovskiy".
The correspondent said dozens of kilometres of roads had been urgently
tarmacked in Krasnoarmeysk in the run-up to the show, a car park for
20,000 vehicles opened at the entrance to the artillery range and
a grandstand seating 6,000 people erected. Back in the studio the
presenter said no major contracts had been signed at the exhibition,
except for an agreement on military technical cooperation with Armenia.
A Centre TV report at 1550 gmt on 4 August mentioned that a
paratrooper attack, which had been planned to open the demonstration
at Krasnoarmeysk, was eventually cancelled due to poor weather. Video
showed troops flying paragliders while simultaneously firing
assault rifles. The correspondent did not mention the absence of
heavy vehicles, noting that the organizers were pleased with the
exhibition and promised that from 2008 it will be held jointly with
the MAKS aerospace show.
Video showed a machine gun and grenade launchers being fired, a unit
of troops assaulting a minivan, tracked and wheeled military vehicles
on the move, a Kord machine gun, a UAV in flight.