From Sept. 17 to 21 the largest regional aerospace, defense and security exhibition, Africa Aerospace and Defense-2008, was held at Ysterplaat Air Base near Cape Town in South Africa.

The biennial event involving weapons manufacturers from all over the world attaches priority to aerospace and defense systems, as well as military and dual-purpose equipment.

This year a massive Russian delegation attended the exhibition for the fifth time. The Russian pavilion, set up by Rosoboronexport, the main national state-owned arms exporter, and the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service, featured more than 250 displays in the form of mock-ups, models, posters, video footage and advertising pamphlets.

The Russians also displayed their Sukhoi Su-27 and Sukhoi Su-30MK Flanker fighter-interceptors and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29SKM Fulcrum air-superiority fighter.

The Dzerzhinsky Ural Railroad Car Works -- Uralvagonzavod -- based in Nizhny Tagil, Russia's Ural region, which has developed most of the country's postwar battle tanks, displayed its T-90S Main Battle Tank that Russia has successfully sold in large numbers to India.

The Arzamas Engineering Plant and the Tula Instrument Design Bureau brought their BTR-80A armored personnel carrier, Metis-M and Konkurs-M guided anti-tank missiles and surface-to-air-missile systems.

The Tula-based Splav -- Alloy -- State Research and Production Association contributed its Grad and Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems.

The Popov Radio Plant, based in Omsk, West Siberia, displayed a new-generation mobile telecommunications system carried by the Vepr off-road vehicle.

The Russians also brought the Hashim RPG-32 rocket launcher system, developed by the Jordan Russian Electronic Systems Co. Ltd. and Basalt Co., near Moscow.

The Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos displayed its BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile that can be launched from warships or aircraft.

It takes 14 hours to fly from Russia to Cape Town, with stopovers in Amsterdam and Dubai, while the exhibition lasts only a few days. So, was it worth it?

Sergei Demensky, official representative of the Omsk-based Popov Radio Plant, said many African countries were Russia's traditional partners, and that his company offered unique engineering solutions, making it possible to set up emergency and reserve telecommunications networks in conditions of high temperatures, earthquakes and sandstorms.

Alexander Fomin, first deputy director of the Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service, said Russian involvement could become an important stage in expanded cooperation with regional countries and other foreign states, and that all technology shown in Cape Town would be used to uphold regional peace.

Other experts said, off the record, that current Russian efforts to enter the African market were motivated by the fact that Moscow has overlooked the region for many years since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

(In Part 2: Russia learns arms-sales lessons from Soviet failures.)

(Nikita Petrov is a Russian military correspondent. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.)

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