Russia To Receive “Friend or Foe” Sensors For Infantry

The Russian military is expected to receive individual “friend or foe” sensors by 2017.

The exchange of special signals will enable soldiers to distinguish their comrades on the battlefield regardless of uniform, masking equipment, or other challenges.

The project, approved by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, involves cooperation of six companies.

By 2017, the concern will spend RUB 10.6 billion outfitting the six companies as part of their cooperation initiative. Besides sensors for infantry and the new “friend or foe” system for the Air Force and Navy, the cluster will also produce electronic warfare systems and short-range navigation systems for airplanes and helicopters.

The new sensors may be included in Warrior (Ratnik) or Aventail (Barmits) equipment systems.

Russian experts have no information about the availability of such a system among NATO armed forces. Military experts believe the number of cases of “friendly fire” during peacekeeping operations suggests its absence.

Two Kazan enterprises, namely the Radio-electronic Scientific Production Association named for V. I. Shimko and the Radiopribor Factory will be combined as part of the cluster. Additionally, the cooperation initiative will bring together four other KRET enterprises: Kaluga Radio Engineering Research Institute, the Samara Ekran Factory, the Zhigulyovsk Radio Factory, and the Ufa Instrument and Production Association. The cluster is being created for dual-purposes, military and civil production.

“By 2020, the cluster is expected to produce USD 18 billion in revenue, a fifth of which will be the result of the new identification system. We hope to open private businesses that will work on the equipment in three shifts, thus reducing production costs,” said Andrei Tiulin.

According to Vladimir Gutenev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on industry, it is necessary to ensure strict control against any information leaks at enterprises where secretive military and civilian high-tech is produced.