Russia to focus on precision weapons development

Russia would put more emphasis on developing long-range, high-accuracy weapons in the country's massive defense upgrade, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday. "We've made a decision to increase the financing of precision long-range weapons," Shoigu told the Russia One TV channel. The minister said the Russian strategic missile forces (RVSN) were in good order and their equipment was expected to get a thorough upgrade in the near future. The upgrade would preference military equipment produced by domestic enterprises, and foreign hardware would be acquired only if similar items were not produced in Russia, Shoigu said. Russia plans to upgrade 85 percent of its strategic nuclear weapons by 2020. The government has earmarked 20 trillion rubles (about 600 billion dollars) for the massive rearmament program during that period.