MOSCOW SEES BRIGHT FUTURE FOR MILITARY AIRCRAFT SALES…

The chief of the Russian state arms trading company Rosvooruzheniye said April 12 that Russia was steadily increasing its arms sales and was looking to reach annual revenues of $10-12 billion. Aleksandr Kotelkin pointed especially to sales of Russian military aircraft, which he said would grab an increasingly large share of the international market in the years to come. Kotelkin’s remarks came as Russia and France unveiled a new advanced military training jet, the MiG-AT, at the Zhukovsky airbase near Moscow. The two-seat aircraft is powered by French Larzac engines and is equipped with avionics manufactured by a unit of Thomson-CSF. A MiG director said that the plane would be produced in two versions — one for the Russian Air Force and one for export. He estimated that the market for the trainer could run as high as 3,000 aircraft over the next 15 years.

During the unveiling ceremony the new trainer was blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest. (Russian & Western agencies, April 12) Moscow claims to have sold $3 billion worth of arms in 1995, and Russian officials say that they have some $7 billion worth of orders for this year.

…As India Plans New Purchase.