Russian Air Force News & Discussion

[Haavarla]

Su-34 vs S-MKI.
IF Su-34 somehow could carry one Brahmos on each inner wing pylon, it would mean a huge difference.
Cause then it would mean a total of three Brahmos or two and one EW pod on senter pylon for Su-34.
Anyway this is probably not going to happen.

However I feel the Sy-34 has a more growt potencial in different weapons system vs the MKI..
Su-34 might carry three slightly lighter Brahmos like missiles instead.

And i'm still very interesting to know the fly away price of these two jets..

 

[Feanor]

Interestingly enough they plan to replace up to 70% of the Su-24 fleet by 220. So if 129 aircraft is 70%... then 100% is 184. At the rate they seem to think they can produce them at, the VVS orders will keep the production line running maybe through 2024. After that export orders will be key if the aircraft is to stay in production.

ÐšÐ¾Ð¼Ð¿Ð°Ð½Ð¸Ñ "Сухой" поÑтавит Минобороны более 90 бомбардировщиков Су-34 | Оборона и безопаÑноÑÑ‚ÑŒ | Лента новоÑтей "Ð*ИРÐовоÑти"

Also now that the third S-400 regiment has been delivered to the Baltic Fleet, the fourth regiment is meant for the Far East.

http://missiles2go.livejournal.com/357.html

 

[alexkvaskov]

Read about the upgraded IL-76 and MTA today.. what will RuAF transport aviation look by 2020?

 

[Haavarla]

Looks like the AI-225-25 engines for those Yak's are going forward.
Interesting read at the end of the article.. Fedorov state something about making a combat version of the Yak-130.. is it a singel seater like the proposed Yak-131 or..?

 

 

[Haavarla]

I'm reading the Air International Feb Edition.
Piotr Butowski new article on VVS serial Su-34.

Allthough most of it somewhat logical, the Radar Array Leninets V004 stays the same. But the back-end sh141 have been upgraded continously through out the troublesome(lack of funding) development times.
And even now today the sh141 will see further upgrades, both in more refined multimodes, and newer weapons capabilities.
It is mostly softeware development related though.

The latest upgrade of the sh-141 gives the V004 radar a max detection range of 370km. Quite impressive.

On the engines front, it seems most of the Serial Su-34 does not field the AL-31FM1.
Only 2 or 3 Su-34 are believed to have AL-31FM1 installed.
The main reason is that the Su-34 intended role does not need the extra thrust.
Which is also logical consider the current engines on the older Su-24. Thus also keeping the overall cost down.
Edit: Allthough in various other articles, it is stated the Serial Su-34 has AL-31FM engines..?

But in the future road map, the Su-34 could easily install both AL-31FM1 and AL-31FM2 engines, if needed.

I mention earlier that a new APU has been installed in the back spine. Giving the Su-34 increased power production and service hours.

And last, the proposed Su-34R was to be equipped with the BKR-3(M400) rece-suite, the M402 Pika side radar Arrays, Dal(long distance) signal intel sensors, M433 Raduga(Rainbow) infra-red scanner, Antrakt(Interval) TV camera and photo cameras.

Anyways, the Su-34R proposal got turned down, it proved too costly for such a dedicated role. So Sukhio decided instead to go for a new generation of Rece-pods, currently under development for Su-34.

 

[Twinblade]

I too believe that buying Su-30SM doesn't seem to be a brilliant idea. As of today it falls short of 35's in AtoA and 34's in AtoG but it seems to be a rather good trade off between the two roles at the procurement cost due to economy of scale and speedy delivery by Irkut. Since now HAL would be making most of the assembly kits by itself, Irkut's production run can carry on at the same rate where they last supplied to HAL. I don't know what would be the internal pricing for VVS, but the Indian Su-30 costs $60 million as of late 2011.

PS: Is there any air launched version of Klub or any other similar long ranged cruise missile or is it just an unsubstantiated rumor ?

 

[Feanor]

Coastal variants (truck-mounted) and air-launched are expected, but don't currently exist.

 

[Feanor]

A 3 year contract has been signed with Almaz-Antey for S-300V4 deliveries, to commence alongside the S-400. It appears the PVO SV has decided against the S-400. It would be interesting to see the differences between the S-300V4 and S-400. Supposedly it provides a BMD capability against IRBMs, in addition to being able to engage aircraft.

saidpvo -

 

[Haavarla]

VVS at Red Flag... That'll be the day.

РоÑÑийÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð²Ð¾ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð°Ñ†Ð¸Ñ Ð¿Ñ€Ð¸Ð¼ÐµÑ‚ учаÑтие в учениÑÑ… американÑких ВВС — МинÐороны, ВВС, международные учениÑ, СШР- РоÑбалт

 

[Feanor]

The VVS claims that over 50% of currently in service Su-27s are modernized variants, including the SM3s. Now this leaves 2 options. Most likely this means there are a total of 9 squadrons of Flankers in service, 108 aircraft not counting UBs, and Lipetsk/GLITs, out of the 9, 4 are SM and 1 is SM3. Alternatively this could mean that there are more then 4 SM squadrons, and that the SM program continued, silently, post 2010.

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[Volkan-K]

Putin Proposes Vast Rearmament, Military Reform

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has outlined plans for military reform and rearmament that would see the Russian government spending 23 trillion rubles (some $770 billion) over a 10-year period.

Putin, who will almost certainly win the March 4 presidential election, made the pledges in a lengthy article in the "Rossiiskaya Gazeta" newspaper.

 

[Klaus]

A Ka 52 crashed near its home base at Torzhok. Both crew menbers were killed in the accident. The reason is still unknown, but officials stated that the poor weather conditions probably caused the crash of the helicopter.

 

[Comrade69]

A Ka 52 crashed near its home base at Torzhok. Both crew menbers were killed in the accident. The reason is still unknown, but officials stated that the poor weather conditions probably caused the crash of the helicopter.

I thought one of the main strengths of the KA-52 is that it can perform in the worst weather conditions

 

[Haavarla]

The VVS claims that over 50% of currently in service Su-27s are modernized variants, including the SM3s. Now this leaves 2 options. Most likely this means there are a total of 9 squadrons of Flankers in service, 108 aircraft not counting UBs, and Lipetsk/GLITs, out of the 9, 4 are SM and 1 is SM3. Alternatively this could mean that there are more then 4 SM squadrons, and that the SM program continued, silently, post 2010.

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Most likely, its 4 SM's and 1 SM3 Sq.
The are 1 or two Sq of Su-27S based up North on at Murmansk artic region.
A token that the Russian/Norway artic border are quite low prioritized from the Russian MoD point of view..

However, that could change in the future.

http://www.barentsobserver.com/russ...se-in-norway-a-provocation.5032385-58932.html

 

[Feanor]

Apparently they will be taking delivery of another 3 S-400 units this year. A regiment (2 units) is deploying with the coastal troops to the Baltic Fleet, technically as part of last years state defense order (it's unclear when exactly the handover took place, but the units are there right now).

These units are going to Nakhodka (Far North, on the Arctic Ocean), another to Moscow Region, and another to Voronezh (most likely to provide cover for Baltimore airbase).

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Also the AL-31FM2 is being developed for use on VVS Flankers and Fullbacks. Deliveries are due to start in 2013. It's unclear whether it's meant for new builds or if the VVS has plans to re-engine the SM and Su-34 fleets.

http://arms-tass.su/?page=article&aid=104690&cid=25

EDIT: And another bit of clarification, it looks like they plan to acquire 24 S-300V4 btlns by 2019. This is on top of the 56 S-400s, and iirc 18 S-500s. Quite ambitious especially given the production difficulties they've run into.

http://saidpvo.livejournal.com/35957.html

 

[Feanor]

There is a very full interview by Zelin, with somewhat strange numbers in it. No surprise, the Su-34 will remain in production past the 122 units on order at this time, with plans right now for a total of over 140 aircraft. They're also considering adapting it to be a cruise-missile carrier, capable of carrying strategic nuclear cruise missiles.

An A-100 AWACS will replace the A-50U, and it will also serve as a UAV controller aircraft.

A total over up to 100 Su-35S will be purchased, definitely more then the current contract for 48. It will be purchased side by side with the Su-30SM, and PAK-FA. Also about 100 MiG-31s will remain in service, out of the 252 nominally in service right now. 60 T-50s are planned so far, until 2020.

An-124-300 will be the An-124 variant for the VVS, production of which is being set up at Ulyanovsk. There is also a new aerial tanker planned on the Il-476 airframe (about time). The An-70 will complete development in Ukraine, including most likely production of the first few serial birds, after which production is to be transferred to VASO (Voronezh). The An-140-100 will be the new light transport, and there will be follow on contracts (right now 10 or 11 aircraft have been ordered, it's unclear).

The Ka-52 and Mi-28N will continue production side by side, but the Mi-28N will be the main combat helo.

A very interesting note, the Moscow and Central Industrial Region IADS is now under the control of the Air and Space Defense forces, while the IADS of other parts of the countries is subordinated to their respected Military Districts. This effectively means that for Land Forces there are 4 MDs, but for VVS and VKO there are 5, with the Central Industrial Region forming a separate command.

Flight hours for combat airplane pilots are set at 130 hours (presumably for this year). Last year the average flight hours across the VVS were 90 hours. Young pilots had to get at least 100 hours.

Future structure will have 7 airbases with fixed wing VVS assets, and 14 with Army Aviation (helos).

Full text in Russian is here: 7

What I really have to wonder is the numbers. At this rate it looks like the low end of the future VVS will be Flankers, with the high end PAK-FA. MiG doesn't seem to be getting any orders, save the MiG-31 upgrades, but even those should be completed by 2025 at the latest. There's no word on the fate of the SMTs currently in service.

 

[Haavarla]

Thx for the translation Feanor.

I think most of these figures makes sense.
But i really have to say, 7 future fixed Wing airbases..
That is quite a low figure, for VVS. Consider Russias huge Areal.

About the Mig-35. We do not see any Nato country order new F-16's, no matter how modernized they come.
The Low mix does indeed seems to be Flankers.
This is quite aggresive road map for VVS structure i'd say.

Edit:
VVS 4th Su-35S operational.
This is not recently, so the 5th won't be far off from delivery..

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...58995_166193476752841_967804_2119313743_n.jpg

Note the red b/n.. the Su-35S-01 is blue.. Now go figure..?

 

[Feanor]

These aren't airbases. These are "Air Bases". They're not single locations, rather a single formation, spread over multiple airfields. Look at airbase 7000 right now. Their headquarters are in Voronezh, but a Flanker unit near Petrozavodsk is still part of that airbase (~1000 km away).

 

[Haavarla]

Ah.. i see.
In that case it makes more sense.
Its the same deal with Krymsk Airbase(6972th), it has two Air Bases attached(Millerovo & Krymsk), one with two Mig-29s Sqs and another with a few Su-24M/MR and two Flankers Sqs.

http://www.16va.be/19_gviap_eng_part3.html

There are these new four digit designations which i often confuse, even if i posted the whole VVS structure here before..

Anyway, i count some 12-14 air bases in VVS today, and as you pointed out several of em are attached to one designated group of Airbase.

 

[Klaus]

Interesting that the nubmer of bases will be reduced, as there will only be minor reductions of the number of fixed-wing aircraft until 2020. How many of the future
bases will be situated in the Far East?

Afaik now there are about 165 MiG 29 left in service (as of 2010), 132 MiG 31 (as of early 2012) and some 160 or so Su 27. If the VVS will keep 100 MiG 31, the MiG 29 SMT and some MiG 29S and the upgraded Flankers there would still be around 250-300 legacy fighters togehter with the new Su 30 and Su 35. If they really manage to produce 60 T 50 in that timeframe there wouldn't be less fighters than today.
Remains to be seen whether the MiG 35 will be ordered or not.

What I am more concerned about is the decreasing number of ground attack aircraft.You can't carry out all missions only with attack helicopters supported by a handful of upgraded Su 25.