According to Russia’s Shoigu, tank production is growing

Russia is increasing the manufacture of tanks and heavy flamethrower systems, but more work is needed to improve the production of tank protection equipment, according to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who made this announcement on Friday.

In a video released by his ministry, Shoigu is shown visiting with employees at a tank plant in Omsk, Siberia, and praising them for surpassing production goals.

It was demonstrated that Shoigu told authorities, “The Omsk plant is fulfilling the program – I can say it is even over-fulfilling the program.” “The issues and tasks that we decided on during our last visit have almost all been resolved.”

Russia needs to build new tanks since it lost a lot of heavy equipment during the first two years of the conflict in Ukraine. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia had to remove older tanks from storage to replace the more than 3000 tanks that were lost there, which was equal to the country’s total operational tank inventory prior to the conflict.

Shoigu stated that bolstering supply to tank repair brigades was a major area of priority and instructed industry directors to expand production of tank protection equipment.

“Now we need to significantly increase the additional kits that we need to put on those vehicles that are in combat,” he stated.

Shoigu’s arrival coincides with Russian artillery, drone, and airstrike bombardment on the strategically significant Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar. According to Kyiv, Moscow hopes to seize the town by May 9, which is Russia’s national holiday honoring the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany during World War Two.

The Omsk staff informed Shoigu that the next cargo of a new variant of the T-80BVM main battle tank was ready to be delivered to the front, and that the plant had expanded production of “Solntsepek” powerful flamethrower systems by a factor of 2.5.

The defense minister was informed by factory chiefs that they had added 1,200 new employees over the previous year and were operating in two shifts around the clock to increase production capacity.

Additionally, Shoigu emphasized the development of anti-drone technologies. Since the beginning of the year, Kyiv has launched many drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, devastating several significant oil refineries throughout the second-largest oil exporter in the world and driving up oil prices.