They Have Well-Developed Managerial Culture, Make Informed Decisions and Firmly Turn Them into Reality

The Minister of State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus (SAMI) congratulated the employees of the central office on the 15th anniversary.
On 29 December, a special event marking the 15th anniversary of SAMI was held at the central office.
Speaking to the employees of the central administration, Minister of SAMI Roman Golovchenko noted that the landmark date is an excellent occasion to look back at the path travelled and to draw conclusions.
Roman Golovchenko reminded that SAMI was established by the Belarusian President’s Decree of 30 December 2003. State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus was designed to keep the potential inherited by the Republic of Belarus from the Soviet defence industry. Then the trends for this were clearly observed.
“In a difficult situation, we have not only retained highly skilled workforce and extensive scientific and production capabilities. We literally have restored the enterprises that were at a loss in the 1990s. We have laid the groundwork and have formed an effective structure that allows the successful implementation of the state policy in the field of development and maintenance of weapon systems and military and special equipment (WSMSE), as well as in the area of military-technical cooperation and export control,” the Minister said. “These priorities were specified as the key ones when SAMI was established,” he added.
“During this short period from a historical viewpoint, the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry passed the stages of formation and development when the number of tasks continuously increased. SAMI has ensured the state’s military security and the growing needs of the Belarusian Armed Forces in equipping with state-of-the-art weapons (systems), and also the implementation of intergovernmental agreements in the field of military-technical cooperation,” Roman Golovchenko said.
Reform measures allowed forming an effective management pattern that would promote dynamic development of the defence industry, building a fundamentally new rational and effective system of interaction with other republican government bodies on the formation of the state defence order. They also helped to enhance the efficiency of state programmes implementation in the field of new and high technologies aimed at launching the production of high-technology military products and meeting the needs of customers for modern WSMSE, in keeping with the policy of the government. These measures allowed SAMI to specify functions, optimise its structure and staff, increase the efficiency, relieve SAMI of overlapping and non-core functions, cut red tape in the process of decision making.
Today, it is safe to say that State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus, as a republican body of state administration, has succeeded.
The Minister noted that the employees of the central office are distinguished by a spacious mind and innovative thinking style, the ability to grasp the trends of any process and to anticipate events. They have well-developed managerial culture, make informed decisions and firmly turn them into reality.
According to Roman Golovchenko, SAMI’s lean professional staff analyses and evaluates the global geopolitical situation and its influence on the development of the arms market. The team of SAMI quickly finds and systematically develops new directions, forms and controls the implementation of the state armament programme and the state defence order. The staff do a great deal of work on analysing the state of Belarusian defence companies. On the basis of this work, they prepare forecasts of companies’ production and technological development and financial and economic growth.
“The activities of the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry as a state customer of the most important weapon development projects are associated with serious achievements – the development of the newest weapons and military equipment, which are capable of reliably ensuring the national security and defence capability of our country. At the same time, we have begun to produce not only arms, but also weapon systems within the framework of integrated projects. It allows the companies to significantly enhance their combat capabilities and competitiveness in the domestic and foreign markets,” Roman Golovchenko pointed out. “I want to note that, fulfilling the task set by the head of state, in many models and areas we have started the full closed-cycle production of promising weapons and military equipment: from vehicles to weapons.
Staying ahead, the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry actively develops those scientific branches (design schools) that today have a development prospect not only in our country, but are progressive in the world, including rocket engineering, space instrument making, electronics, information and communications technologies, and robotics.
Roman Golovchenko stressed that due to the work of thousands of defence companies’ staff SAMI can achieve their purposes, keep the defence enterpises’ standards high and strengthen companies’ export potential.
“In difficult conditions, we managed to move forward. From 2004 to 2017, in US dollar terms there was a 5.6-fold increase in the industrial output (work, services) manufactured by companies that are part of the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry (from $94.3 million to $521.7 million),” the Minister noted. “Companies of the Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry from 2004 to 2017 increased the volume of goods and services exports almost 7 times, and by the end of 2018, according to our forecasts, exports will exceed $1 billion,” he said.
According to Roman Golovchenko, quite a lot has been done, but much more needs to be done – to move to a new stage of development – from the stabilisation, planning and development to the production of high-tech weapons and military equipment, and exports will be increased.
At the end of his speech, the Minister noted the high potential of SAMI, the experience and professionalism of its employees, a clear vision of ways to solve the tasks facing them. Roman Golovchenko presented the employees with the badges marking the 15th anniversary of State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus.