Despite Putin’s Rhetoric, Much of Russian Arms Technology Isn’t New

MOSCOW—The nuclear arsenal unveiled by President Vladimir Putin has raised warnings of a new arms race, but with some exceptions the weapons are familiar and illustrate the chronic problems faced by Russia’s arms industry.

Even as a military modernization project has poured billions into the country’s sprawling defense sector, most of the weapons Mr. Putin touted on Thursday before the country’s political elite are little more than souped-up reinventions of Soviet-era defense concepts and armaments Russia already produces.