The Russian military would sign some 2,000 contracts for defense purchases in 2012, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

According to the First Deputy Defense Minister Alexandr Sukhorukov, Russia has prepaid some 60 billion rubles (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) for defense equipment, including 30 strategic Topol-M and Yars missiles, two space satellites, 8,531 land vehicles, 21 warplanes and 82 helicopters.

In addition, Russia plans to buy 60 armored vehicles from Italy, Sukhorukov said.

He said the Russian Army did not need to purchase more light arms and ammunition, as there were enough weapons in the arsenals to arm five million troops while Russian forces numbered only one million in 2011.

The minister said the number of military contracts had been falling year-on-year. There were 3000 contracts signed in 2011 and 12,500 in 2007.

Last year, Russia allocated 1.516 trillion rubles (about 49 billion dollars) for defense purposes, according to the Audit Chamber.