Engineering in Russia. Geography and structure

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Engineering in Russia is one of the most developed industries and a very important component of the country's economy. Most of the largest enterprises in this industry were built during the Soviet period. According to available official data, at the moment there are about two thousand medium and large engineering enterprises operating in Russia, which include metalworking enterprises.

Mechanical engineering centers in Russia

One of the most significant segments of the country's machine-building industry is the military-industrial complex, whose annual revenue exceeds sixteen billion dollars.

However, the importance of this sector of the economy is associated not only with the volume of annual revenue, but also with the number of political and scientific ties that are created through military-technical cooperation. Today Russia has agreements on cooperation with more than eighty countries. The biggest partners are China, India, Argentina, Venezuela, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The largest engineering centers in Russia that are involved in the production of military equipment are Nizhny Tagil, where"Uralvagonzavod"; Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant, which manufactures famous Kalashnikov assault rifles; Nizhny Novgorod Machine-Building Plant, which produces various types of ammunition.

Heavy engineering in Russia

The heavy engineering industry also includes the shipbuilding industry, which is considered one of the most technological and science-intensive. At more than a thousand enterprises involved in the production of ships, a full production cycle is provided from the development of prototypes to the implementation of the most modern electronics and radio intelligence systems.

If we slightly expand the circle of enterprises involved in varying degrees in the production of products for shipbuilding, then their number will grow to four thousand. This increase is being driven by the inclusion of design bureaus developing high-tech components and sophisticated dual-use electronics.

The largest centers of heavy engineering in Russia are such maritime cities as St. Petersburg, Severodvinsk and Kaliningrad. In addition, enterprises important for the industry are located in the Nizhny Novgorod region.

Automotive

But engineering in the country has not only a military purpose, an important place is also occupied by the civilian automotive industry, which is represented by the three largest enterprises in the industry: AvtoVAZ, KAMAZ and the large machine-building concern GAZ, towhich includes twelve enterprises, with one of the widest geography of mechanical engineering in Russia.

However, most of the enterprises belonging to these corporations have experienced a prolonged crisis over the past ten years, caused by a drop in demand for their products. In turn, the fall in demand for domestic automotive products was caused by increased competition in this market.

From 2000 to 2010, numerous factories were built in the country, producing products under brands such as Nissan, Opel, Kia, Volvo Truc and Ford.

However, foreign manufacturers come to the Russian market not only through the construction of their own factories, but also through investments in existing enterprises and the purchase of equity shares. For example, Daimler is a major shareholder of KAMAZ.

Russian aviation industry

Engineering industries in Russia are also represented by the aviation industry, which, like shipbuilding, requires serious scientific, human resources and a strong production tradition.

All capacities of the country's aircraft industry are divided between two state corporations: United Aircraft Corporation and Oboronprom.

The first one concentrates the resources and enterprises involved in the production of aircraft, including all the necessary components, as well as avionics. This joint-stock company includes twenty enterprises producing both military and civilianproducts and dual-use products, and its largest enterprise is the Sukhoi Company.

The Oboronprom includes enterprises that develop and manufacture helicopters and components. The main office is located in Moscow, but given that it owns the Russian Helicopters corporation, we can safely talk about the all-Russian significance of the company.

Missile and space industry

In today's world, it is difficult to imagine any economy that does without such means of communication as high-speed Internet and stable cellular communications. Many processes in the global economy are based on the rapid exchange of data between economic entities located at a great distance from each other.

Russian rocket engineering provides it with a leading position in the international space market and allows dozens of satellites to be launched annually into orbit for international customers.

The largest enterprises in the industry are RSC Energia and GKNPTs im. M. V. Khrunichev, engaged in the development and production of launch vehicles, which ensure the uninterrupted supply of the ISS and the delivery of astronauts to it.

Agricultural engineering

Heavy engineering in Russia is also represented by the production of agricultural machinery, without which it is impossible to imagine the effective use of the country's vast land and climate resources.

One of the leaders is notonly Russian, but also world agricultural engineering is considered the enterprise "Rostselmash", located in Rostov-on-Don.

In addition, Russian agricultural engineering enterprises are located in Chelyabinsk and Cheboksary. Another important enterprise producing equipment for grain storage, cleaning and sorting is located in Voronezh and is called Voronezhselmash.