One of the Orsis rifles after assembly in the factory. (Photo: CGTN)

Although Russia's military budget is 15 times smaller than that of the United States, Russia's military equipment still gains regular worldwide attention. 

Russian weapons - An opponent tough to challenge

Russia reserves the spot as the second biggest seller of weapons systems on the world market, with the export revenues of around 15 billion U.S. dollars annually. That money is very much welcomed in Moscow and it is partly used for re-equipping Russian forces with new weapons. 

In order to check one of those new, state-of-the-art weapons, we went to the outskirts of the capital Moscow, where we've checked out one of Russia's most modern sniper rifles. 

There, under the watchful eye of an experienced instructor, we were allowed to test fire the T-5000, at a closed range. It is a state-of-the-art sniper rifle which is used by the FSO, Russia's secret service agency in charge of protecting President Vladimir Putin. 

The T-5000 is produced by Orsis, a small weapons producer located in Moscow. Its products are anything but what everybody had usually thought of Russian weapons: sturdy, rugged, bulky. 

Orsis is the face of Russia's new weapons and also an example of the direction in which the Russian military is heading. A total of 140 Orsis workers are producing arguably one of the world's best sniper rifles. And,  although the weapons are assembled manually by its experienced craftsmen, Orsis is adopting some of the latest production technologies. 

Aleksandar Fedotov, general director of ORSIS. (Photo: CGTN)

And the results are widely acclaimed, Aleksandar Fedotov, General Director of Orsis, said, "On the basis of T-5000 sniper rifles with calibers of 7.62-by-51 and 8.6-by-69, we developed rifles that have been adopted by the armed forces of the Russian Federation and are now being delivered to them. They like our rifles, as can be seen by the increase in orders of our products."

Riding the wave of change

Orsis's example is just a drop in the sea of the sweeping changes that have engulfed the Russian military since 2008. A 700 billion U.S. dollar rearmament program running till 2020 has produced a new stealth fighter jet, the world's most modern tank - Armata, drone aircraft and ground combat vehicles. Still, despite all that progress in weapons systems development, sometimes it's delivery to units of the Russian Army does not go as planned. 

Viktor Litovkin, military analyst. (Photo: CGTN)

For instance, out of an expected 2,300 of the latest Armata tanks initially scheduled to be delivered by the year 2020, only 100 will arrive. 

A similar situation is with the Su-57 stealth fighter jet and the AK-12, a new assault rifle. But as experts say, those weapon systems are not urgently needed to the Russian armed forces, hence no need for that level of military spending. It was main point of military analyst Viktor Litovkin who spoke to us in his office of the ITAR-TASS, Russia's state-owned news agency.

CGTN correspondent Aljosa Milenkovic tests fires Orsis T-5000 sniper rifle. (Photo: CGTN)

"We are adopting new technologies, new combat tactics using that new equipment. But it doesn't mean we need to forget the (earlier) T-72 BM3 or modernized tank T-80. We are not throwing those away in order to use only the Armata tank. Why should we do that? That's insane. It is very expensive too. Russia can't afford those expenditures. We don't want to compete with the United States military budget," Litovkin said.

According to him and many other military analysts, the Russian military budget and army rearmament is not just a matter of spending. It's helping to upgrade the industry to a higher technological level, it gives permanent jobs to many high-skilled workers and experts, significantly increases the country's GDP and also leads to new businesses.

And Orsis is one example of that.