Rosoboronexport states Latin America's huge interest in Russian arms

LIMA, May 16 (Itar-Tass) - Consecutive development of military and
technical cooperation between Russia and Peru helps to attract other Latin
American countries' growing attention to Russian arms, the head of
Rosoboronexport's delegation said on the sidelines of the international
defence technology exhibition SITDEF PERU-2011 that ended on Sunday.
"SITDEF PERU exhibition took place for the third time," said Sergei
Ladygin. "I would like to state with pleasure that it becomes even more
consistent and even more successful for us. The Peruvians demonstrated a
huge interest in our arms. I would say a second wave of interest in Russia'
s arms began."
"At present, the contract for supply of helicopters to Peru is being
actively implemented. The contracts on the maintenance of helicopters that
had been exported to the country earlier are being fulfilled," he said.
"We are actively cooperating with Peru on the creation of a
maintenance centre, as the country has many of our military vehicles that
should be used properly and repaired in time."
The head of Russian Technologies state corporation's mission in Peru,
Viktor Polyakov, noted that "of late the two countries' military and
technical cooperation reached 130 million U.S. dollars." "This sum
includes a 107 million dollar contract for the supply of eight helicopters
Mi-35P and Mi-171Sh. The rest is other contracts."
"Peru demonstrates a great interest in our armoured vehicles and
antitank weapons. The interest in naval engineering is also emerging,"
Ladygin said. "It is well known that this year Peru's submarine fleet will
mark its 100th anniversary. And evidently, this is high time to modernize
the fleet of submarines. I do not know when it happens, but the Peruvians
began to study what the world's main submarine producers offer. We are
also taking part in the process submitting our materials."
"Latin American countries, including Peru, show even bigger interest
in air defence missiles," Ladygin said. "We will take part in a tender to
supply small and medium-range air defence missiles."
According to a source in the Russian delegation, Rosoboronexport will
bid to supply Tor-M2E small-range and Buk-M2E medium-range missile systems.
"We assess the Peruvian market as very promising," Ladygin said. "We
offer to Peru mutually advantageous variants of cooperation."
Speaking about military and technical cooperation with Latin American
countries in general the Rosoboronexport delegation's head highlighted
that "Russia has vast prospects on this market."
"Sometimes something fantastic becomes a reality. Ten years ago nobody
could say that modern Russia would become active in Latin America. Nobody
simply believed in this. Everybody said nobody would let us in, this is
not our zone and Latin America is a very remote area."
"Ten years had passed and we have very good results in the military
and technical cooperation in Latin America. Moreover, this is the
cooperation at the state-to-state level that is advantageous both for us
and our partners," Ladygin said.