Russian arms makers vanish from Asia’s largest airshow

SINGAPORE — Russian defense companies have vanished from major airshows in Asia, which experts say reflects the country’s shrinking and increasingly concentrated arms-export industry.

For the second consecutive year, Russian manufacturers were absent from the roster of attendees at the Singapore Airshow, the largest aerospace exhibition in Asia, which runs from Feb. 3-8.

Moscow previously had a much larger presence at the event, even launching joint exhibition pavilions at the 2020 show for Russian Helicopters and United Aircraft Corporation, which was attended by a range of officials. The country also used to showcase several aircraft models.

“What we are seeing is not a strategic pivot away from Asia, but a forced reallocation under severe structural constraints,” said Francesco Schiavi, research fellow at the Middle East Institute Switzerland. “Russia’s absence from these key shows reflects the shrinking, regionalized and increased concentration of its arms-export profile that has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine .”

Russia’s arms exports to Asian customers peaked from around 2005 to 2011. During this period, it won major contracts with India and China. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, in 2025, Beijing accounted for 60% of all Russian deliveries of major weapons.

A reminiscence of this past at this year’s airshow is the modified Sukhoi Su-30 MKM jets that the Malaysian Air Force flew during an aerial performance here. A Russian delegation led by the Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu did visit Myanmar this week to sign a military cooperation agreement.

Over the last year, Russian arms makers have increasingly courted potential Middle East customers, especially in the Gulf region. This has, in part, translated to reinforcing their presence at defense fairs, as was the case at the IDEX and NAVDEX exhibitions in February 2025 in Abu Dhabi.

The country had over a dozen exhibitors that afforded a prominent display of weaponry and pitched upgraded variants of their weapons.

Schiavi added that Moscow’s outreach to the Middle East and Africa is “selective and compensatory,” citing Algeria’s Su-57 purchase and continued engagement with Mali, eastern Libya and Ethiopia as examples.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said the national arms industry earned more than $15 billion in export revenues last year; however, the expert said that this figure has been widely questioned by Western analysts.

It is important to note that since February 2022, Moscow has not published official defense export information, rendering the verification process more challenging.

Russia also flew some of its military equipment to Saudi Arabia weeks ahead of the World Defense Show taking place next week. In an interview with the state news media TASS, the director general of Rosoboronexport said that the country will unveil new battle-tested systems at the event.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

新加坡——俄罗斯国防公司已从亚洲各大航展上消失，专家表示，这反映出该国武器出口行业的萎缩和日益集中。

俄罗斯制造商连续第二年缺席新加坡航展，该航展是亚洲最大的航空航天展览会，于2月3日至8日举行。

莫斯科此前在该展会上的规模要大得多，甚至在2020年的展会上，俄罗斯直升机公司和联合航空制造集团公司还设立了联合展馆，众多官员出席了此次活动。俄罗斯过去也曾展出过多种机型。

“我们看到的并非战略重心从亚洲转移，而是在严峻的结构性制约下被迫进行的重新配置，”瑞士中东研究所研究员弗朗切斯科·斯基亚维表示。“俄罗斯缺席这些重要展会，反映出其武器出口格局的萎缩、区域化和集中化程度的提高，而乌克兰战争加剧了这一趋势。”

俄罗斯对亚洲客户的武器出口在2005年至2011年左右达到顶峰。在此期间，俄罗斯赢得了与印度和中国的重要合同。据斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所预测，到2025年，对北京的出口将占俄罗斯主要武器总交付量的60%。

今年航展上，马来西亚空军驾驶改装后的苏-30MKM战斗机进行飞行表演，这让人不禁想起这段历史。本周，由俄罗斯联邦安全会议秘书谢尔盖·绍伊古率领的俄罗斯代表团访问了缅甸，签署了军事合作协议。

过去一年，俄罗斯武器制造商日益积极地争取中东地区的潜在客户，尤其是在海湾地区。这在一定程度上体现在他们加强了在防务展上的亮相，例如2025年2月在阿布扎比举行的IDEX和NAVDEX防务展。

该国共有十几家参展商，他们醒目地展示了各种武器，并推介了武器的升级版本。

斯基亚维补充说，莫斯科对中东和非洲的接触是“有选择性的和补偿性的”，他以阿尔及利亚购买苏-57战斗机以及继续与马里、利比亚东部和埃塞俄比亚接触为例。

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京最近表示，去年俄罗斯军工产业的出口收入超过150亿美元；然而，专家表示，这一数字受到了西方分析人士的广泛质疑。

值得注意的是，自 2022 年 2 月以来，莫斯科一直没有公布官方的国防出口信息，这使得核查过程更具挑战性。

俄罗斯在下周世界防务展开幕前几周，就向沙特阿拉伯空运了一些军事装备。俄罗斯国防出口公司总经理在接受塔斯社采访时表示，俄罗斯将在展会上展示一些经过实战检验的新型系统。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。