Fund for Advanced Studies bill introduced in Duma

June 5, 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted a draft law on the establishment of the Foundation for Advanced Studies to the State Duma. This structure is called the Russian analogue of DARPA - the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Vladimir Putin said that the state defense order will allocate a large sum, speaking at a general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences two weeks ago. The president said that scientific organizations, both the Academy of Science and universities, will be actively involved in ensuring the development of innovative companies with state participation and the modernization of the military-industrial complex. Putin mentioned the fact that sometimes some scientific centers appeared as a direct result of a defense order. Government intends to continue this tradition today, allocating 20 B RUR for state defense order till 2020.

In early 2012, Dmitry Rogozin, speaking about the challenges facing the future fund, said that great rearming and navy re-equipping is not possible without the organization of the program of fundamental and exploratory researches in the interests of national defense and security of the Russian Federation. The new fund will be created for ordering and supporting of high-risk breakthrough researches and developments in the interests of national defense and security, as well as the creation of technologies and goods of dual purpose.

Rogozin called the future fund a Russian analogue of DARPA.

DARPA is the U.S. Defense Department agency responsible for developing new technologies for the military use. The mission of DARPA, created in 1958, is to maintain the technological superiority of U.S. forces, preventing the sudden appearance of new technical means of warfare, breakthrough researches support, bridging the gap between basic research and its application in military sphere.