Russia Unveils New Main Battle Tank, Among Other Things

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The £254billion armament programme has produced some highly visible results last year, with the military receiving the highest numbers of new planes, missiles and armour since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Russian defense spending increased by one-third this year and should reach £63.5billion by 2016.
'The task set by the president not to allow anyone to get a military advantage over Russia will be fulfilled no matter what,' Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu said at a meeting with the top brass in February.
In 2014, the Russian armed forces obtained a record number of 38 nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles.
This year they are to get another 50, allowing the military to fulfill its ambitious goal of replacing Soviet-built nuclear missiles, which are approaching the end of their lifespan.
The Russian navy already has two submarines equipped with the Bulava, a new submarine-based intercontinental ballistic missile, and is to commission a third one next year. Five more are to follow.
The army's ground forces are receiving large batches of Iskander missiles, which which can be equipped with a nuclear or conventional warhead, could be used to target NATO's U.S.-led missile defense sites.
In a show of force, Iskanders were briefly deployed in December to the Kaliningrad exclave bordering NATO members Poland and Lithuania.
The Russian air force received more than 250 new planes and helicopters last year and is set to receive more than 200 this year — numbers unseen since Soviet times.

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