Details of the long-flagged Kremlin procurement plan through 2020 see Russia acquiring a total of 20 submarines and more than 600 warplanes in place of an outdated fleet of jets and vessels that have been losing international clients.

Analysts said the ambitious plan would in effect create a brand new Russian armed forces that finally cut links with its Soviet past.

"Russia is so unprepared for conventional warfare that its nuclear threshold is quite low -- and the chances of it using nuclear weapons quite high," said military affairs columnist Pavel Felgenhauer. "This lowers the threat of nuclear war breaking out."

The programme revealed by Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Popovkin sees Russia building 100 new ships and acquiring 1,000 helicopters -- figures that would dramatically swell the number of modern and battle-ready craft.

AFP