President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,
We are concluding another series of meetings with senior officials of the Defence Ministry, other ministries and agencies as well as defence industry CEOs.
This time, we focused on developing and equipping the Aerospace Forces. Today we will summarise the results of the discussion of the past several days. I also propose to specifically review the development of advanced weaponry, including those being created based on new principles of physics.
We will also discuss the laser systems that use Russia-produced optics and high-sensitivity optoelectronics, including the types of weapons that, frankly (and we all understand that), were just recently seen only in science fiction. I am talking about tactical combat laser systems, which have now become a reality.
I want to stress that the timely completion of these projects is extremely important because these are the types of weapons that will largely shape the combat capability of the Russian Army and Navy in the next decades and practically the entire 21st century. We will also review the progress of the Advanced Naval Electric Power inter-agency programme.
If we achieve the necessary result, we will be able to utilise these developments for civilian purposes – and, of course, we should pursue that. These developments will be extremely sought-after in certain regions, including the Arctic, a region of historical and strategic value.
Finally, we will discuss the first practical results of deploying the latest equipment, including the Peresvet combat laser system and the Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched missile system.
Let’s begin.
<…>