A German company will build a combat training center for the Russian army in the Nizhny Novgorod region, the Defense Ministry announced Thursday, RIA-Novosti reported.

The Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall signed the deal to build the center at the Mulino firing range on Wednesday, the report said.

The cost of the project was not announced, but a similar center built in Germany in 2009 cost 97 million euros ($131 million), the company said on its web site.

"Creation of such a center will help model any tactical situation during combat and give realistic evaluation to activities of a whole brigade's personnel," Irina Kovalchuk, a spokeswoman for the defense minister, said Thursday.

The ministry also invited Rheinmetall to team with the Oboronservis company for a joint venture that would handle support, repair and modernization of military equipment, Kovalchuk added.

The ministry may also purchase Rheinmetall's mobile ammunition disposal systems, she said.

Rheinmetall is a leading German-based producer of military equipment. The company reported net sales of 3.4 billion euros in 2009, with two-thirds being exports.