|
Russian military hardware wrecked in Ukraine war could ‘lower demand' in Southeast Asia
[South China Morning Post] Images of wrecked and abandoned vehicles — casualties in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine — are calling into question the quality and reliability of Russian-made military hardware.A recent report by the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute found that the conflict has damaged the reputation of Russia’s defence equipment in Southeast Asia, once a source of considerable revenue for the country. "Buy our crap with Rubles!" Russia has been the largest exporter of arms to Southeast Asia over the past two decades, but since 2014, the value of its defence sales to the region has plummeted. The Ukraine war will make it difficult for its defence industry to revive sales, and is likely to lead to further declines in arms exports to Southeast Asia according to the report’s author, Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. Reasons for the poor performance are manifold, and not all are related to production quality. Storey pointed to "endemic corruption within the armed forces, resulting in modernisation funds being misappropriated." Russian equipment has always had a reputation for being fairly cheap but pretty reliable. But now, Abuza said, that is "proving to be less true" as Moscow’s advanced anti-armour missiles and well-armed drones are matched against Ukraine’s "highly motivated and very capable force." Economic sanctions imposed by the US, European and Asian countries will make it more difficult for Russian defence companies to conduct financial transactions, including receiving payments from foreign customers. Equally vital export controls imposed on Russia will restrict its defence industrial sector’s access to advanced technologies critical to the manufacture of modern military hardware, and which Moscow itself does not produce and cannot easily purchase from other countries. These include semiconductors, microelectronics, machine tools and software. This will not only affect the production of military equipment for use by Russia’s armed forces and overseas buyers, but also the provision of spare parts, munitions and upgrade packages to existing customers. "As a consequence, foreign buyers may decide to switch to more reliable sources of military hardware," Storey said. Posted by: Matt 2022-05-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=632790 |