"Production of military equipment increased by 23.1% in 2007, compared with last year," Sergei Ivanov said at a meeting dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Military-Industrial Commission.
He said the defense industry has increased overall annual production by 15.6% in 2007 compared with 2006, while production of military aircraft grew by 39.1%, electronics by 34.7% and conventional arms by 73.9%.
"We will continue increasing production in the defense sector, as we have sufficient funds to do so," Ivanov said, adding that Russia had allocated $189 billion for the 2007-2010 armaments program.
However, Ivanov said Russia had no plans to increase production of Topol-M (SS-27) ballistic missiles, as the annual output of six-seven missiles was sufficient to ensure Russia's national security.
"We do not need to produce 30 Topol-Ms annually," the first deputy PM said. "Not everything is measured by numbers."
As of December 2006, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces operated 44 silo-based and three mobile Topol-M missile systems. Russia's Defense Ministry earlier said several dozen silo launchers and over 50 Topol-M mobile missile systems would be put on combat duty before 2015.
"We do not need a multi-million personnel army, thousands of nuclear warheads or a militarized economy," Ivanov said. "Our Armed Forces must be compact, mobile and well-trained."
Russia has cut its Armed Forces to about 1.1 million personnel, but military spending has increased dramatically under President Putin. According to the federal budget, defense spending in 2008 will grow another 16.3% from 2007 to 956 billion rubles ($36.8 billion), and is set to total 1.184 trillion rubles ($45.5 billion) by 2010.
The first deputy prime minister said the state defense order for 2008 will amount to about one trillion rubles (about $41 billion), but warned that defense companies must use the federal funds efficiently, facing hefty fines for not meeting their production schedules.
