Moscow: Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has called for the creation of a defence research agency similar to DARPA, the Pentagon agency that funds military research in the US.
In an article in the Izvestia newspaper, Rogozin said Russia's defence industry had "serious problems" even though the government has earmarked 3 trillion rubles ($97 billion) for its modernisation over the next 10 years.
"Liberal economists" of the 1990s and "irresponsible reforms" were partly to blame for this, he said.
"Russia needs a qualitative breakthrough but this calls for the creation of a modern technological basis," Rogozin said.
"It is necessary to create the Russian version of the Defence Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA)," he went on. "It would be a government body with its own budget."
IANS
First Published: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 13:54