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.

“Everything that was announced yesterday, we’re not talking about state of the art technology,” said Vladimir Yevseyev, an expert on Russian rocket forces, adding that Russia has weapons like the Topol missile, which can already penetrate the U.S. missile system.

At a time when Russia is facing budget shortages, the Kremlin is reluctant to get involved in a major arms race with Washington.

Instead it is looking to stick by tried and true large-scale projects that project strength, said Dmitry Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. Oil prices are low and Russia faces sanctions for interference in the U.S. 2016 presidential elections and intervention in Ukrainian territory—both of which Moscow denies.