Legal regulation of defense procurement of Russia and the USA in the context of digitalization

Introduction: the article is concerned with the comparative legal analysis of the defense procurement development in Russia and the USA, including that in the aspect of digitalization and application of innovation technologies. The interest for this topic was caused by the circumstance that Russia and the USA hold the leading position on the global defense stage and are the countries with the highest military expenses. The US experience can be of interest to the Russian legislator in certain aspects since in Russia reforms of procurement legislation are ongoing, including through borrowing foreign legal constructions applied in the US. Moreover, we believe that such research is of high relevance now as the military operations in Syria are being conducted and the idea has been pronounced about the possibility of World War III. Purpose: to reveal a number of common and distinguishing characteristics of defense procurement in Russia and the USA, and to compare legal provisions that regulate these systems. Methods: empiric methods of comparison, description, interpretation; theoretical methods of formal and dialectical logic; special scientific methods: juridical dogmatic method and legal norm interpretation. Results: the analysis of Russian and US legislation showed that the approaches of the countries’ legislators to defense procurement regulation are close in general, although the USA have developed a more exact concept of the effective procurement system, both at the doctrinal level and at the level of its practical application. Conclusions: utilization of outdated technologies poses a threat to the national security of the Russian Federation. The technical provision of Russia’s armed forces should satisfy modern safety requirements. One of the possible solutions to this problem can be found in using an innovative system of purchasing in defense procurement.