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Yury Laskin

Russian Minister of Defence General Sergei Shoigu has recently confirmed that the Army 2020 International Military-Technical Forum will be held on schedule, from 23rd to 29th August at the PATRIOT Convention and Exhibition Centre in the Greater Moscow Area.

“This year, the Army Forum will be the first major event for the global defence industry following the release of the Covid-19 restrictions,” Rostec Corporation CEO Sergey Chemezov said.

“The Forum will provide a signal to the global defence market to recover and, I am sure, will provide momentum for the further development of military-technical cooperation with foreign countries. This is a great opportunity for the Russian defence industry to show their readiness to increase deliveries of high-tech products and expand their geographical footprint,” he added.

Unique

The Army Forum constitutes a unique event among all the defence-related shows as apart from several exhibition halls and enormous open space, the PATRIOT has permanent structures from which to present the most advanced products of the national key enterprises, including United Aircraft and United Shipbuilding Corporations, Almaz-Antey Concern, Rostec among several others.

Facilities also include the ALABINO test and firing range in a nearby location, easily reachable by shuttle bus. There are also three demo clusters including a tankodrome, an artificial lake and a shooting range to provide live firing demonstration for not just small arms but also for armour, artillery, helicopters and boats. Live firing demonstartion can be observed on monitors in the halls and public areas.

“The range of technologies to be showcased by Rosoboronexport at the Army Forum-2020 covers all segments of today’s defence market, military and special equipment,” Rosoberon’s CEO Alexander Mikheev said.

Among others, he mentioned the T-14 Main Battle Tank, the T-15 Armoured Fighting Vehicle (based on the T-14), the KURGANETS-25 new-generation tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the BOOMERANG-series wheeled armoured vehicles, the ISKANDER Tactical Missile System, the new 9K515 Multiple Launch Rocket System, the 152 mm 2S35 KOALITSIYA-SV self-propelled howitzer, the 82 mm 2S41 DROK mortar, a family of TIGR-M and TYPHOON armoured vehicles on Ural and KAMAZ chassis.

Key event

The Army Forum is an annual event and the 2020 edition is the sixth in a row with previous events being used for significant contract signatures with the Russian MoD, including those on Su-57 fifth generation aircraft. The shows have been quite important for the export efforts of the Russian industry as according to the Rosoboronexport press service, they had over 50 meetings with high-ranking delegations from 36 countries last year.
The restrictions caused by COVID 19 are a key issue of this year’s event as at present, there are no international flights to Russia, except for the charter aircraft returning Russian citizens.
Visitors from abroad (including foreign citizens that work in Russia) are to spend 14 days in self-isolation and there is no confirmed anticipation on how long these restrictions will be in force. According to a recent statement from the Minister of Health “all Covid-2019 restrictions are to be lifted by February 2021.”