Russia doubles production of precision-guided missiles.

A Russian cruise missile launch (Photo: TASS).

Newsweek reported that during a visit to the Russian Tactical Missile Corporation in Moscow on March 14, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered a doubling of production of precision-guided weapons.

"The main task now is to double production. I think you can do it. Not only do our enemies not have such weapons, but the armed forces of all other countries in the world do not have them either," Shoigu said.

According to Shoigu, the Russian Tactical Missile Corporation has the necessary resources, highly qualified specialists, and high-quality production facilities. Therefore, the request to double the production of precision weapons, while difficult, is achievable.

The Russian Tactical Missile Corporation was established in January 2002, specializing in the production of weapons such as multi-purpose guided missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-radar missiles, air-to-air missiles, guided bombs, and naval weapons.

Shoigu's order comes amid escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Both sides are believed to be running out of military equipment after more than a year of fighting.

In January, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated that Russia had used the majority of its stockpile of Kalibr cruise missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles, and drones manufactured in Iran. Specifically, citing intelligence sources, he said that Russia now possessed only about 19% of its strategic missiles, 78% of its tactical missiles, and 12% of its drones manufactured in Iran.

Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, stated that Russia has fewer than 100 Iskander missiles, forcing them to use S-300 and S-400 missiles as replacements. "The enemy is using their capabilities because Russia has a large supply of already produced S-300 missiles," he said.

Since last October, Russia has been continuously conducting large-scale missile and drone strikes against a series of critical infrastructure targets in Ukraine. These strikes have consumed a large quantity of missiles and drones from Moscow. Western analysts believe this is why Russia has begun to reduce the frequency of large-scale strikes and use a variety of different missiles in a single attack.

Most recently, on March 9th, Russia fired approximately 95 missiles in a single attack, including six Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. Observers believe this is a sign that Russia is running out of guided missiles.

"Western sanctions are significantly restricting Russia's missile production capacity. The number of missiles they used in the March 9th attack is equivalent to a month's worth of missile production," a Ukrainian official commented.

Margo Grosberg, head of Estonia's intelligence agency, estimated at the end of January that Russia only had enough missiles for another 3-4 months.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/nga-tang-gap-doi-san-luong-ten-lua-dan-duong-chinh-xac-20230315210619476.htm