This article discusses the role of military-economic activity (MEA) of Russia in the conditions of the transitional world order and taking into account the complex international situation. It is noted that the reduction in defense spending, the achievement of high performance and new characteristics of military industry to provide fully national and military security of the country are a priority to improve the efficiency of MEA and occupy a “special position” in the economy and foreign policy of the Russian Federation. The article highlights among the main organizational, economic and technological directions of improving the efficiency of MEA. Particular attention is focused on the problem of import substitution as a factor of ensuring the efficiency of MEA of the Russian Federation. The purpose of this study is to search for opportunities to improve the efficiency of MEA of the Russian Federation in conditions of limited resources and other limiting factors, external and internal. The task of the work is the detection and elimination of weak and bottlenecks of MEA, development of appropriate recommendations. The hypothesis is as follows. We proceed from the fact that the foreign trade of the Russian Federation has internal reserves for optimization through an integrated approach, rationalization of the full cycle of the development and production process, using modern forms and methods of organization. We also believe that it is necessary to take a more rigorous approach to the allocation of funds for various types of national security - military and non-military, and this is not only a problem of "guns and butter". The study used a system-target approach and a method of comparative analysis on the basis of open data on the state of MEA the Russian Federation. The findings are as follows. In order to prevent the dispersion of funds for defense, their "freezing" it requires a clear integrated approach to MEA, the maximum interface issues of financing, military-technical, resource, staffing, storage and operation of the weaponry within a single system cycle. In modern conditions, only an asymmetric approach to MEA is acceptable for the Russian Federation, it should not be an instrument of a “mirror” reflection in arms race with countries significantly superior to the Russian Federation in general economic terms. The feasibility of government military order (GMO) in the scheduled time and in full depends on the quality of the pricing process, its validity and realism. This is especially important taking into account given the instability of the Russian economy at the present stage, problems with inflation, etc. In any case, you need to be ready to cancel a number of projects in the field of weapons or their “transfer to the right”. In the context of limited resources, a comprehensive examination of both individual projects and MEA in general, on the economic and technological feasibility, the need for their implementation to ensure reliable military and national security of the Russian Federation, is of particular importance. In general, the results and the fruitfulness of the study will be possible to speak about with certainty in the case, if the observations and recommendations, put forward in this paper, will be taken into consideration by decision-makers and policy for production be used in practice.