Russia's military industrial complex can make a breakthrough in development of hypersonic technology and artificial intelligence in the near future, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday on the sidelines of the Engineering Technologies 2012 forum at Zhukovsky near Moscow.
"When we are not bashful about creating things which could seem fantastic to society and to the expert community, we should set before us ambitious and forward-looking tasks," said Rogozin, who has special responsiblity for Russia's military-industrial complex.
Hypersonic flight development is one such field, he said.
"I hope that in the near future, we can concentrate our strength in this direction and create a scientific-technical task, which would lead to such a breakthrough," he said.
The Military Industrial Commission in the Russian government is also thinking about creating new materials and intellect which could "replace piloted systems, either for ground, air or sea forces," he said.
Rogozin first called for Russia to revive hypersonic flight research in May, during a visit to the Raduga design bureau near Moscow, citing U.S. work in the field and claiming this was a threat to Russia.
He later clashed with senior military figures in comments to the media, and appeared to doubt the need for a new long-range bomber for the air force, saying Russia should not follow the "American route" in bomber development.
