 Russia began to overtake the West in the production of weapons. Russia is outpacing Western countries in arms production, despite the latter's push to provide military support to Ukraine, Russian Trade Minister Denis Manturov has said. In a wide-ranging interview with RIA Novosti, Manturov offered a glimpse into the state of Russia's defense industry, which has switched into a high gear to support the military as the Ukraine conflict is about to enter its third year. According to the minister, Russia's military factories have increased output and delivery rates by 10-12 times for certain categories of material and hardware. Trust me, the numbers are huge, he assured, although he declined to go into specifics citing certain nuances. I don't want to boast, but I can say that we have started picking up the pace in production and we accomplished that earlier than Western countries. How long this race will last? This is another question. Manturov said, adding that Moscow has clear plans for future development. Commenting on Western countries arms production plans, the minister declined to speculate whether they will have enough juice to keep up. For the time being, we are outpacing them, he added. According to Manturov, Russia's defense industry facilities have been operating smoothly, fulfilling at least 98% of all state orders. This is a record. The highest level of fulfillment of state defense orders in the entire modern history of Russia, he said, adding that total output has more than doubled compared to last year.