A Russian industry source said the state-owned arms export agency
Rosoboronexport has been awarded a nearly $2 billion contract to upgrade the
T-72 MBT fleet for Libya. Under the contract, Russian contractors would
modernize 200 T-72s for the Libyan Army.
"A 1.3-billion euro deal signed between Russia and Libya this year
includes the modernization of about 200 T-72 tanks which have been in
service with the Libyan Army since the Soviet era,"
the source, said to be close to the Libyan-Russian negotiations, told the
Moscow-based RIA Novosti news agency on July 8.
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Since 2006, Russia has been negotiating with the regime of Col. Moammar
Ghadafi for the modernization of the Libyan military, Middle East Newsline reported. In 2009, Libya signed
several contracts for aircraft and other upgrades, but the T-72 deal was not
reported to have been one of them.
Libya, with a Soviet-origin military, has been deemed a leading arms
market for Russia. In the 1970s and 1980s, Tripoli acquired more than 2,000
tanks, 2,000 armored infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel
carriers as well as 450 self-propelled artillery systems.