Purpose: the work covers the issues of organizational, methodological and instrumental support of the processes of diversification of organizations and enterprises of the Russian defense industry complex. Based on an analysis of the reasons for the low efficiency of federal targeted programs for the conversion of enterprises and the organization of the military-industrial complex in 1993-1997, proposals for its improvement were formulated.Methods: the methodological basis of the approach considered in the article is to assess the effectiveness of diversification, including both parameters of the use of production capacity and the main results of the production activities of economic entities.Results: the article proposed and justified: 1) the principles of diversification of enterprises and defense industry organizations; 2) tools for assessing the economic consequences, based on justifying calculations of the use of production capacity, determining the need for resources, the volume of capital investments and production areas; 3) action plan (“roadmap”) for the development and production of high-tech civilian products.Conclusions and Relevance: Diversification of enterprises and organizations of the defense-industrial complex of the Russian Federation in most cases (except for dual-use products) requires an investment of a considerable amount of funds. In order to ensure the minimization of the resources required for its fulfillment (amount of capital investments, production space and labor force), the use of the production potential load factor is proposed as a criterion for evaluation of conversion efficiency of military production.