Russian Arms Deals

Algeria wants to return 15 fighter jets it bought fromRussia because of their poor quality, the Kommersant daily reported on Monday,citing an official from Russia's state United Aerospace Corporation.

The official said Russia was proposing to take back the
MiG-29 jets, which were delivered to Algeria in 2006 and 2007, but only if Algeria bought more modern and expensive planes such as the MiG-29M2 or the MiG-35.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for talks on "military cooperation" in the Kremlin on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told AFP, without giving further details.

In return for Russia agreeing to cancel Algeria's Soviet-era debts, Algerian authorities bought Russian arms worth 6.3 billion dollars, including 3.5 billion dollars in fighter jets, during a visit by Putin to Algeria in 2006.

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After Russia erased the debt of Algeria, there was an agreement that Algeria would buy arms from Russia. If Russia is trying to make quick arms money, it would probably be easier for them to sell up to date equitment. These jets they tried to pass of on Algeria were made and used in the 1980's, most of the planes have been used and they are falling apart. Russia needs to find a new route of money making, because thier planes are being returned. So now they have lost money, and they are trying to keep the algerian buisness by selling them only slightly better planes.

The planes Russia is selling are not even remotely comparable to the technology available today. I predict that Algeria and many other countries may switch to buying French weapons that are better in quality. This would force the Russia economy to focus on more up to date products.

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