The Future of the Russian Air Force: 10 Years On

[fatman17]

The Future of the Russian Air Force: 10 Years On

Commentary by RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to overhaul its air force fleet. According to various media reports, the Ministry wants to buy at least 1.500 aircraft, including 350 new warplanes, by 2020. The fleet would include 70 per cent new equipment at that point, said Air Force Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Alexander Zelin.

The state of the warplane fleet which forms the backbone of the Russian Air Force's combat potential remains a major military problem. Russian military aircraft are 25-plus years old, on the average. Consequently, the years warplane fleet may shrink varied considerably in the next 10-15. What aircraft will wield the Air Force by 2020, and the number of planes will be enough for national defense needs?

The Defense Ministry has now signed contracts for the purchase of 32 advanced Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers to be delivered by 2013, 48 Su-35 Flanker-D fighters by 2015, 12 Su-27SM Flanker-B Mod 1 fighters by 2011 , 4 Su-30M2 Flanker-C planes by 2011 and 12 Frogfoot Su-25UBM combat trainers.

This year, the Defense Ministry intends to sign a contract for the delivery of 26 MiG-29K Fulcrum-D fighters by 2015. Additional contracts for the delivery of at least 80 Su-34s and 24-48 Su-35s are expected to be signed. In all, the Russian Air Force is to receive new 240-260 aircraft of these types.

It is hard to say much about the specifications of another 100-110 aircraft, due to be manufactured primarily after 2015th They will probably include 25-30 MiG-35 fighters, another 12-16 Su-30 combat trainers for Su-35 squadrons and 40-60 Sukhoi T-50 PAK FA (Advanced Frontline Aviation Aircraft System) fifth-generation fighters. The T-50's subsequent official designation remains unclear.

Naturally, these 350 fixed-wing aircraft can not completely meet Air Force demand for new equipment. Operational warplanes will therefore have to be upgraded in order to maintain air force combat capability and adequate air fleet standards.

Speaking of revamped aircraft, by 2020 the Air Force will have about 100 fighters Su-27SM/SM2 (now about 50 in service), approximately 80 MiG-31BM Foxhound fighters (now about 10 in service) and approximately 100 MiG-29SM2/SMT fighters (now about 30 in service). Moreover, the Air Force will operate almost 150 upgraded Su-25SM aircraft ground-attack aircraft and probably 50-60 Su-24M2 Fencer-D tactical attack.

The range of strategic bombers will remain the same. The Air Force will continue to operate 16-17 Tu-160 Blackjacks, 60-64 Tu-95MS Bear-Hs, and 60-70 Tu-22M Backfires. Virtually all of them will be overhauled.

The Russian Air Force now has about 2.800 aircraft, warplanes including nearly 1,500. The air fleet is expected to decline further still. Virtually all of un-modernized aircraft will be scrapped at the end of their service life.

Consequently, the Air Force wants to have some 1,500-1,700 fixed-wing aircraft and combat helicopters, including only about 800 warplanes ready. The number could increase if additional state defense contracts are awarded. Options are currently being considered.

Is this enough or not? The industrial world, including Russia, the NATO countries and the United States, continues to scale down its air forces. This is an objective process. The number of newly procured aircraft does not equal the number of planes currently being decommissioned, most of which were built in the 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s.

Such reductions are motivated by some objective factors, including the end of the Cold War and plunging industrial world defense spending (relative to GDP), and subjective factors, including vastly superior modern combat equipment efficiency rendering it unnecessary to replace older aircraft one for one.

A comparison of these statistics with foreign air force modernization that Russia wants to retain data shows the world's second-largest air force after the United States in the next 10 years. Due to slow air fleet renewal rates and the delayed adoption of fifth-generation fighters, the U.S. Air Force will have to reduce the number of its fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from 5,000 to 3,000-3,500, 1,700-2,000 including warplanes.

At the same time, we should not forget that unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) will supersede warplanes in some spheres, primarily reconnaissance missions in the foreseeable future. However, this is an entirely different story.

By Ilya Kramnik, RIA Novosti military commentator

(The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti or defpro.com.)

 

[Luftwaffe]

while the Air Force are shrinking the types such as us, uk and other major players russian is keeping 4+ types i don't understand what's their psyche su27, 30, 34, 35, mig35,mig31, mig25ubm and on and on and the horrible economy and issues with maintenance..

 

[SU50]

while the Air Force are shrinking the types such as us, uk and other major players russian is keeping 4+ types i don't understand what's their psyche su27, 30, 34, 35, mig35,mig31, mig25ubm and on and on and the horrible economy and issues with maintenance..

They believe in quantity. Besides they have already paid for them and their usage life is not over yet.

 

[SU50]

while the Air Force are shrinking the types such as us, uk and other major players russian is keeping 4+ types i don't understand what's their psyche su27, 30, 34, 35, mig35,mig31, mig25ubm and on and on and the horrible economy and issues with maintenance..

+ they have china to the south.

 

[Luftwaffe]

one horrible confused air force

 

[jha]

the thing is that they cant dump them as they still are pretty good, but they cant lag in developing new ones . so it means a lot of planes in a lot of configs....

 

[gambit]

Fly MiG and Sukhoi Fighter Jets in Moscow!

When an air force must resort to giving out tourist flights not much optimism can be said for it.

 

[Moorkh]

its not confusion,

its evolutionary design. they keep improving on previous stuff instead of going for new designs.

this means they will field a large variety of aircraft with an equally large performance difference between them. but the core of the planes will be similar and many spares will be interchangeable. this reduces the logistical problems

 

[ptldM3]

Fly MiG and Sukhoi Fighter Jets in Moscow!

When an air force must resort to giving out tourist flights not much optimism can be said for it.

The US has never given civilian ride-alongs?

Britts:

I can pull these video's up all day.

 

[gambit]

The US has never given civilian ride-alongs?

I can pull these video's up all day.

Did they purchased their flights? Or were their flights permitted as part of morale and public relations campaigns?

Fly Legendary Jets MiG and Sukhoi Fighters in Russia. Tour Packages and Prices.

Su-27 $16,580.00 $18,480.00 $19,200.00

I do not recall prices for Thunderbirds PR flights in my 10yrs of service.

 

[ptldM3]

Did they purchased their flights? Or were their flights permitted as part of morale and public relations campaigns?

Fly Legendary Jets MiG and Sukhoi Fighters in Russia. Tour Packages and Prices.

I do not recall prices for Thunderbirds PR flights in my 10yrs of service.

Some were, no doubt, free but i don't think the airforce or navy would give away free ride alongs to celebrities just because they were celebrities, during the filming of Top Gun the flights were NOT free.

 

[KeenGuy]

 

[Parashuram1]

Kremlin has to first see how fast they can increase their economy's size. The world's largest country has one of the world's smallest populations by ratio and who's armed forces are in their worst condition till now. In order for Moscow to be able to buy off the new project fighters that they are manufacturing, they will have to focus on civilian economy as well.

Depending on natural gas and oil sales alone won't get them to superpower status. With an airspace that size to defend, the current RuAF is in a really terrible shape I must say.

Heavylift transport aircraft engines falling out of the sky, prime air superiority fighters crashing, rust etc found on airframe etc, is not something that suits the image Russia claims it has. Wonder what your president is doing.

 

[ptldM3]

Kremlin has to first see how fast they can increase their economy's size. The world's largest country has one of the world's smallest populations by ratio and who's armed forces are in their worst condition till now. In order for Moscow to be able to buy off the new project fighters that they are manufacturing, they will have to focus on civilian economy as well.

Funny the economy has been increasing every year since 1999 and so has military spending.

Depending on natural gas and oil sales alone won't get them to superpower status. With an airspace that size to defend, the current RuAF is in a really terrible shape I must say.

Bad shape? We are ordering new generation aircraft such as SU-35bm, SU-34, KA-50, not to mention we are working on the pak-fa and a new generation stealth bomber and of course our current fleets are receiving up-grades. Moreover, we have A2G defences such as S-300's and S-400's, you think we arn't capable of defending ourselves? Test us out...see what happens.

Heavylift transport aircraft engines falling out of the sky, prime air superiority fighters crashing, rust etc found on airframe etc, is not something that suits the image Russia claims it has. Wonder what your president is doing.

Yea because only Russian aircraft crash Sorry to rain on your parade but even the most sofisticated western aircraft crash, B-2, F-22, F-15, F-16, F-18 and every other aircraft that has taken to the sky, so why are you singling out the Russians?

 

[gambit]

Some were, no doubt, free but i don't think the airforce or navy would give away free ride alongs to celebrities just because they were celebrities, during the filming of Top Gun the flights were NOT free.

Wrong...PR flights are always free, even to Hollywood celebrities and even local celebrities such as journalists are sometimes permitted. When the US DoD approved assistance for movies, the flights were paid in the sense that fuel and assorted transportation costs are paid by the companies and said approval are contingent upon a positive portrayal of the US military.

The Pentagon Goes Hollywood - TIME

The producers paid the military $1.8 million for the use of Miramar Naval Air Station near San Diego, four aircraft carriers and about two dozen F-14 Tomcats, F-5 Tigers and A-4 Skyhawks, some flown by real-life top-gun pilots. Without such billion-dollar props, the producers would have spent an inordinate amount of time and money searching for substitutes, and might not have been able to make the movie at all.

This is in no way the same context as the current Russian Air Force so desperate for cash to survive that it must pimp out its best aircraft for anyone who has the cash for a simple joy flight. The USAF is not starving, literally or figuratively. There are many movies where no matter the money, the Pentagon refused assistance approval.

But there is a catch. Before a producer receives military assistance for a TV or movie project, the screenplay is reviewed by officials at the Department of Defense and by each of the services involved. The Pentagon ends up rejecting many projects that come its way on the grounds that they distort military life and situations. An Officer and a Gentleman, which like Top Gun dealt with naval aviation training, was turned down because of its rough language, steamy sex and, to the military mind, inaccurate view of boot camp. The Pentagon said no to WarGames because the military contends that a teenage computer hacker could never crack the U.S. strategic defense system.

The Russian Air Force is a pathetic shadow of its former Soviet self. At best, it is only keeping its head above the water.