Russian Airforce News & Discussion

Austin · Nov 27, 2013

Russian defense budget set to grow again

Austin · Nov 27, 2013

Austin · Nov 27, 2013

Russian Government's Non-military Air Fleet: Structure and Procurement Policy

Aleksey Nikolsky

The government air fleet in Russia includes "aircraft used to provide national security, guard and protect strategic facilities, maintain law and order, augment the customs service, support space exploration, strengthen civil defense, and protect the population and territories from natural and man-made disasters, including measures to provide safety on the water and fire safety." This lengthy and awkward definition, which is contained in Article 22 of the Russian Air Code, also determines the list of government agencies that have the right to maintain their own fleet of aircraft. These include the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Federal Protection Service (FSO), the Interior Ministry, the Federal Customs Service, the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), and the Emergencies Ministry. The definition is also vague enough to allow the aircraft operated by regional fire and water rescue services to be counted as part of the government air fleet. The largest fleets, on which this article will focus, are operated by the Interior Ministry, the FSB, and the Emergencies Ministry. Notably, the scope of this article also omits the Rossiya Special Flight Unit, whose remit includes "guarding and protecting strategic facilities" (the FSO service has yet to acquire its own fleet of aircraft ), but whose main reason for being is ferrying top government officials around the country.

FSB air fleet

The first air squadrons of the Main Political Directorate (GPU), the forebear of the modern FSB, were set up back in 1923. For most of their history, the Soviet security agencies' air forces were subordinated to the Soviet KGB Border Troops. At the peak of its numerical strength in 1984, the Border Troops fleet operated 343 planes and helicopters.1 In Soviet times, that fleet consisted of used hardware transferred from the Soviet Air Force. The same was – and still is – true of the fleet operated by the Interior Ministry's Interior Troops. It was only in the late 1980s that the KGB Border Troops were allowed to place orders for new planes and helicopters directly with the suppliers, and to draw up their own lists of requirements and specifications. The first such order was for the An-72P, a specialized patrol modification of the An-72 transport plane.

After the split-up of the KGB in 1991, the air fleet operated by the agency's Border Troops (and consisting of regiments and squadrons, just like the Air Force) was transferred to the new Federal Border Service. After the fall of the Soviet Union, other Soviet republics inherited about 40 per cent of the KGB Border Troops air units, including 130 planes and helicopters, plus 3,000 personnel. As of late 1992, the 18 remaining Border Troops air units (which were subordinated to the Russian Ministry of Security at the time) were supposed to operate 317 planes and helicopters, though in practice they had only 288 aircraft. As of July 9, 1996, 26 independent air units of the Russian Federal Border Service (which was set up in 1994) operated 292 planes and helicopters (six Il-76, 19 An-72; 17 An-24; 18 An-26; two Yak-18, 187 Mi-8; 11 Mi-26; and 32 Mi-24).

In the 1990s the Border Service's air fleet was facing the same problems as the Russian Air Force. Training standards and the numbers of flight hours clocked in by the pilots fell sharply owing to lack of financing and the fleet's poor state of repair. By the mid-1990s only 40-45 per cent of the Border Service's planes and helicopters were operational. Along with the Air Force's military-transport division, the air fleet of the Border Service was allowed by the government to perform commercial flights to prop up its finances in 1990, although the decision was revoked in 1995.

It soon became clear that the FSB (from which the Federal Border Service remained independent in 1994-2003) also required its own air fleet, primarily for moving anti-terrorist units and other personnel around the country. In 1999 the government authorized the FSB to acquire such a fleet. The agency's central directorate set up an air fleet department and an air squadron based in Vnukovo (one of several Moscow airports), consisting of two planes (Tu-134 and Tu-154) and four Mi-8 helicopters – all of them used MoD stock. Col. Nikolay Gavrilov, former chief test pilot of the Border Service's NIITTs testing center, was appointed to lead the new outfit. (Gavrilov has since been promoted to Lieutenant General; he is now the head of the FSB Aviation Directorate).

In 2003 President Putin decided that the Border Service and some of the units of the Federal Agency for Government Communications should once again become part of the main internal security agency, the FSB. The Border Service's air fleet was therefore merged with the much smaller FSB fleet. As part of that reorganization, the government abolished the military structure of the combined FSB fleet, and the Border Service itself became a civilian agency. Most of the FSB air fleet is still being used by the Border Service, so the reorganization of that fleet was modeled to some extent on the coast guard services of Western countries. In particular, that fleet now has a centralized command structure, and its individual units are no longer subordinated to the regional border or security directorates. The old regiments and squadrons have been abolished. In place of regiments, the FSB air fleet now has independent air units (otdelnyy aviatsionny otryad, OAO); the old independent squadrons have been replaced by independently-based aviation groups (OGAB).

At present, two Aviation Centers, based in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk, are subordinated to the head of the FSB Aviation Directorate.

The Novosibirsk Aviation Center includes:

3rd OAO (Novosibirsk)

4th OAO (Chelyabinsk)

9th OAO (Chita, including the OGAB in Kyzyl)

The Khabarovsk Aviation Center includes:

5th OAO (Kamchatka, including the OGAB in Providenie)

6th OAO (Sakhalin)

7th OAO (Artem)

8th OAO (Khabarovsk)

The FSB aviation units based in the European part of Russia (five federal districts) are subordinated directly to the FSB Aviation Directorate, bypassing any intermediary links in the form of Aviation Centers. All the commanders of the air units take their orders directly from the Aviation Directorate or from the chiefs of the Aviation Centers; they are not subordinated to the regional FSB or Border Service directorates.

The following units of the FSB Aviation Directorate are based in the European part of Russia:

1st OAO (Petrozavodsk, including the AGOB in Murmansk)

2nd OAO (Stavropol, including the AGOB in Makhachkala and Kochubeevskoye)

The Special Purpose Aviation Unit (AOSN) in Moscow (the descendant of the former FSB air squadron) based in the Moscow airports of Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo

the FSB Air Base in Yoshkar-Ola (Mariy El Republic), which is essentially a training and testing unit of the FSB Aviation Directorate

The FSB air fleet's tasks include ferrying security officials and important cargos; patrolling and guarding Russia's land and sea borders; patrolling the Russian exclusive economic zone and fighting illegal fishing; and providing support to anti-terrorist units. These tasks dictate the composition of the fleet, which includes transport and passenger planes, patrol planes and helicopters, transport helicopters with attack capability, and special helicopters. The FSB fleet currently operates three Il-76 medium military transports, more than 30 An-26 and An-72 light military transports, and five An-72P specialized naval patrol planes.In addition, the fleet includes 17 Ka-27PS naval search and rescue helicopters; four Mi-26 heavy transport helicopters; and more than 70 Mi-8 helicopters. Most of the Mi-8s are transport versions, but there are also 20 aircraft with attack capability (including the Mi-8MNP-1 and Mi-8MNP-2 modifications).

The Kurgan Aviation Institute, which was subordinated to the Federal Border Service in 1995, was shut down in 2003. At present, pilots for the FSB fleet are trained at MoD facilities.

The FSB Aviation Directorate has the right to place its own orders for new aircraft. Compared with Russia's other buyers of military hardware, its procurement policy is fairly distinctive. Back in the mid-1990s the then Border Service aviation chief, Yuri Shatokhin, showed great interest in several new light aircraft models offered by Russian industry, including the Ansat helicopter and the SM-92 and Be-103 planes. But all three models were still struggling with technical problems. They were obviously not ready for prime time, and the Border Service itself did not have the financial muscle to finance the completion of R&D.

In the mid-2000s the FSB Aviation Directorate once again showed interest in the Ansat and Ka-226 light helicopters. In 2006-2010 it bought two Ansats and four Ka-226s. The plan was to develop a specialized radio-electronic reconnaissance helicopter on the Ka-226 platform, and to buy more than 20 such helicopters. But those plans fell through because both the Ansat and the Ka-226 are still struggling with teething problems. It would not be very sensible for security agencies to operate untried and unreliable hardware; the price of failure due to possible technical problems could be especially high for anti-terrorist units.

The FSB Aviation Directorate currently buys three to five Mi-8 helicopters (transports and special modifications) every year; that number is expected to stay about the same in the coming years. In 2012, for example, the FSB bought four Mi-8MNP-2 helicopters. These are essentially prototypes, based on the Mi-8AMTSh model made by the Ulan-Ude Helicopter Plant. The helicopters had some additional work done on them at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant; two of them were designated as Izdelie 824, and another two as Izdelie 825. Judging from the available photos, the Mi-8MNP-1 and Mi-8MNP-2 modifications are equipped with an optical-electronic station, radio-electronic reconnaissance systems, and the Shturm-VK (AT-6) anti-tank missile system. This makes them quite similar in terms of their capability to Western combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters and American special operations helicopters.

The Border Service and the FSB anti-terrorist units are also planning to buy transport and passenger planes to ferry their personnel and various cargoes around the country. The planes will be bought as part of the government's consolidated procurement program for Russian-made aircraft to 2020. It has been reported that the FSB plans to buy two Tu-204-300, two Tu-214, four An-148 and one Il-76MD-90A planes. These will replace the old and obsolete Tu-134, Tu-154, Il-76 and An-72 aircraft currently in service. The FSB will probably continue to operate the two new Tu-154M planes bought in the 2000s.

By 2020 the FSB is also expected to buy about 10 An-140 transports to replace the old An-24 and An-26. There are no current plans for replacing the An-72P naval patrol aircraft, even though the model's capability is fairly limited. Development of patrol versions of the new An-148 and An-140 planes is still at the very early stages. There are, however, plans for a limited upgrade of the An-72P currently in service. The FSB is also expected shortly to place orders for the repair and upgrade of its Ka-27PS naval SAR helicopters. In addition, the agency will probably place small orders for the Ka-226 light helicopter, though not before the supplier has improved the new model's reliability. These helicopters will be used for special operations; some of them will be based on the new Project 22460 patrol ships.

The FSB Aviation Directorate is known to have placed small orders for tactical unmanned aerial vehicles with several Russian companies (including ZALA and Irkut). It has also shown interest in UAVs offered by Israel's Aeronautics Defense Systems, but no large orders have been placed so far. In 2012 the FSB bought at least one Camcopter Schiebel S-100 helicopter-type ship-based UAV (designed in Austria and assembled by the Gorizont plant in Rostov-on-Don) for the Border Service's Coast Guard. Back in the early 1980s the KGB Border Troops showed interest in such exotic technology as ground effect vehicles (ekranoplanes); that interest persists to this day, but any significant orders for such vehicles are unlikely.

As of July 2013, the FSB Aviation Directorate placed 1.091 billion roubles (35m dollars) worth of orders for aircraft repairs in 2012-2013, based on data from the government procurement website.

As for the procurement of new aircraft, in 2008-2010 the FSB Aviation Directorate took delivery of 12 new Mi-8 helicopters (including 11 Mi-8AMTSh helicopters with extra equipment installed at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, plus one passenger modification of the Mi-8AMT-1) worth a total of at least 3 billion roubles. In 2011-2013 it placed orders for an additional eight Mi-8AMTSh helicopters (with extra equipment installed, including the latest Mi-8MNP-2 modification) worth about 2bn roubles. In March 2013 the FSB invited bids for a contract to supply an An-148-100EA passenger plane, worth 1.43bn roubles, to be delivered in 2014. This will probably be the first of the expected four planes of that type to be bought by the FSB to replace the existing Tu-134 aircraft. Based on this information, the FSB's annual spending on new aircraft and aircraft repairs stands at 2bn roubles at the very most. To illustrate, this kind of money can buy only two new Su-34 tactical bombers used by the Russian Air Force.

Interior Ministry fleet

Unlike the fleets maintained by the FSB or the Emergencies Ministry, the Russian Interior Ministry's fleet of aircraft does not have a central command. It includes two separate divisions: the Interior Troops fleet, and the special-purpose air units (SPAU) of the Interior Ministry's regional directorates. Such units are maintained only by some of the most important (or some of the richest) Russian provinces. The Interior Troops fleet has always consisted of used hardware that previously served with the Russian Air Force (although the ministry has bought a small number of new helicopters in recent years). There is no centralized procurement policy for the SPAU fleet.

Interior Troops fleet

The Interior Troops of the Soviet Union's Interior Ministry acquired their own air units in 1978, when the government perceived the need to protect transport infrastructure in the Far East amid growing tensions with China. At first, those units were equipped with used Mi-8T helicopters reassigned from the Armed Forces. In the 1980s they began to buy new Mi-8 helicopters. The Interior Troops fleet was also augmented by Il-76, An-12 and An-26 transports, Mi-8 transport helicopters, and Mi-24 attack helicopters during the outbreaks of internal conflicts that required the Interior Troops' intervention. This happened in the late 1980s, as well as during the first (1994-1996) and second (1999-2004) campaigns in Chechnya.

There is even less information about the Interior Troops fleet in the open sources than about the FSB fleet. It is known, however, that Interior Ministry air units have retained their militarized structure and names; they are subordinated to the Aviation Directorate of the Interior Ministry's Interior Troops, which is part of the Interior Troops Main Command. The head of the directorate is deputy Interior Troops commander Aleksandr Afinogenov, who previously served with the Russian Air Force. The Interior Troops fleet does not have its own training centers; its pilots are trained at MoD facilities, and then receive additional training at the Krasnodar branch of the Air Force's Military Training and Research Center. Some of the Interior Troops fleet command bodies also exist as part of the Interior Troops regional commands. In addition to airlifting Interior Troops personnel and providing support to Interior Troops ground units during operations in the North Caucasus, the fleet is sometimes used to airlift OMON (riot police) units and even to transport persons taken into police custody in remote regions.

The Interior Troops fleet currently includes four air regiments:

The 1st Independent Air Squadron in Khabarovsk

The 2nd in Chita (part of the squadron is based in Irkutsk)

The 6th in Krasnodar

The 7th in Pushkin, Leningrad Region

The 8th in Engels

The 9th in Yekaterinburg

The 10th in Novosibirsk

The 11th in Voronezh

There is also an Interior Troops combined air squadron in Chkalovskiy near Moscow, and an independently based sub-squadron in Balashikha (Novaya Derevnya), Moscow Region.

The Interior Troops fleet currently operates more than 100 aircraft. Most of them are Mi-8 helicopters (more than 60). There are also up to 10 Il-76 heavy transports; about 20 An-12, An-26 and An-72 transports; several Tu-134 and -Tu-154- planes; and about 10 Mi-24 attack helicopters.

No new aircraft were delivered to the Interior Troops in 1995-2005. Since 2005, at least six new Mi-8MTV-2 and at least one Mi-8AMTSh helicopter were bought for the Interior Troops. In other words, the fleet's procurement program is very small. Nevertheless, the Interior Troops command has shown interest in special modifications of the Mi-8 helicopters (similar to the ones used by the FSB). At some point in the future it also hopes to buy heavy long-range attack UAVs.

Interior Ministry's special-purpose air units

Even though Soviet police began using helicopters back in the 1960s (for monitoring major roads and mass gatherings, searching for fugitives and missing persons, airlifting operatives, etc), for a long time it did not have specialized air units. It leased helicopters (the light Ka-26 and Mi-2 were the most suitable models for such purposes) from the civilian Soviet fleet on a long-term basis, along with the pilots. The regional Interior Ministry directorates of the richest Russian provinces, as well as the turbulent North Caucasus, began to acquire their own air units in the 1990s; the process continued throughout the 2000s. At present, 20 out of Russia's 78 regional Interior Ministry directorates have such units.

In particular, special-purpose air units exist in the Altay, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol and Perm territories; Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Kamchatka, Kemerovo, Omsk, Samara, Sakhalin, Rostov, Volgograd and Voronezh regions; the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Yakutia, Dagestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria; and the cities of St Petersburg and Moscow. There is also a separate unit which serves the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. As a rule, these units' territorial remit includes neighboring provinces; for example, the unit based in Tatarstan also covers the territory of the Chuvash Republic and the Kirov Region.

Up until 2011, the Interior Ministry's Aviation Center made centralized decisions about the development of the police air fleet in Russia. In 2008 the interior minister issued a resolution which approved the concept of the development of the ministry's air fleet to 2015. One of the targets outlined in that concept was that 70 per cent of Russian territory should be covered by the ministry's fleet by 2015. According to former interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, in 2003-2009 the ministry's special-purpose air units generated 4bn roubles worth of economic benefits, which is twice as much as the ministry had spent over that period on buying, repairing and operating the fleet's aircraft. In 2009 these units operated 32 light and medium helicopters (two Eurocopter AS 355, 12 Mi-8T, two Mi-8MTV, three Mi-8AMT, one Mi-2, five Ka-226, and two Robinson R-44), plus one Yak-40 plane. In 2007-2012 the Interior Ministry's air units in Moscow, St Petersburg, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Krasnodar Territory, Volgograd Region and Voronezh Region bought a total of 13 Ka-226 helicopters. The ministry has not placed any orders for the Ansat helicopters.

In 2011 the Interior Ministry's Aviation Center was subsumed by the newly-established Rapid Air Response and Special Task Force Center. The center also includes the OMON Zubr units, which specialize in maintaining public order during mass upheavals and in areas of anti-terrorist operations; the SOBR Rys units, which are called in to deal with armed and dangerous criminals; and the Yastreb special-purpose air unit. The center is subordinated to the Interior Ministry's department for special operations and air units, led by Maj. Gen. Ivan Birnik. The Yastreb air unit is a police air fleet operating in Moscow Region and six neighboring regions in central Russia. The unit is equipped with at least two Eurocopter AS 355 helicopters, an Let L-410 plane, and several Mi-8 helicopters.

Several of the regional special-purpose air units have become much better equipped over the past several years. In particular, the unit in Tatarstan has acquired an L-410 plane and two Robinson R-44 light helicopters. The Baikonur unit has also bought two helicopters of the same type. Many regional units have set up special squads operating Russian-made light UAVs. In 2013 the Interior Ministry plans to buy two Mi-8AMTSh transport and attack helicopters for the special-purpose air unit in Dagestan (worth 357m roubles apiece), and an Mi-8AMT helicopter worth 366m roubles for the Sakhalin unit. This will probably be the Interior Ministry's biggest aircraft contract in recent years. It must be said, however, that there is an obvious lack of transparency as far as spending on hardware for special-purpose air units is concerned. It is quite likely that the Interior Ministry has been buying foreign-made helicopters on the secondary market. For example, in response to a query by the present author, a Eurocopter East representative has said that Eurocopter has not officially supplied a single helicopter to the Interior Ministry - even though the Yastreb special-purpose air unit is known to have been operating two Eurocopter AS 355s since 2007, if not longer. But even taking this into account, the Interior Ministry's annual spending on hardware for its police air fleet, including repairs, is unlikely to exceed 1bn roubles.

Emergencies Ministry air fleet

The Soviet Union's Civil Defense Troops used to operate independent helicopter squadrons, equipped with the Mi-8. Three of those squadrons were transferred to the Russian Emergencies Ministry in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, at present the ministry operates a wholly new type of fleet, which was essentially set up from scratch back in the 1990s and given official status in 1995. Thanks to the political clout of Sergey Shoigu, the current defense minister who played a leading role in the creation of the Emergencies Ministry, that ministry's fleet was equipped almost entirely with new aircraft even during the economic crisis of the 1990s. In fact, the ministry was the launch customer for the very expensive Be-200 amphibious aircraft program. It was also the first Russian government agency to start using foreign-made aircraft, after buying three Bo 105 and two BK 117 helicopters (made by Germany's DASA) in the 1990s.

In 2008 the Emergencies Ministry air fleet was reorganized into the Federal State-Owned Unitary Aviation Company, which is subordinated to the ministry. The company's main base is in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region. It is equipped with Il-76, Il-62, Yak-42 and An-148 transport and passenger aircraft. It also has four regional air rescue centers (which include air units and separately-based sub-units). Two of these centers are in the European part of Russia: one is also in Zhukovsky (equipped with Mi-8 and Ka-32 helicopters), another is in the settlement of Sokol (Nizhny Novgorod Region). There is also the Siberian center in Krasnoyarsk, and the Far Eastern center in Khabarovsk.

The Emergencies Ministry air fleet operates a total of about 70 aircraft, including 19 planes and almost 60 helicopters. In particular, the fleet includes one Il-62M airliner equipped with a special government communications station; two Yak-42; two An-148; six Il-76; six Be-200ChS; two An-3; seven Mi-26; five Ka-32; one Ka-226T; three Bo 105; one BK 117; and about 40 Mi-8 aircraft. The Mi-26 and Ka-32 helicopters, as well as the Be-200ChS planes, are part of the so-called Euro Squadron, a virtual air unit which is often hired by European governments to fight forest fires. In addition, the Emergencies Ministry has long operated a small fleet of light helicopter- and plane-type UAVs.

There was a pause in the procurement of new aircraft in 2005-2009. The ministry then began to buy new planes and helicopters once again after several high-profile incidents, including the terrorist attack that targeted the Nevsky Express train (the Moscow to St Petersburg service) in 2009. The attack highlighted the lack of air cover along what is arguably Russia's most important route. There was also a series of catastrophic forest fires in 2010. The Emergencies Ministry is currently upgrading its hardware in accordance with a 2010 program that covers the period until 2015 and costs an estimated 43bn roubles. New aircraft are the most expensive item on the ministry's shopping list. Under an 11.6bn-rouble contract signed in 2011, the ministry will take delivery of eight Be-200ChS multirole amphibious planes (two have already been delivered) in addition to the four bought in previous years. In 2010 the ministry also signed a 2.5bn-rouble contract for two An-148-100E convertible planes, which were delivered in 2012-2013. In 2009 it placed an order for five Ka-32A-11BC helicopters worth 1.5bn roubles; final deliveries were made in 2012. In 2011-2013 it ordered eight Mi-8MTV-1 helicopters worth 2.1bn roubles; six have been delivered so far. In 2012 the ministry became the launch customer for the Ka-226T light helicopter modification equipped with Turbomeca Arrius engines. It placed an order for one such helicopter, worth 236.2m roubles - but the supplier, Vertolety Rossii (Russian Helicopters) proved unable to deliver by the agreed deadline.

In 2009 the Emergencies Ministry and Vertolety Rossii signed a program entitled "Provision of the Emergencies Ministry airborne rescue units with helicopters". Under the terms of that program, the ministry will take delivery of 185 helicopters by 2020. The aircraft will be used as air ambulances; the priority task is to provide medical assistance to victims of traffic accidents. During the first stage of the program, the ministry will deploy 24 light helicopters (Ansat and Ka-226T). During the second, its fleet will be augmented by 80 medium helicopters (Mi-8 and Ka-32). During the third, it will take delivery of another 43 medium and 38 light helicopters of the same models.

The 14 helicopters delivered to the ministry in 2009 will probably count towards these numbers. There are questions, however, as to whether the whole program is realistic, given its cost of at least 47bn roubles in current prices. That figure, incidentally, includes only the cost of the aircraft; it does not cover the huge expense of deploying the requisite ground infrastructure and of the training programs. In addition, the ministry also plans to buy four Il-76MD-90A transports as part of the government's consolidated aircraft procurement program, plus a Tu-204-300 airliner (probably meant to replace the Il-62M that currently ferries top ministry officials around the country). These five aircraft are expected to cost the ministry an additional 15bn roubles.

This brings the total cost of the aircraft the Emergencies Ministry has ordered since 2009 to 18bn roubles. Its total expenditure on new aircraft in the 2009-2020 period is expected to reach 70bn. If these ambitious plans come to fruition, the ministry will become Russia's second-largest buyer of aircraft after the Air Force (or perhaps the third-largest, after the Rossiya Special Flight Unit operated by the president's office).

Conclusion

When Nikolay Efimov, a senior Soviet spy, wrote to his boss Yosif Unshlikht in 1923 about the need to equip the Soviet secret service with its own air fleet, his proposals were as follows:

"Equipping the GPU troops with aircraft should be done by:

Transferring to the GPU from the Red Army those aircraft that can no longer be used on the front line - or at the very least, those aircraft that are still in service with the armed forces, but cannot take on modern Western aircraft.

Buying new foreign-made aircraft for service in those parts of the country (i.e. in the north) where conditions are too harsh for our own technology."

It is nothing short of astounding that more or less the same approaches were still in use at the end of the 20th century with regard to the air fleets of the Russian security services, the Interior Ministry, and to some extent even the Emergencies Ministry (which was the first government agency to start buying foreign-made light helicopters). After the Russian economy improved in the 2000s, the Federal Security Service (FSB) commissioned the development of several fairly advanced special-purpose helicopters. Meanwhile, the Emergencies Ministry has financed a very expensive program to develop the Be-200 amphibious aircraft, which is used in niche applications. The ministry also has a list of very stringent and innovative requirements for the special versions of mass-produced Russian aircraft, as well as for Russian-made UAVs. The Interior Ministry, on the other hand, hardly generates any business at all for the Russian aerospace industry; most of the aircraft the ministry operates are used hardware that previously served with the Russian armed forces.

Now that Russia has begun a large Air Force rearmament program, the significance of the security agencies and the Interior Ministry as aerospace industry customers is marginal at best. The only possible exception is the Emergencies Ministry, with its ambitious plans of ramping up the fleet of air ambulances.

The FSB and the Interior Ministry currently use various (including specialized) modifications of attack and attack-transport helicopters to support their anti-terrorism operations. In the future, this hardware will probably be replaced by attack UAVs and long-range reconnaissance drones, which Russia is still developing. The companies that are now developing such UAVs for the MoD must also take into account the special requirements of the Interior Ministry and the FSB. These agencies don't have enough money to finance such expensive R&D programs as modern attack drones or new naval patrol aircraft on their own. Even if they demonstrate any such inclination in the future, the government should stop them so as to avoid duplication and waste. But it is very important to make sure that these government agencies are involved in the formulation of innovative requirements for new aerospace hardware, and that their valuable experience of operating various types of aircraft is put to a good use.

Table 1. Repairs of FSB aircraft in 2013-2014

Aircraft Number Cost, million roubles Completion
Tu-134A 1 51.4 2014
An-72P 3 182.1 2014
An-26 2 88 2014
Mi-26 1 119 2014
Ka-27PS 4 149.2 2014
An-26 2 86 2013
Il-76MD 1 153 2013
An-72 1 90.7 2013
Ka-27PS 2 70 2013
Mi-26 1 102 2013
Print version

Austin · Nov 29, 2013

Meeting on developing the Air Force

Vladimir Putin held a meeting on developing Russia's Air Force.

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good afternoon,

Today we will continue what we started yesterday, namely a discussion about carrying out state defence procurement orders, this time in reference to aviation, military aviation.

Professionals are well aware that the role and importance of aviation has been constantly increasing since the First World War. Today aviation – especially in the light of modern technology – accomplishes military, transport and intelligence tasks. And in this regard we have a large programme to develop our military aviation.

This year 86 new aircraft and over 100 new helicopters were commissioned into our Air Force. Next year we expect a further 120 aircraft and about 90 helicopters, and by 2020 our troops should receive about 1,600 – or more precisely 1,591 – samples of the newest aircraft technology. This is how we plan to equip 70 percent of our fleet with the newest technology.

I want to emphasise once again that we have drawn up the plans and allocated the funds; now we need to work. We need to comply strictly with the production, testing and acceptance deadlines, and monitor the quality. Our main producer in Russia is the United Aircraft Corporation. Today we shall see how harmoniously financing is being allocated, and how synchronously businesses are operating.

What are the things I would like to draw attention to? First, it's strengthening strategic nuclear airborne forces. We need to step up work on the new prospective air complex for long-range aviation, PAK DA. Our work on the Sukhoi PAK FA, the prospective airborne complex of frontline aviation, is well underway. Several aircraft are being tested, fine-tuned and refined. We are actively working on next-generation propulsion systems. Naturally, some issues remain open, but I have virtually no doubt that our plans will be completed. But we must start working on the PAK DA and do that actively.

Naturally, we have to continue modernising the Tu-160 and Tu-95MS. You know what we have to work on: electronics and other things too. The potential of these systems is far from exhausted. And with regards to long-range aviation, much can be done to modernise and bring this technology to a higher level.

The second issue is increasing supplies of tactical fighter aircraft, I mean the Su-25SM and Su-34, fifth-generation fighters that I have already mentioned.

And the third thing is developing and expanding promising unmanned systems. They are used increasingly often throughout the world. We will not be doing it like some other countries do. This is no game, it is not computer games, but rather serious military aircraft designed for both strikes and intelligence. And it is quite clear that they have good prospects. We must not only think about this, but also make all these plans a reality.

Let's talk about all these topics.

TrueSpirit1 · Nov 29, 2013

Austin said:
Russian Government's Non-military Air Fleet: Structure and Procurement Policy

Aleksey Nikolsky

The government air fleet in Russia includes "aircraft used to provide national security, guard and protect strategic facilities, maintain law and order, augment the customs service, support space exploration, strengthen civil defense, and protect the population and territories from natural and man-made disasters, including measures to provide safety on the water and fire safety." This lengthy and awkward definition, which is contained in Article 22 of the Russian Air Code, also determines the list of government agencies that have the right to maintain their own fleet of aircraft. These include the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Federal Protection Service (FSO), the Interior Ministry, the Federal Customs Service, the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), and the Emergencies Ministry. The definition is also vague enough to allow the aircraft operated by regional fire and water rescue services to be counted as part of the government air fleet. The largest fleets, on which this article will focus, are operated by the Interior Ministry, the FSB, and the Emergencies Ministry. Notably, the scope of this article also omits the Rossiya Special Flight Unit, whose remit includes "guarding and protecting strategic facilities" (the FSO service has yet to acquire its own fleet of aircraft ), but whose main reason for being is ferrying top government officials around the country.

FSB air fleet

The first air squadrons of the Main Political Directorate (GPU), the forebear of the modern FSB, were set up back in 1923. For most of their history, the Soviet security agencies' air forces were subordinated to the Soviet KGB Border Troops. At the peak of its numerical strength in 1984, the Border Troops fleet operated 343 planes and helicopters.1 In Soviet times, that fleet consisted of used hardware transferred from the Soviet Air Force. The same was – and still is – true of the fleet operated by the Interior Ministry's Interior Troops. It was only in the late 1980s that the KGB Border Troops were allowed to place orders for new planes and helicopters directly with the suppliers, and to draw up their own lists of requirements and specifications. The first such order was for the An-72P, a specialized patrol modification of the An-72 transport plane.

After the split-up of the KGB in 1991, the air fleet operated by the agency's Border Troops (and consisting of regiments and squadrons, just like the Air Force) was transferred to the new Federal Border Service. After the fall of the Soviet Union, other Soviet republics inherited about 40 per cent of the KGB Border Troops air units, including 130 planes and helicopters, plus 3,000 personnel. As of late 1992, the 18 remaining Border Troops air units (which were subordinated to the Russian Ministry of Security at the time) were supposed to operate 317 planes and helicopters, though in practice they had only 288 aircraft. As of July 9, 1996, 26 independent air units of the Russian Federal Border Service (which was set up in 1994) operated 292 planes and helicopters (six Il-76, 19 An-72; 17 An-24; 18 An-26; two Yak-18, 187 Mi-8; 11 Mi-26; and 32 Mi-24).

In the 1990s the Border Service's air fleet was facing the same problems as the Russian Air Force. Training standards and the numbers of flight hours clocked in by the pilots fell sharply owing to lack of financing and the fleet's poor state of repair. By the mid-1990s only 40-45 per cent of the Border Service's planes and helicopters were operational. Along with the Air Force's military-transport division, the air fleet of the Border Service was allowed by the government to perform commercial flights to prop up its finances in 1990, although the decision was revoked in 1995.

It soon became clear that the FSB (from which the Federal Border Service remained independent in 1994-2003) also required its own air fleet, primarily for moving anti-terrorist units and other personnel around the country. In 1999 the government authorized the FSB to acquire such a fleet. The agency's central directorate set up an air fleet department and an air squadron based in Vnukovo (one of several Moscow airports), consisting of two planes (Tu-134 and Tu-154) and four Mi-8 helicopters – all of them used MoD stock. Col. Nikolay Gavrilov, former chief test pilot of the Border Service's NIITTs testing center, was appointed to lead the new outfit. (Gavrilov has since been promoted to Lieutenant General; he is now the head of the FSB Aviation Directorate).

In 2003 President Putin decided that the Border Service and some of the units of the Federal Agency for Government Communications should once again become part of the main internal security agency, the FSB. The Border Service's air fleet was therefore merged with the much smaller FSB fleet. As part of that reorganization, the government abolished the military structure of the combined FSB fleet, and the Border Service itself became a civilian agency. Most of the FSB air fleet is still being used by the Border Service, so the reorganization of that fleet was modeled to some extent on the coast guard services of Western countries. In particular, that fleet now has a centralized command structure, and its individual units are no longer subordinated to the regional border or security directorates. The old regiments and squadrons have been abolished. In place of regiments, the FSB air fleet now has independent air units (otdelnyy aviatsionny otryad, OAO); the old independent squadrons have been replaced by independently-based aviation groups (OGAB).

At present, two Aviation Centers, based in Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk, are subordinated to the head of the FSB Aviation Directorate.

The Novosibirsk Aviation Center includes:

3rd OAO (Novosibirsk)

4th OAO (Chelyabinsk)

9th OAO (Chita, including the OGAB in Kyzyl)

The Khabarovsk Aviation Center includes:

5th OAO (Kamchatka, including the OGAB in Providenie)

6th OAO (Sakhalin)

7th OAO (Artem)

8th OAO (Khabarovsk)

The FSB aviation units based in the European part of Russia (five federal districts) are subordinated directly to the FSB Aviation Directorate, bypassing any intermediary links in the form of Aviation Centers. All the commanders of the air units take their orders directly from the Aviation Directorate or from the chiefs of the Aviation Centers; they are not subordinated to the regional FSB or Border Service directorates.

The following units of the FSB Aviation Directorate are based in the European part of Russia:

1st OAO (Petrozavodsk, including the AGOB in Murmansk)

2nd OAO (Stavropol, including the AGOB in Makhachkala and Kochubeevskoye)

The Special Purpose Aviation Unit (AOSN) in Moscow (the descendant of the former FSB air squadron) based in the Moscow airports of Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo

the FSB Air Base in Yoshkar-Ola (Mariy El Republic), which is essentially a training and testing unit of the FSB Aviation Directorate

The FSB air fleet's tasks include ferrying security officials and important cargos; patrolling and guarding Russia's land and sea borders; patrolling the Russian exclusive economic zone and fighting illegal fishing; and providing support to anti-terrorist units. These tasks dictate the composition of the fleet, which includes transport and passenger planes, patrol planes and helicopters, transport helicopters with attack capability, and special helicopters. The FSB fleet currently operates three Il-76 medium military transports, more than 30 An-26 and An-72 light military transports, and five An-72P specialized naval patrol planes.In addition, the fleet includes 17 Ka-27PS naval search and rescue helicopters; four Mi-26 heavy transport helicopters; and more than 70 Mi-8 helicopters. Most of the Mi-8s are transport versions, but there are also 20 aircraft with attack capability (including the Mi-8MNP-1 and Mi-8MNP-2 modifications).

The Kurgan Aviation Institute, which was subordinated to the Federal Border Service in 1995, was shut down in 2003. At present, pilots for the FSB fleet are trained at MoD facilities.

The FSB Aviation Directorate has the right to place its own orders for new aircraft. Compared with Russia's other buyers of military hardware, its procurement policy is fairly distinctive. Back in the mid-1990s the then Border Service aviation chief, Yuri Shatokhin, showed great interest in several new light aircraft models offered by Russian industry, including the Ansat helicopter and the SM-92 and Be-103 planes. But all three models were still struggling with technical problems. They were obviously not ready for prime time, and the Border Service itself did not have the financial muscle to finance the completion of R&D.

In the mid-2000s the FSB Aviation Directorate once again showed interest in the Ansat and Ka-226 light helicopters. In 2006-2010 it bought two Ansats and four Ka-226s. The plan was to develop a specialized radio-electronic reconnaissance helicopter on the Ka-226 platform, and to buy more than 20 such helicopters. But those plans fell through because both the Ansat and the Ka-226 are still struggling with teething problems. It would not be very sensible for security agencies to operate untried and unreliable hardware; the price of failure due to possible technical problems could be especially high for anti-terrorist units.

The FSB Aviation Directorate currently buys three to five Mi-8 helicopters (transports and special modifications) every year; that number is expected to stay about the same in the coming years. In 2012, for example, the FSB bought four Mi-8MNP-2 helicopters. These are essentially prototypes, based on the Mi-8AMTSh model made by the Ulan-Ude Helicopter Plant. The helicopters had some additional work done on them at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant; two of them were designated as Izdelie 824, and another two as Izdelie 825. Judging from the available photos, the Mi-8MNP-1 and Mi-8MNP-2 modifications are equipped with an optical-electronic station, radio-electronic reconnaissance systems, and the Shturm-VK (AT-6) anti-tank missile system. This makes them quite similar in terms of their capability to Western combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters and American special operations helicopters.

The Border Service and the FSB anti-terrorist units are also planning to buy transport and passenger planes to ferry their personnel and various cargoes around the country. The planes will be bought as part of the government's consolidated procurement program for Russian-made aircraft to 2020. It has been reported that the FSB plans to buy two Tu-204-300, two Tu-214, four An-148 and one Il-76MD-90A planes. These will replace the old and obsolete Tu-134, Tu-154, Il-76 and An-72 aircraft currently in service. The FSB will probably continue to operate the two new Tu-154M planes bought in the 2000s.

By 2020 the FSB is also expected to buy about 10 An-140 transports to replace the old An-24 and An-26. There are no current plans for replacing the An-72P naval patrol aircraft, even though the model's capability is fairly limited. Development of patrol versions of the new An-148 and An-140 planes is still at the very early stages. There are, however, plans for a limited upgrade of the An-72P currently in service. The FSB is also expected shortly to place orders for the repair and upgrade of its Ka-27PS naval SAR helicopters. In addition, the agency will probably place small orders for the Ka-226 light helicopter, though not before the supplier has improved the new model's reliability. These helicopters will be used for special operations; some of them will be based on the new Project 22460 patrol ships.

The FSB Aviation Directorate is known to have placed small orders for tactical unmanned aerial vehicles with several Russian companies (including ZALA and Irkut). It has also shown interest in UAVs offered by Israel's Aeronautics Defense Systems, but no large orders have been placed so far. In 2012 the FSB bought at least one Camcopter Schiebel S-100 helicopter-type ship-based UAV (designed in Austria and assembled by the Gorizont plant in Rostov-on-Don) for the Border Service's Coast Guard. Back in the early 1980s the KGB Border Troops showed interest in such exotic technology as ground effect vehicles (ekranoplanes); that interest persists to this day, but any significant orders for such vehicles are unlikely.

As of July 2013, the FSB Aviation Directorate placed 1.091 billion roubles (35m dollars) worth of orders for aircraft repairs in 2012-2013, based on data from the government procurement website.

As for the procurement of new aircraft, in 2008-2010 the FSB Aviation Directorate took delivery of 12 new Mi-8 helicopters (including 11 Mi-8AMTSh helicopters with extra equipment installed at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, plus one passenger modification of the Mi-8AMT-1) worth a total of at least 3 billion roubles. In 2011-2013 it placed orders for an additional eight Mi-8AMTSh helicopters (with extra equipment installed, including the latest Mi-8MNP-2 modification) worth about 2bn roubles. In March 2013 the FSB invited bids for a contract to supply an An-148-100EA passenger plane, worth 1.43bn roubles, to be delivered in 2014. This will probably be the first of the expected four planes of that type to be bought by the FSB to replace the existing Tu-134 aircraft. Based on this information, the FSB's annual spending on new aircraft and aircraft repairs stands at 2bn roubles at the very most. To illustrate, this kind of money can buy only two new Su-34 tactical bombers used by the Russian Air Force.

Interior Ministry fleet

Unlike the fleets maintained by the FSB or the Emergencies Ministry, the Russian Interior Ministry's fleet of aircraft does not have a central command. It includes two separate divisions: the Interior Troops fleet, and the special-purpose air units (SPAU) of the Interior Ministry's regional directorates. Such units are maintained only by some of the most important (or some of the richest) Russian provinces. The Interior Troops fleet has always consisted of used hardware that previously served with the Russian Air Force (although the ministry has bought a small number of new helicopters in recent years). There is no centralized procurement policy for the SPAU fleet.

Interior Troops fleet

The Interior Troops of the Soviet Union's Interior Ministry acquired their own air units in 1978, when the government perceived the need to protect transport infrastructure in the Far East amid growing tensions with China. At first, those units were equipped with used Mi-8T helicopters reassigned from the Armed Forces. In the 1980s they began to buy new Mi-8 helicopters. The Interior Troops fleet was also augmented by Il-76, An-12 and An-26 transports, Mi-8 transport helicopters, and Mi-24 attack helicopters during the outbreaks of internal conflicts that required the Interior Troops' intervention. This happened in the late 1980s, as well as during the first (1994-1996) and second (1999-2004) campaigns in Chechnya.

There is even less information about the Interior Troops fleet in the open sources than about the FSB fleet. It is known, however, that Interior Ministry air units have retained their militarized structure and names; they are subordinated to the Aviation Directorate of the Interior Ministry's Interior Troops, which is part of the Interior Troops Main Command. The head of the directorate is deputy Interior Troops commander Aleksandr Afinogenov, who previously served with the Russian Air Force. The Interior Troops fleet does not have its own training centers; its pilots are trained at MoD facilities, and then receive additional training at the Krasnodar branch of the Air Force's Military Training and Research Center. Some of the Interior Troops fleet command bodies also exist as part of the Interior Troops regional commands. In addition to airlifting Interior Troops personnel and providing support to Interior Troops ground units during operations in the North Caucasus, the fleet is sometimes used to airlift OMON (riot police) units and even to transport persons taken into police custody in remote regions.

The Interior Troops fleet currently includes four air regiments:

The 1st Independent Air Squadron in Khabarovsk

The 2nd in Chita (part of the squadron is based in Irkutsk)

The 6th in Krasnodar

The 7th in Pushkin, Leningrad Region

The 8th in Engels

The 9th in Yekaterinburg

The 10th in Novosibirsk

The 11th in Voronezh

There is also an Interior Troops combined air squadron in Chkalovskiy near Moscow, and an independently based sub-squadron in Balashikha (Novaya Derevnya), Moscow Region.

The Interior Troops fleet currently operates more than 100 aircraft. Most of them are Mi-8 helicopters (more than 60). There are also up to 10 Il-76 heavy transports; about 20 An-12, An-26 and An-72 transports; several Tu-134 and -Tu-154- planes; and about 10 Mi-24 attack helicopters.

No new aircraft were delivered to the Interior Troops in 1995-2005. Since 2005, at least six new Mi-8MTV-2 and at least one Mi-8AMTSh helicopter were bought for the Interior Troops. In other words, the fleet's procurement program is very small. Nevertheless, the Interior Troops command has shown interest in special modifications of the Mi-8 helicopters (similar to the ones used by the FSB). At some point in the future it also hopes to buy heavy long-range attack UAVs.

Interior Ministry's special-purpose air units

Even though Soviet police began using helicopters back in the 1960s (for monitoring major roads and mass gatherings, searching for fugitives and missing persons, airlifting operatives, etc), for a long time it did not have specialized air units. It leased helicopters (the light Ka-26 and Mi-2 were the most suitable models for such purposes) from the civilian Soviet fleet on a long-term basis, along with the pilots. The regional Interior Ministry directorates of the richest Russian provinces, as well as the turbulent North Caucasus, began to acquire their own air units in the 1990s; the process continued throughout the 2000s. At present, 20 out of Russia's 78 regional Interior Ministry directorates have such units.

In particular, special-purpose air units exist in the Altay, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol and Perm territories; Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Kamchatka, Kemerovo, Omsk, Samara, Sakhalin, Rostov, Volgograd and Voronezh regions; the republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Yakutia, Dagestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria; and the cities of St Petersburg and Moscow. There is also a separate unit which serves the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. As a rule, these units' territorial remit includes neighboring provinces; for example, the unit based in Tatarstan also covers the territory of the Chuvash Republic and the Kirov Region.

Up until 2011, the Interior Ministry's Aviation Center made centralized decisions about the development of the police air fleet in Russia. In 2008 the interior minister issued a resolution which approved the concept of the development of the ministry's air fleet to 2015. One of the targets outlined in that concept was that 70 per cent of Russian territory should be covered by the ministry's fleet by 2015. According to former interior minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, in 2003-2009 the ministry's special-purpose air units generated 4bn roubles worth of economic benefits, which is twice as much as the ministry had spent over that period on buying, repairing and operating the fleet's aircraft. In 2009 these units operated 32 light and medium helicopters (two Eurocopter AS 355, 12 Mi-8T, two Mi-8MTV, three Mi-8AMT, one Mi-2, five Ka-226, and two Robinson R-44), plus one Yak-40 plane. In 2007-2012 the Interior Ministry's air units in Moscow, St Petersburg, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Kabardino-Balkaria, Krasnodar Territory, Volgograd Region and Voronezh Region bought a total of 13 Ka-226 helicopters. The ministry has not placed any orders for the Ansat helicopters.

In 2011 the Interior Ministry's Aviation Center was subsumed by the newly-established Rapid Air Response and Special Task Force Center. The center also includes the OMON Zubr units, which specialize in maintaining public order during mass upheavals and in areas of anti-terrorist operations; the SOBR Rys units, which are called in to deal with armed and dangerous criminals; and the Yastreb special-purpose air unit. The center is subordinated to the Interior Ministry's department for special operations and air units, led by Maj. Gen. Ivan Birnik. The Yastreb air unit is a police air fleet operating in Moscow Region and six neighboring regions in central Russia. The unit is equipped with at least two Eurocopter AS 355 helicopters, an Let L-410 plane, and several Mi-8 helicopters.

Several of the regional special-purpose air units have become much better equipped over the past several years. In particular, the unit in Tatarstan has acquired an L-410 plane and two Robinson R-44 light helicopters. The Baikonur unit has also bought two helicopters of the same type. Many regional units have set up special squads operating Russian-made light UAVs. In 2013 the Interior Ministry plans to buy two Mi-8AMTSh transport and attack helicopters for the special-purpose air unit in Dagestan (worth 357m roubles apiece), and an Mi-8AMT helicopter worth 366m roubles for the Sakhalin unit. This will probably be the Interior Ministry's biggest aircraft contract in recent years. It must be said, however, that there is an obvious lack of transparency as far as spending on hardware for special-purpose air units is concerned. It is quite likely that the Interior Ministry has been buying foreign-made helicopters on the secondary market. For example, in response to a query by the present author, a Eurocopter East representative has said that Eurocopter has not officially supplied a single helicopter to the Interior Ministry - even though the Yastreb special-purpose air unit is known to have been operating two Eurocopter AS 355s since 2007, if not longer. But even taking this into account, the Interior Ministry's annual spending on hardware for its police air fleet, including repairs, is unlikely to exceed 1bn roubles.

Emergencies Ministry air fleet

The Soviet Union's Civil Defense Troops used to operate independent helicopter squadrons, equipped with the Mi-8. Three of those squadrons were transferred to the Russian Emergencies Ministry in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, at present the ministry operates a wholly new type of fleet, which was essentially set up from scratch back in the 1990s and given official status in 1995. Thanks to the political clout of Sergey Shoigu, the current defense minister who played a leading role in the creation of the Emergencies Ministry, that ministry's fleet was equipped almost entirely with new aircraft even during the economic crisis of the 1990s. In fact, the ministry was the launch customer for the very expensive Be-200 amphibious aircraft program. It was also the first Russian government agency to start using foreign-made aircraft, after buying three Bo 105 and two BK 117 helicopters (made by Germany's DASA) in the 1990s.

In 2008 the Emergencies Ministry air fleet was reorganized into the Federal State-Owned Unitary Aviation Company, which is subordinated to the ministry. The company's main base is in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region. It is equipped with Il-76, Il-62, Yak-42 and An-148 transport and passenger aircraft. It also has four regional air rescue centers (which include air units and separately-based sub-units). Two of these centers are in the European part of Russia: one is also in Zhukovsky (equipped with Mi-8 and Ka-32 helicopters), another is in the settlement of Sokol (Nizhny Novgorod Region). There is also the Siberian center in Krasnoyarsk, and the Far Eastern center in Khabarovsk.

The Emergencies Ministry air fleet operates a total of about 70 aircraft, including 19 planes and almost 60 helicopters. In particular, the fleet includes one Il-62M airliner equipped with a special government communications station; two Yak-42; two An-148; six Il-76; six Be-200ChS; two An-3; seven Mi-26; five Ka-32; one Ka-226T; three Bo 105; one BK 117; and about 40 Mi-8 aircraft. The Mi-26 and Ka-32 helicopters, as well as the Be-200ChS planes, are part of the so-called Euro Squadron, a virtual air unit which is often hired by European governments to fight forest fires. In addition, the Emergencies Ministry has long operated a small fleet of light helicopter- and plane-type UAVs.

There was a pause in the procurement of new aircraft in 2005-2009. The ministry then began to buy new planes and helicopters once again after several high-profile incidents, including the terrorist attack that targeted the Nevsky Express train (the Moscow to St Petersburg service) in 2009. The attack highlighted the lack of air cover along what is arguably Russia's most important route. There was also a series of catastrophic forest fires in 2010. The Emergencies Ministry is currently upgrading its hardware in accordance with a 2010 program that covers the period until 2015 and costs an estimated 43bn roubles. New aircraft are the most expensive item on the ministry's shopping list. Under an 11.6bn-rouble contract signed in 2011, the ministry will take delivery of eight Be-200ChS multirole amphibious planes (two have already been delivered) in addition to the four bought in previous years. In 2010 the ministry also signed a 2.5bn-rouble contract for two An-148-100E convertible planes, which were delivered in 2012-2013. In 2009 it placed an order for five Ka-32A-11BC helicopters worth 1.5bn roubles; final deliveries were made in 2012. In 2011-2013 it ordered eight Mi-8MTV-1 helicopters worth 2.1bn roubles; six have been delivered so far. In 2012 the ministry became the launch customer for the Ka-226T light helicopter modification equipped with Turbomeca Arrius engines. It placed an order for one such helicopter, worth 236.2m roubles - but the supplier, Vertolety Rossii (Russian Helicopters) proved unable to deliver by the agreed deadline.

In 2009 the Emergencies Ministry and Vertolety Rossii signed a program entitled "Provision of the Emergencies Ministry airborne rescue units with helicopters". Under the terms of that program, the ministry will take delivery of 185 helicopters by 2020. The aircraft will be used as air ambulances; the priority task is to provide medical assistance to victims of traffic accidents. During the first stage of the program, the ministry will deploy 24 light helicopters (Ansat and Ka-226T). During the second, its fleet will be augmented by 80 medium helicopters (Mi-8 and Ka-32). During the third, it will take delivery of another 43 medium and 38 light helicopters of the same models.

The 14 helicopters delivered to the ministry in 2009 will probably count towards these numbers. There are questions, however, as to whether the whole program is realistic, given its cost of at least 47bn roubles in current prices. That figure, incidentally, includes only the cost of the aircraft; it does not cover the huge expense of deploying the requisite ground infrastructure and of the training programs. In addition, the ministry also plans to buy four Il-76MD-90A transports as part of the government's consolidated aircraft procurement program, plus a Tu-204-300 airliner (probably meant to replace the Il-62M that currently ferries top ministry officials around the country). These five aircraft are expected to cost the ministry an additional 15bn roubles.

This brings the total cost of the aircraft the Emergencies Ministry has ordered since 2009 to 18bn roubles. Its total expenditure on new aircraft in the 2009-2020 period is expected to reach 70bn. If these ambitious plans come to fruition, the ministry will become Russia's second-largest buyer of aircraft after the Air Force (or perhaps the third-largest, after the Rossiya Special Flight Unit operated by the president's office).

Conclusion

When Nikolay Efimov, a senior Soviet spy, wrote to his boss Yosif Unshlikht in 1923 about the need to equip the Soviet secret service with its own air fleet, his proposals were as follows:

"Equipping the GPU troops with aircraft should be done by:

Transferring to the GPU from the Red Army those aircraft that can no longer be used on the front line - or at the very least, those aircraft that are still in service with the armed forces, but cannot take on modern Western aircraft.

Buying new foreign-made aircraft for service in those parts of the country (i.e. in the north) where conditions are too harsh for our own technology."

It is nothing short of astounding that more or less the same approaches were still in use at the end of the 20th century with regard to the air fleets of the Russian security services, the Interior Ministry, and to some extent even the Emergencies Ministry (which was the first government agency to start buying foreign-made light helicopters). After the Russian economy improved in the 2000s, the Federal Security Service (FSB) commissioned the development of several fairly advanced special-purpose helicopters. Meanwhile, the Emergencies Ministry has financed a very expensive program to develop the Be-200 amphibious aircraft, which is used in niche applications. The ministry also has a list of very stringent and innovative requirements for the special versions of mass-produced Russian aircraft, as well as for Russian-made UAVs. The Interior Ministry, on the other hand, hardly generates any business at all for the Russian aerospace industry; most of the aircraft the ministry operates are used hardware that previously served with the Russian armed forces.

Now that Russia has begun a large Air Force rearmament program, the significance of the security agencies and the Interior Ministry as aerospace industry customers is marginal at best. The only possible exception is the Emergencies Ministry, with its ambitious plans of ramping up the fleet of air ambulances.

The FSB and the Interior Ministry currently use various (including specialized) modifications of attack and attack-transport helicopters to support their anti-terrorism operations. In the future, this hardware will probably be replaced by attack UAVs and long-range reconnaissance drones, which Russia is still developing. The companies that are now developing such UAVs for the MoD must also take into account the special requirements of the Interior Ministry and the FSB. These agencies don't have enough money to finance such expensive R&D programs as modern attack drones or new naval patrol aircraft on their own. Even if they demonstrate any such inclination in the future, the government should stop them so as to avoid duplication and waste. But it is very important to make sure that these government agencies are involved in the formulation of innovative requirements for new aerospace hardware, and that their valuable experience of operating various types of aircraft is put to a good use.

Table 1. Repairs of FSB aircraft in 2013-2014

Aircraft Number Cost, million roubles Completion
Tu-134A 1 51.4 2014
An-72P 3 182.1 2014
An-26 2 88 2014
Mi-26 1 119 2014
Ka-27PS 4 149.2 2014
An-26 2 86 2013
Il-76MD 1 153 2013
An-72 1 90.7 2013
Ka-27PS 2 70 2013
Mi-26 1 102 2013
Print version

Thanks for the enlightening article. Most people here would benefit from such extensive details...still going through it.

Austin · Dec 4, 2013

New OTH Radar CONTAINER deployed

Video ---> Cnt0312 - YouTube
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Austin · Dec 4, 2013

Interview with chief designer Valentin Strelkin station on container radar

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At the moment we are seeing the traffic situation over Europe. Relatively speaking, our station sees the tactical aviation located at NATO air bases, to the Channel - he commented. - We see a lot of air targets, track their trajectory and motion parameters, what type of a particular aircraft, military or civilian, he, single target or group. My goal as a commander of duty forces -

And I must say that the intensity of a new radar ZGO increased in the last two years. In 2014, we expect to increase the combat capabilities of the station "container." Already next year its characteristics will increase. In the future, one such radar ZGO will "see" all aerodynamic targets, including small-size aircraft at a distance of up to 3,000 km, an azimuth of 240 degrees.

Austin · Dec 9, 2013

Piotr Butowski "Hip replacement: rationalised Mi-38 project moves forward ( International Defence Review )

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Austin · Dec 9, 2013

Domestic aviation industry in 2015 ordered 83 boards
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Initial plans aircraft production reduced by 15%

In the federal target program "Development of civil aircraft in Russia until 2015" the government amended. The updated plans domestic enterprises produce 83 units of aircraft. Including 50 SuperJet-100 aircraft, 19 helicopters Ka-62, 6 - Mi-38 and other machines.

As noted in the development of aviation technology program, Russian aircraft industry enterprises have to get to the domestic and foreign aviation market new models of planes and helicopters before foreign competitors will open serial production counterparts. To perform this task provided "additional funds for the implementation of key projects in the final stages, and a number of new projects of innovative character."

This reduces the target of annual production in the Russian aircraft by 2015 with 95-100 aircraft to 83 planes and helicopters. Sales volumes of aircraft and helicopters by this time should make 107.6 billion rubles, sales of aircraft engines - 48.4 billion rubles a year.

Funding for the program in 2012-2015 is planned in the amount of 241,698 million rubles (including 170,896 million rubles from the federal budget and 70 802 million rubles from extrabudgetary sources). The volume of sales of domestic aircraft developed under the program should make during this period about 273 billion rubles. In the future, annual sales will increase due to the launch of a family of aircraft SSJ-100, MS-21 and Mi-38 and Ka-62 aircraft of small aircraft, as well as providing services for their after-sales support.

The new version of the program provides for increased funding of priority projects for the creation of the Mi-38 and Ka-62, MS-21, PD-14 engine, as well as in terms of reduction of funding for the creation of a 130-seater version of the aircraft SSJ-NG 2016.

The state will help domestic aircraft manufacturers, giving them an order for civilian aircraft from the state structures of up to 670 billion rubles. In the next 11 years, the consolidated state order will be 101 aircraft and 319 helicopters, which planned to deliver in 2013-2025 gg. The customer is the Russian Defense Ministry, FSB, MVD, FCS, aviation Roscosmos and Office of the President.

As for the aircraft, the order is expected to include 13 Tu-214/204SM, 51 An-148, 29 Sukhoi Superjet 100, and besides heavy transport aircraft Il-76MD-90A and promising medium and light military transport aircraft. 22 aircraft are proposed for 2013-2015., Sun 33 - in 2015-2020., The remaining 46 Sun - from 2020 to 2025 should be noted that the program is already Tu-204/214 and AN-148 continues exclusively expense of public customers.

Budget allocation for the purchase of aircraft at the expense of the federal budget for 2013-2025 years. reach 189.6 billion rubles. scheme of direct budgetary funding or 379.3 billion rubles. Scheme sales in installments with the assignment of the right to demand cash or leasing scheme.

Deliveries helicopters split as follows: 36 cars in 2013-2015. 172 Sun - in 2015-2020. and 111 helicopters over the next five years. The program states that the state order will include 21 heavy helicopter Mi-38, 33 light helicopters "ANSAT" as well as various modifications MI-8/17 family, Mi-26/T2, Ka-27, Ka-226T/TP/TM .

For the purchase of helicopters will be spent 152 billion rubles. scheme of direct budgetary funding or 291.5 billion rubles. Scheme sales in installments with the assignment of the right to demand cash or leasing scheme.

As already reported Gudok.ru, in 2013, "Sukhoi Civil Aircraft" released 25 Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, and plans concern for 2014 provide a real breakthrough. "This year we are completing 25 aircraft. Next - another 40. Segment of regional and short-haul traffic Superjet proved its high performance. And we are ready to provide support service system of SSJ 100 to date," - said the chairman of the board of directors "Sukhoi" Mikhail Pogosyan.

Austin · Dec 13, 2013

Putin: the next decade defense companies will be fully loaded with orders
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"The funds we allocate to the rearmament of the army and navy, to modernize the military-industrial complex, as you know, is unprecedented - they reach figures in 23 trillion rubles - Putin said. - In the next decade, the country's defense companies will be fully loaded with orders, can upgrade its manufacturing base and create quality jobs. "

The President recalled that DIC employs more than 2 million people, and with family members - seven million people. "At the specialists will have a stable, well-paid jobs, and hence prosperity in families" - the president said.

However, he said that should already be thinking about how to be loaded defense companies after SDO in 2020. According to him, it is inconceivable that these companies were not in demand. "I ask the Military Industrial Commission to submit proposals in this regard to our company to timely switch to issue demand on our market and foreign civilian products", - concluded the president.

"At the moment in the Russian army realized the state armaments program 2011-2020, which involves an unprecedented funding for upgrading and development of the Russian Armed Forces - more than 20 trillion rubles. According to this program, it is assumed that by 2020 the share of modern weapons systems and military Technology in the Russian army will reach 70%, "- said Deputy Minister of Defence previously Yuri Borisov.

Budget of the Ministry of Defence in the current year after all corrections amount to 2.3 trillion rubles., Said Vladimir Putin in November. The President stressed that the state allocates these funds to defenses were provided for the long term.
Guilty of disrupting the answer ruble

December 3, Vladimir Putin signed a law on fines to 1 million rubles. for the failure of the state defense order, passed by the State Duma on November 22 and approved by the Federation Council on November 27.

Failure to comply with the law in deciding to hold a private auction is subject to penalty for officials from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles. The same penalties provided for violation of the procedure for determining the initial or maximum cost of the state contract for the SDO, terms of placing orders for goods and works, goods and payment of the contract in the field of defense procurement. For refusing the sole supplier of a state contract for the SDO will be fine for officials from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles., For legal entities from 300 thousand to 1 million rubles.

The law also increases the statute of limitations for administrative liability for violation of the mandatory requirements for defense products from three months to three years, the obligation to examine such cases are assigned to the Federal Service for Defense Contracts (Rosoboronzakaz) and its territorial bodies.

cobra commando · Dec 19, 2013

Russia upgrades Pantsir-S
systems to create "UAV-
killers"

Pantsir-S1

Russia is upgrading its short- range Pantsir-S air defense systems with an improved capability to intercept unmanned aerial vehicles, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

"The modernization of these unique systems aimed at increasing their effectiveness against UAVs has already started," Col. Igor Klimov said. The modernized Pantsir-S systems will also be adapted for deployment in harsh climate conditions of the Arctic, the official said. "The extensive modernization program will be completed by 2015, and the Russian military will start receiving the new Pantsir- SM systems," Klimov added. Pantsir-S (SA-22 Greyhound) is a gun-missile system combining a wheeled vehicle mounting a fire- control radar and electro-optical sensor, two 30-mm cannon and up to 12 57E6 radio-command guided short-range missiles, and is designed to engage a variety of low-altitude, highly maneuverable targets. Some 50 Pantsir-S systems are currently in service with the Russian air force, according to the Defense Ministry.

Russia upgrades Pantsir-S systems to create "UAV-killers" - News - Russia - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video

Austin · Dec 20, 2013

An-26 replacement IL-112V approved by MOD

Ministry of Defense and the KLA will contract for the development of IL-112B in 2014

Ministry of Defence and the United Aircraft Corporation will contract to develop a light military transport aircraft Il-112B in 2014, the amount of the contract for the development activities (R & D) will be 7.9 billion rubles, said Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov.

"The contract will be concluded in 2014. Contracted position left in the state defense order in 2014, there is a sum of 7.9 billion rubles for the completion of the development work on the Il-112V. Another contract with UAC - serial to supply aircraft - after we sign these works "- said Borisov, without specifying the date of completion of the ROC.

Deputy Minister did not mention the exact amount of IL-112V, which will be delivered to the Air Force, but informed that "we are talking about a few dozen machines." "The first deliveries of IL-112V is scheduled to begin in 2017" - confirmed Borisov.

As previously reported in the press-service of JSC "IL" for the Russian Air Force in JSC "Voronezh Aircraft Aircraft Association" to be built 62 such aircraft. They are designed to retrofit park light military transport aircraft and come nazamenu obsolete An-26. Planned to conclude the contract before the end of 2013.

cobra commando · Dec 24, 2013

Russia to Test-Fly New
Bomber in 2019

MOSCOW, December 23 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Air Force plans to begin test flights of a new strategic bomber in 2019, the commander of the long-range fleet said Monday. "Work on the bomber has been ongoing for less than a year, but the planning stage is now complete. Development work will begin in 2014, and the first test flights are scheduled for 2019. I think the aircraft should enter service in 2025," Anatoly Zhikharev said in comments aired by television news network Rossiya-24. The new bomber, known as PAK- DA (an acronym meaning "future long-range aircraft"), is planned to carry hypersonic missiles, a source told RIA Novosti in August. The bomber is also to feature modern stealth technology and be built by the Tupolev company in the Russian city of Kazan. Zhikharev added that the air force's existing long-range bombers would be overhauled with advanced avionics and electronic warfare systems in a two-stage process. Two Tu-160s have already been upgraded and are now entering service. Russia's strategic bomber force comprises one leg of its nuclear triad and consists of 63 Tu-95 variants and 13 supersonic Tu-160s , which combined can carry more than 850 cruise missiles. Russia also flies the intermediate-range Tu-22M, which will be included in the modernization program, Zikharev said. The Tu-95MC is expected to remain in service until at least 2040. The Tu-95 first flew in the Soviet Union in 1956 and is powered by four NK-12 engines based on a Nazi wartime project and the most powerful propeller engine ever built. Russia will also field a new tanker aircraft in 2018, Zhikharev said.

Russia to Test-Fly New Bomber in 2019 | Defense | RIA Novosti

cobra commando · Dec 25, 2013

New planes arrive at Russian air base in Kyrgyzstan

SU-25

A unit of Sukhoi Su-25 fighter bombers has arrived at Russia's Kant Air Base in Kyrgyzstan, Central Military District spokesman Colonel Yaroslav Roshchupkin said on Tuesday.

"A unit of Su-25 fighter bombers has completed its relocation to the Russian Air Base Kant today. The airplanes flew from Russia with a stopover in Kazakhstan for refueling. The unit includes a Su-25UB dual cockpit plane," Roshchupkin said. "The new unit of Su-25 fighter bombers will help increase the intensity of the air base crews' flight training," the base's commander, Colonel Igor Mordovkin, said. In 2013, Kant Air Base crews took part in two international counterterrorism exercises, used unguided aircraft-launched missiles on more than 200 occasions, used aircraft guns on more than 300 occasions, and dropped some 80 bombs. The average number of flight hours for the air base's pilots stands at 128, and 148 for young pilots.

New planes arrive at Russian air base in Kyrgyzstan - News - Russia - The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video

Austin · Dec 26, 2013

Irkut supplies more Yak-130 planes to Russian Air Force in 2013 than planned

KOMSOMOLSK ON AMUR, December 25, 22:02 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's aircraft corporation Irkut supplied more Yakovlev-130 planes to the Air Force in 2013 than was initially planned.

"The Irkutsk Aviation Plant met this year's target figures for Yak-130 planes and even supplied two planes for 2014 ahead of schedule," Air Force Commander, Lieutenant-General Viktor Bondarev said on Wednesday, December 25.

In 2013, Irkut supplied 18 Yak-130 planes to the Air Force, bringing its deliveries to 42.

Irkut also fulfilled its contractual obligations to supply Su-30SM multirole jet fighters.

The Su-30SM has been developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau for the Russian Air Force and is an advanced version of the Su-30MK combat aircraft family. The Su-30MK series fighters are in service with the Algerian Air Force, Indian Air Force, Indonesian Air Force, People's Liberation Army Air Force, Royal Malaysian Air Force, Ugandan Air Force, Venezuelan Air Force and Vietnam People's Air Force.

The Su-30SM fighter is manufactured by Irkut. The first Su-30SM fighter made its maiden flight in September 2012.

The multirole Su-30SM can be used in counter-air strikes, counter-land and counter-sea missions. It can conduct electronic counter-countermeasures and early warning tasks. The aircraft also acts as a command-and-control platform within a fleet of combat aircraft performing joint missions.

The Russian Defense Ministry and Irkut, a subsidiary of the United Aircraft Corporation, have signed a supply contract for 30 Su-30SM fighter aircraft. "Under the contract, Irkut Corporation will build 30 planes of this type for Russia's Ministry of Defense by 2015," a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Irkut delivered the first two Su-30SM fighters to the Russian Air Force in November 2012. The first batch of aircraft is expected to be delivered by 2015.

The Su-30SM is capable of carrying an advanced weapons payload weighing up to eight tonnes. The aircraft can be armed with a machine gun, bombs, air-to-air missiles, and supersonic anti-ship and land attack missiles.

Irkut has incorporated a number of prominent design and manufacturing companies such as Irkutsk Aviation Plant, Beriev Aircraft Company, Yakovlev Design Bureau, BETA AIR Company, and some others.

In March 2004, for the first time in the history of Russian aircraft and military equipment production, the corporation successfully placed 23.3 percent of its shares (IPO) at an open stock exchange for domestic, and foreign, private and institutional investors. In November 2006, Irkut became a part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC).

The corporation employs over 14,000 professionals, involved in design, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales support of a wide range of high-tech products. The current order book of Irkut is the largest in the aircraft industry and amounts to 6 billion U.S. dollars. Over 5 years company's income had doubled and came to more than 1.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 and 2011. Irkut's share in Russia's arms export comes to 15 percent.

Irkut's main products are combat aircraft of the Su-30 family. The corporation is a prime contractor in manufacturing the Su-30MKI multi-role fighters for the Indian Air Force. Under a product diversification programme, the corporation develops and manufactures the Yak-130 combat training aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and components for Airbus passenger airliners. In recent years Irkut has launched a programme to develop the new passenger airliner MC-21.

The MS-21 programme is a project launched by the United Aircraft Corporation. Irkut is the principal contractor.

Russia's new MS-21 passenger plane will go on its maiden flight in the middle of 2015.

Eighty-five planes will be supplied to Russian Technologies. Of those 50 will go to Aeroflot (with Pratt & Whitney engines) and the remaining 35 (with PD-14 engines) to other Russian airlines where the federal government has a large participatory interest.

Negotiations are underway to supply MS-21 planes to foreign airlines. About 50 percent of the plane will be made of composite materials.

MS-21 planes will have a wider body for the comfort of passengers. They will have a better wing sweep to increase safety during landings and takeoffs. The wings will be a bit thicker in order to take on more fuel, which will allow the planes to travel greater distances.

The Yakovlev Design Bureau is the principal designer of the MS-21 plane. The state contractor is the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The MS-21 aircraft has been developed on the basis of Yak-242 type by the Yakovlev Design Bureau in association with the llyushin Aviation Complex. The MS-21 airplane has been readily embraced by the aircraft market since it meets all the requirements and can compete against similar Boeing and Airbus aircraft, outdoing them in price, fuel efficiency and passenger comfort.

The MS-21 aircraft is to replace all models of Tu-154B and Tu-154M aircraft as well as Yak-42 in Russia. It is planned to build around 600 aircraft of the MS-21 family within 20 years, with an annual production rate of 30 to 36 machines.

cobra commando · Dec 26, 2013

Russian Air Force Lets MiG-31 Fly Again After Crash

Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor aircraft

NOVOSIBIRSK, December 26 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Air Force will restart flight operations on Monday by its fleet of Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor aircraft that were grounded earlier this month following a crash, the service said. "MiG-31 flights will resume Monday," said Air Force spokesman Col. Igor Klimov. Two aircrew ejected safely from their MiG-31 in the far east of the country on December 14, after an apparent engine failure, the air force said at that time. The MiG-31 fleet was grounded two days later as a precautionary measure. An investigation into the loss of the aircraft is underway.

Russian Air Force Lets MiG-31 Fly Again After Crash | Defense | RIA Novosti

Austin · Dec 26, 2013

Su-34 carrying 12T of Weapons

Bondarev: The Su-34 is much better than its predecessor

Sukhoi Su-34 is much better than their predecessors, the Su-24 and Su-24M is not expended its resources, said Russian Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev.

"We Sukhoi Su-24 bomb load - 7.5 tonnes during combat radius of about 350 kilometers. Su-34 carries 12 tons of various weapons and combat radius of it - more than a thousand kilometers," - said Bondarev on Thursday during a visit Novosibirsk aircraft plant holding "Dry", which produce the Su-34.

Commander noted that much better sighting system and the Su-34. "The Su-24, for example, provides precision bombing in the range of 20-30 meters from the center of the goal. Su-34 solves similar problems with the accuracy of 5-7 meters from the center of the target, or a direct hit," - said Bondarev, noting that due to the established Su-34 bomb equipment becomes precision weapons.

According to the commander, the Su-24M "is not used up their resources." "We will still operate them," - he said.

Earlier it was reported that the Su-24 fully withdraw from service until 2020.

Austin · Dec 26, 2013

Su-34 park may reach 200 aircraft
ITAR-TASS: Russia - Su-34 park may reach 200 aircraft

Russia's Air Force will get 16 Su-34 fighter bombers in 2014, Air Force commander-in-chief, Lieutenant-General Viktor Bondarev said on Thursday.

"Today Russia's Air Force has 32 Su-34 bombers. In 2014, we're planning to get 16 bombers. In total, we'll receive at least 150 aircraft and can increase this number to 200 aircraft," Bondarev said on Thursday while visiting the Novosibirsk Aircraft Building Plant.

"Today, five bombers should be finally assembled at the plant under the 2014 order. I believe that we'll get the first bombers in March," the commander-in-chief said.

In 2013, the Air Force received 14 Su-34 bombers, which had been sent to the Western and Southern Military Districts, he said.

"Since 2015 the plant is planning to produce 20 aircraft per year," Bondarev said.

For his part, Sukhoi Director-General Igor Ozar said the holding had signed a contract with the Defence Ministry to supply the Su-34 bombers till the year 2020.

The Novosibirsk Aircraft Building Plant integrates components of 200 key suppliers by producing the Su-34 bombers, Sukhoi Holding deputy director-general Sergei Smirnov said.

"There are at least 200 key suppliers at the Su-34 aircraft. In total, 75% of the price is purchased integrated parts," he said.

Despite the inevitable difficulties "we succeeded in maintaining contacts with most of suppliers", Smirnov said, adding that all problems "are being solved on the regular basis".

Austin · Jan 5, 2014

Some great photos of Yak-30 , Su-30SM

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SajeevJino · Jan 6, 2014

Every Russian Region to Get Drones Department – Minister

Every Russian region is to have its own drones department, the Emergencies Minister said Monday.

"Special branches that will be equipped with unmanned aerial vehicles and other necessary robotic systems will be created in all regions. We plan to make very active use of all robotic technology, including drones," Vladimir Puchkov told journalists during a working trip to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

Puchkov said the drones would be used in search and rescue operations.

The ministry also plans to set up centers providing service horses and dogs in every region of the country, he said.

"Today we are presenting the first horse to such a center in Yekaterinburg," Puchkov said, adding that the center would eventually house five horses.

Every Russian Region to Get Drones Department – Minister | Defense | RIA Novosti

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