Pantus on 2024 priorities for Belarus’ military-industrial complex

Minsk has hosted a meeting of the board of the State Authority for Military Industry to sum up the results of its work and outline the tasks for the future. According to Chairman of the State Authority for Military Industry Dmitry Pantus, some of them will be dealing with the aircraft industry.

“A decision has been made to develop a twin-engine multi-role aircraft. We have started this work; this is a new niche for us. Now we are forming a team and selecting specialists for the design bureau. We’re implementing this large-scale project together with our Russian colleagues. We are liaising with Russia very closely. We’re developing together, and exports to this country are constantly growing. Taking into account sanctions pressure and blocking on the purchase of certain third-party components, especially electronic components, we made a fundamental decision back in 2021 and developed import substitution programmes for the defence sector of the economy. I would like to note that the directions we chose were correct. Last year, we produced over $38m of goods. These are precisely the Belarusian products that are manufactured jointly with the Industry Ministry enterprises. Of course, we also involve the Academy of Sciences. This year, we have adjusted this programme and defined plans for the next three years to settle the complex problems dealing with import substitution.”

Dmitry Pantus said that today several types of new unmanned aerial vehicles are already in service with the Belarusian army, “As part of the 2023 state defence order, we have already delivered a certain number of systems. In late 2023, two types of drones underwent research tests in the Armed Forces. Positive decisions have also been made on them. Work is now underway to organise their mass production. We will increase our competencies in this regard, and the most important is to increase productivity. We will continue to focus on those areas in which the Belarusian military-industrial complex currently has competence. Definitely, a lot of attention will be paid to rocket science, and, of course, to the fight against UAVs. This is the key direction nowadays. In this respect, I would like to note that we have made a very serious decision for ourselves regarding the destruction of low-flying unmanned aerial vehicles. We’re now working on creating a unified complex based on new principles of destruction. It will no longer be small arms, but will also use lasers.”