"Next year, the army will get 30 ballistic missiles...five Iskander (missile) systems, some 300 new armoured vehicles, 30 helicopters, 28 fighter planes, three nuclear submarines, a ship, as well as 11 spacecraft," Medvedev said in his annual address to the nation.

"These measures will allow our armed forces and our allies to deal with any threat," he told officials in a speech at the Kremlin.

Much of Russia's military equipment dates back to Soviet times and the government has in recent years promised extra money for modernisation.

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