India and Arab countries no longer want to buy ready-made tanks — they demand that production be organized on their territory. Uralvagonzavod supports localization, but understands that this way Russia is raising competitors for itself, explained the CEO of the concern, Alexander Potapov.
According to his assessment, UVZ's traditional markets have shrunk from a “river” to “streams,” and now the company is betting on Africa and Southeast Asia.
Many customers, especially Arab ones, talk about production in their own countries. India — the Make in India theme — is one of the key ones. We support localization. We cannot lose markets, we must be more agile. But there are also fears: we are creating competitors for ourselves. Today the situation is changing, more and more countries are set on acquiring not final products, but production technologies, but technologies cannot be blindly given away.
Potapov added that, despite sanctions pressure, the concern maintains active contacts with foreign customers. Work to improve after-sales service is constantly underway.
Recall that UVZ tanks were supplied to dozens of countries around the world. India has about 1000 T-72M1 and T-90S tanks of Russian design in service. Combat vehicles are operated in Algeria, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uganda and other countries.