Russia, France To Build New Armored Carrier

Russia and France will join forces for the next 18 months to jointly develop a new armored infantry vehicle. The announcement was made by Igor Sevastyanov, deputy chief of Rosoboronexport who said he was heading a working party incorporating new technology from both nations and that a model had been made. "We have a project under the aegis of a Russian-French group for land forces, which I head," Sevastyanov was quoted as saying. "Now we are working on development of some vehicles with a French base but with Russian weapons and Russian turrets”. “The vehicle should appear in the near future, around 18 months. We have a draft design and a model has been made," he added. The Russian-French personnel carrier will be used both armed forces and will be sold to third countries, it will also meet NATO standards. According to Sevastyanov, Russia and the U.S could cooperate in joint development of arms and military equipment without mentioning any specific projects, only saying a “joint product” might be around in five to 10 years.