World Weapon Watch

pyromaniac

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Washington, Mar 24 (PTI) Conveying that there will be no let up in India's drive to modernise its energy and defence sectors, Prime Minister's Special Envoy Shyam Saran today said this should encourage Washington to look at New Delhi as a source of demand for its goods and services.

Observing that the nuclear deal has opened up immense business opportunities between the two countries, Saran said: "India has already conveyed a letter of intent for up to 10,000 megawatts of US nuclear power reactors at sites that are currently under examination within our Government." "10,000 megawatts of nuclear energy may translate into USD 150 billion worth of projects, with significant business opportunities and potential collaboration for both Indian and US companies. This would also result in significant and high quality job creation in both our countries," he said.

Saran, who arrived here yesterday on a four-day visit, met top officials of the Obama administration on climate change and exchanged views on the critical issue, which has been a major focus of the new US Government.

He met Special US Envoy on Climate Change Todd Stern and Nancy Helen Sutley, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality. PTI


http://www.ptinews.com/pti\ptisite.nsf/0/1BD0D70C4473D07B652575830027FF80?OpenDocument
 

pyromaniac

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India's New-Found Irrelevance

India is realizing it’s difficult to be out of the limelight after getting used to it. For the last eight years under the Bush Administration, India occupied a pride of place in the strategic calculus of the US. India was wooed as a rising power, it was seen as a pole in the emerging global balance of power, it was acknowledged as the primary actor in South Asia, de-hyphenated from Pakistan, and then it was given what it had long desired -- a de facto status as a nuclear weapon state. From a problem state that could never say yes, India emerged as a state that the US could do business with. It was all too good to last for long. And now one of the architects of the US-India strategic partnership during the Bush period, Shyam Saran, who was the Indian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy during the negotiations over the nuclear pact, is asking India to hedge its bets in light of what he views as Sino-US strategic convergence.

Clearly, the new Administration in Washington has little time for New Delhi. From a nation that was just a few weeks back seen as an emerging power that can provide answers to global problems, India is now viewed primarily as a problem that the Obama Administration needs to sort out. It is instructive that the only context in which Obama has talked of India yet is the need to sort Kashmir out so as to find a way out of the West’s troubles in Afghanistan. Most astonishingly, the Obama Administration has asked India to make the first move towards peace in the region by pulling back troops from its Pakistan border. This is just so that the US can get more Pakistani support when it decides to launch a bigger military offensive in Afghanistan in a few months time. The talk of a strategic partnership between the two democracies, meanwhile, has all but disappeared. The new Administration is so busy fighting day to day battles that it has little time for grand strategy.

Moreover, whatever foreign policy hands it has displayed so far reveal an Administration that actually has little time for friends. Growing emphasis on US ties with China has alarmed Japan. A letter to Russia suggesting a bargain whereby the US would not go ahead with missile defence in return for Russia helping to convince Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons programme has alarmed Poland and Czech Republic. An eagerness to negotiate with Iran has alarmed the Gulf States and Israel.

Asia is clearly emerging the new pivot of US foreign policy but it doesn’t look like India has a place in the new priorities. When Clinton decided to make Asia her first destination as Secretary of State, the original Policy Planning Staff transition memo apparently suggested that India should be included in the itinerary. But it was an idea not deemed worthy of execution.

The Bush Administration had started looking at India as part of the larger Asian strategic landscape. The new Senior Director of East Asia, Jeff Bader, who will now be looking at India is a China expert and knows little about India and/or South Asia. While the previous Administration’s love-fest with India was driven by Bush himself, Obama seems to have little interest in South Asia beyond the obvious in getting US troops out of Afghanistan at the earliest. Hillary Clinton was seen as the great hope for India, but it was she who made it clear early on that the most important bilateral relationship in the world is the US-China relationship. Richard Holbrooke went to India as part of his effort to carve a new policy for Afghanistan and howsoever Indians would like to think that India and the US share a common interest in tackling terrorism and extremism from the turbulent territory between the Indus and the Hindu Kush, the US has so far been lukewarm to the idea of involving India in its larger strategy towards Afpak.

Meanwhile, the appointment of Ellen O. Tauscher as the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security will have implications for India on the proliferation front. She has described India as a "country with a dismal record of non-proliferation" which had been "denied access to the market for three decades and for good reason."

What this sudden change in tone from Washington indicates is that despite what the media and strategic elites in India would have liked to believe, India is nowhere near the kind of profile that China today enjoys in global polity. While China has been enjoying double digit growth rates for the last two decades, the Indian story is not even a decade old. Moreover, the tragedy is that the Indian government’s inability to responsibly manage the economy when the going was good may have put India’s future growth prospects at risk. Defying initial expectations that India can remain immune from the global economic slowdown, the Indian economy is witnessing a downward trajectory with the Asian Development Bank warning that India’s large fiscal imbalance poses daunting challenges of economic management before the nation in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the chaos that passes for foreign policy in Delhi does a great disservice to Indian aspirations. The dithering in New Delhi over the US–India nuclear deal made it clear that the Indian polity stands divided on fundamental foreign policy choices facing the nation. Left in the fray are serious doubts emerging about the nation’s ability to leverage the present economic and strategic opportunities to its advantage. India’s response after the Mumbai terror attacks may have garnered some kudos for the restraint but it also revealed a nation that is happy to outsource its security to other powers, denting Indian military credibility from which it will not be easier to recover anytime soon.

Even as Indian elites have been talking of a chimerical Chindia, China has been expanding its global presence from Africa to Latin America and even in India’s own backyard. China is today viewed indispensable in solving global problems from North Korea and Iran to the financial turmoil. The NATO is reportedly even planning to ask for China’s help in Afghanistan. The fact remains that India is of little help to the US in addressing its immediate foreign policy priorities. Yet, it would be exceedingly short-sighted of the Obama Administration to ignore India in searching for a balance of power in Asia. India, however, needs to put its own house in order before crying hoarse over the changing winds in Washington. Global reassessment of India is primarily predicated on its recent economic rise, but India’s rise will remain incomplete in the absence of a credible vision with a larger purpose. It’s that vision that India needs right now. The rest, including the Obama Administration, will follow on its own. The tragedy, however, is that the current Indian political class seems utterly incapable of providing the kind of leadership that this moment in India’s history demands.

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090324&fname=harsh&sid=1&pn=2
 

EnlightenedMonk

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We ought to be careful as to not put all our eggs in one basket...

Give some reactors to the French, some to the Russians and some to the Americans... distribute evenly if possible...

We can't afford to piss any of them off... right now, we'r leaning too much toward the US for the other two to like it too much !!!
 

thakur_ritesh

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Observing that the nuclear deal has opened up immense business opportunities between the two countries, Saran said: "India has already conveyed a letter of intent for up to 10,000 megawatts of US nuclear power reactors at sites that are currently under examination within our Government." "10,000 megawatts of nuclear energy may translate into USD 150 billion worth of projects, with significant business opportunities and potential collaboration for both Indian and US companies. This would also result in significant and high quality job creation in both our countries," he said.

that 150b usd is a typo and dont take it seriously.

generation of 1,000MW of electricity takes an investment of anywhere between 4,000-5,000crores and generally the figure is not more than 4,000crs, and here the figure mentioned is 150b usd (7,50,000crores) for 10,000mw which would translate to some thing like 75,000crores for 1,000mw, and that is rediculously high, where at the same investment we could easily produce 150,000-187,500MWs of electricity.

electricity generation by way of nuke energy is expensive but slightly higher and not to the level that has been mentioned, at most that figure should have been 15b usd, which again is on the higher side but more like it.
 

Singh

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Yep its a typo.
EDIT- India is investing ~200bn$ to increase its electricity output from 131,400MW to 212,000MW by 2012 as per the 2006-7 investment commission report.
 

Payeng

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I think regarding cost of power generation, resource sustainability it not accessed that way nuclear power should be a cheaper option for the long run.
 

Yusuf

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We ought to be careful as to not put all our eggs in one basket...

Give some reactors to the French, some to the Russians and some to the Americans... distribute evenly if possible...

We can't afford to piss any of them off... right now, we'r leaning too much toward the US for the other two to like it too much !!!
India has not put all it's egg in one basket. The French (Areva) are in the lead and the Russians are already there in Kalpakkam. India is still jittery about the US when it comes to hi tech stuff in spite of the relations between the countries on an upswing
 

yang

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two American journalists were arrested by North Korea

On March17,two American journalists were arrested by the army of North Korea while they are taking photos beside China-North Korea border.American tried to have talks with the North Korea though Swedish embassy,because America and North Korea has no foreigh relationship yet.And the North Korea promised they will well treat the two female journalists.
As we all know,not long ago,North Korea had claimed that they would make an experiment to launch a satelite ,but American felt uncomfortable with the news(just a few months ago,Iran has managed to send its satelite into space too).
It's a pure coincidence that the journalists incident came across the satelite incident.But we may have a lot of views on the two issues,are they have any relationships,will North Korea hold another card playing with America.....
And why North Korea want to launch its satelite,or the incident is just a feeler to see how the Obama government reflect to it,what attitude the Obama government has on North Korea.....Is North Korea lacking of rice and oil?They want to have an political trade with the other members of six-nation talks?
 

EnlightenedMonk

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Quite interesting...

At the outset, it doesn't seem merely coincidental that two American journalists were snooping around... I'm not surprised... its too early to say, but they may just be spies...

About the remaining parts, I'm sure the other members of the forum can jump in...

Anyways, thanks a lot for bringing this to our notice, Yang... Puts a unique and new perspective in Asian affairs with this topic also being explored...
 

A.V.

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F-22 raptor crashes in US desert

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

link:-bbc.uk

A state-of-the-art US air force F-22 fighter has crashed in the desert in southern California, the Pentagon says.

The fate of the pilot was not immediately known after the plane, which was on a test mission, came down near Edwards Air Force Base.

The US air force website lists the F-22 Raptor, which is made by Lockheed Martin, as its newest fighter.

The air force said the jet has "better reliability and maintainability than any fighter aircraft in history".

The F-22 crashed at about 1000 local time (1700 GMT), officials said.

Rescue teams were reported to be on their way to the crash site.

The $140m (£96m), supersonic F-22 is a so-called fifth generation jet, and arguably the world's most sophisticated fighter.

It is capable of both air-to-air and ground attacks.

But the $65 billion F-22 programme has faced criticism, with opponents saying the jet is too costly and not sufficiently versatile.

The US government is committed to buying 183 F-22s reduced from the original plan laid out in the 1980s to build 750, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The air force said the crash was the second involving an F-22.

"The first one was during the aircraft's test and evaluation period in December 2004 also at Edwards, during which the pilot ejected safely," a statement said.
 

pyromaniac

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oh man..I was just gonna post this...


F-22 crashes in California desert near air base

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – One of the Air Force's top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets crashed Wednesday in the high desert of Southern California. There was no immediate word on whether the pilot ejected.

The F-22 Raptor crashed 35 miles northeast of Edwards Air Force Base, Pentagon spokesman Gary Strassburg said. He had no information about the area where the jet crashed.

Rescue crews were en route and the status of the pilot was unknown, said Air Force Maj. David Small at the Pentagon.

Small said the jet, assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron of Edwards' 412th Test Wing, was on a test mission but he did not know its nature. The crash occurred at midmorning.

Call to the base public affairs phone numbers were answered by recording machines.

The radar-evading F-22s each cost $140 million and are designed for air dominance. The warplanes can carry air-to-air missiles but are capable of ground attack as well.

The $65 billion F-22 program is embattled, with some opponents contending that a different warplane under development, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is more versatile and less costly at $80 million per plane.

F-22s were grounded for two weeks after one crashed at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in December 2004. They were cleared again to fly after a review, and an Air Force statement at the time said officials were "highly confident in the design, testing and development" of the aircraft. The pilot in that crash successfully ejected.

The U.S. is committed to 183 F-22s, down from the original plan laid out in the 1980s to build 750.

Its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp., says there are 95,000 jobs at 1,000 companies connected to the F-22.

A spokesman for Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin referred all calls about the crash to the Air Force.

Lockheed is trying to convince the Pentagon to buy as many as 20 more F-22s. The military is expected to signal its intentions when the 2010 Defense Department budget is released next month.

The F-22 is able to fly at supersonic speeds without using afterburners. That allows it to reach and stay in a battlespace faster and longer without being easily detected.

The fighter, powered by two Pratt & Whitney engines, is 62 feet long, has a wingspan of 44 1/2 feet and is flown by a single pilot.

F-22 crashes in California desert near air base
 

vijaytripoli

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Air Force jet crashes in California; pilot killed

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Air Force F-22A fighter jet crashed Wednesday near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the test pilot, the Air Force said.
An F-22A fighter jet similar to this one crashed Wednesday during a test mission in California.

An F-22A fighter jet similar to this one crashed Wednesday during a test mission in California.

The single-seater crashed about 10:30 a.m. (1:30 p.m. ET) for unknown reasons, Air Force officials said.

Lockheed Martin said the test pilot, David Cooley, 49, of Palmdale, California, joined the company in 2003 and was a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

The fighter was on a test mission when it crashed about 35 miles northeast of Edwards AFB, where it was stationed, the Air Force said in a news release.

At $150 million apiece, the F-22A is the most expensive Air Force fighter.

In 2004, an F-22 Raptor crashed on a training mission in the Nevada desert. The pilot ejected and was not hurt, though the jet was destroyed.

The plane was designed in the 1980s to provide a stealthy method to enter Soviet air space and strike Soviet bombers if the USSR attempted a nuclear strike.

Once the Cold War ended, the Air Force found a new mission for the F-22 as a long-range fighter with a sophisticated stealth design and state-of-the-art equipment that no other plane could rival.

However, the rising cost of the plane and numerous design and software problems threatened the program, which was almost eliminated by Congress.

In the end, the aircraft survived, and most of the problems were fixed -- except for the price tag, which forced the Air Force to buy fewer aircraft.
Air Force jet crashes in California; pilot killed - CNN.com
 

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US HIMARS Launcher Successfully Fires Air Defense Missile

High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher successfully fired two Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) during a U.S. Army “common launcher” feasibility demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, NM. U.S. Army and industry representatives conducted the “proof of concept” firing to examine the viability of firing an air defense missile from the currently-fielded HIMARS. The demonstration featured two modified AMRAAMs, which were rail-launched from a modified Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) enclosure assembly launch pod mounted on a HIMARS launcher. The test, in which all objectives were met, included the operational test missiles (configured from excess AMRAAM assets); integration of modified Surfaced Launched AMRAAM launch rails into an empty ATACMS pod; and the launch of the AMRAAMs using the HIMARS fire control system with modified software.

The Army is evaluating HIMARS as a potential solution for a light “common launcher” for future air defense, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System and ATACMS munitions. In addition to its capability to support multi-mission munitions, the HIMARS launcher offers tactical flexibility, high reliability and C-130 transportability.

“We’re looking at the idea of a ‘common launcher,’” said Col. Dave Rice, U.S Army Project Manager, Precision Fires Rocket & Missile Systems. “We’re looking at HIMARS because it is already in the force, it’s very deployable, it’s a great platform to be a common launcher, and we’ve now shown it can successfully fire air defense missiles.”

The U.S. Army’s Air Defense Artillery and Field Artillery branch schools are now consolidated under a single Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, OK, resulting in areas of commonality between the two combat arms branches. The “common launcher” concept is one example where both air defense artillery and field artillery operational needs are jointly addressed.

The demonstration was a coordinated effort between the U.S. Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, Precision Fires Rocket and Missile Systems, Cruise Missile Defense Systems, Prototype Integration Facility, Raytheon Missile Systems and Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.
 

Triton

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Sad, the pilot couldn't make it and this guy "David Cooley" of LM was a 21 year veteran of the USAF and had been working with Lockheed Martin since 2003.

What would have gone wrong with the sophisticated fighter? and what was wrong with the ejection seat? This was most likely an out of parameter test flight where they push the flight parameters to the limit to find the limits. Or may be while trying to find the limits of the aircraft the pilots went out of his limits and lost control? Looks like they found one of the limits.

Bad news for Lockheed Martin

David Cooley RIP
 

A.V.

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Lockheed Martin test pilot David Cooley, 49, was killed today at about 10 a.m. Pacific time in the crash of an F-22 aircraft flying on a test mission from Edwards AFB, California. We are deeply saddened by the loss of David and our concerns, thoughts and prayers at this time are with his family. David joined Lockheed Martin in 2003 and was a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He worked at the F-22 Combined Test Force, where a team of Lockheed Martin and Air Force pilots conduct F-22 aircraft testing.
 

shiv

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america never puts its own spies in DPRK,it always sends the s.koreans.......

and if they dare blackmail the USA with two of its own citizens kept hostage in lieu of an intercept free space launch or missile launch......the US will take their country......USA just needs a reason to start a war to take the US and the world economy out of the mild depression.......
 

pyromaniac

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Rafale Takes Another Hit

France has reduced the production rate of its new Rafale jet fighter from 14 a year to 11 a year. This will slow down the delivery of Rafales, mainly because the Defense Ministry has decided that other things are more important. The new emphasis (and spending) is on peacekeeping and anti-missile defenses. Another reason for slowing down Rafale production is the lack of export orders.

Late last year, France ordered another 60 Rafale jet fighters, and these will be delivered over the next six years. Officially, France plans to buy 294, and 60 have been delivered so far. Three years ago, the French Air Force activated its first squadron of Rafale fighters. The navy had received ten navalized Rafales three years before that, for service on the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The first prototype of Rafale was shown in 1986, and the aircraft should have entered service in the late 1990s.

While one of the more modern combat aircraft in the world, development of the Rafale was delayed by technical problems, and shortages of money. Entering development just as the Cold War ended meant that there was little enthusiasm to spend billions on an aircraft that would face no real opposition. But, facing the need to eventually replace all those Mirage fighters, development did get restarted, creating an aircraft superior to the American F-15s and F-16s, very similar to the F-18F, but inferior to the F-22 and F-35.

The Eurofighter, and several other very competitive aircraft have made export sales scarce. By 2006, the French armed forces had only ordered 120 Rafales (82 for the air force, 38 for the navy). The 28 ton aircraft sell for about $100 million each, and so far, there have been no export orders.



http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htproc/articles/20090325.aspx
 

pyromaniac

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Russia priced Out Of The Battlefield

There is a debate going on within the Russian military over how to proceed with reforming the military. Many generals believe that the military industries that produced a wide range of weapons for the Soviet Union are now either gone or no longer capable of producing competitive weapons or equipment. An example is the Mi-8 helicopter. This was Russia's answer to the radical American UH-1 ("Huey"). While the UH-1 was replaced by the much improved UH-60 in the 1980s, the Mi-8 has gone through lots of upgrades (to the current Mi-171), but never a new design. Russian industry has a new design, the Mi-38, but no customers. Even the Russian military cannot afford to buy the more expensive, which is competitive with the UH-60. This is typical of the fundamental situation throughout the Russian military. They cannot afford modern equipment, and as a result, Russian military industries are not getting the orders required to keep them in business. The government has, in the last decade, announced that it was going to buy new equipment for the military. But the new stuff never shows up. Oh, some does, in fits and starts. But, as many of the generals and admirals have noted, the money isn't there. And with the low price of oil, and other raw materials Russia exports, the money won't be there for a while. Many generals oppose the current reforms, which includes dismissing thousands of generals and disbanding the mass reserve army. For over a century, this reserve army was organized to raise millions of troops, armed with low-tech weapons and poorly trained, to defend Russia from invasion.

Further investigation has revealed that the Cyber War attacks on Estonia and Georgia (which temporarily shut down Internet access in those countries), while carried out by nationalistic Russian hackers, was done at the instigation of Russian government officials (who got in touch with leaders of Russian hacker groups and requested the attacks).

The government has reduced the list of weapons subject to export control (you need permission to sell abroad). The weapons still on the list are; shoulder fired surface-to-air missile systems, portable antitank guided missile launchers (ATGMs), portable anti-tank rocket grenade launchers (RPGs), and portable flamethrowers. Several weapon types, which used to be controlled, are no longer. These include revolvers and self-loading pistols, rifles, sub-machineguns, automatic rifles, light machineguns, antiaircraft machineguns, antitank guns, and light and medium mortars (caliber less than100 mm).

In another attempt to clean up the corrupt and inefficient national police, a code of conduct has been issued for the force. Bribery, drinking on the job and adultery (among many other forms of misbehavior) are now forbidden.

The government has ordered army and police authorities in Chechnya to set up a timetable to officially end their operations there. Chechen police have been taking over more of the security work in the province for the last few years. While corrupt and brutal, the local police are capable of dealing with local gangsters and trouble makers (Islamic radicals and anti-Russian nationalists.) The official end to the war would make it easier for Chechen companies to import and export goods.

The Russian Navy announced its intention to resume the use of nuclear warheads for some of its anti-ship missiles (those launched via torpedo tubes by submarines). This would enable these missiles to destroy a group of warships, and to avoid defensive weapons (like Phalanx and SeaRAM). The U.S. and Russia withdrew their tactical nuclear weapons from their navies at the end of the Cold War.

Canada and Russia are engaged in a growing dispute over who controls certain Arctic waters, and natural resources that may be present on the seabed beneath. Russia says it is going to set up a special military force to patrol Arctic waters it believes it "owns". Precisely who controls Arctic waters has never been spelled out by international treaty, and the Russians have expressed a determination to define what they own, by themselves, and see who will do what to oppose these claims.

March 21, 2009: In Dagestan, three days of fighting in a wooded area, left five policemen and at least a dozen rebels (a combination of gangsters, Islamic radicals and people just angry at the corrupt local government) dead.

March 20, 2009: The government admitted that permanent military bases were being established in the former Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. These two areas have joined Russia, becoming the first Russian territorial annexation since the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 (and broke up an empire that took four centuries to put together.)

March 16, 2009: Two IL-38 maritime reconnaissance aircraft flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier off the South Korean coast. The Russia aircraft were escorted by U.S. Navy carrier fighters, as the IL-38s came in at 500 feet. All this had no military significance, and was mainly a publicity stunt. This is about all the elderly IL-38s are good for these days. The Russian Navy only has about 30 IL-38s, which are roughly equivalent to the American P-3s, but have not had their sensors and communications equipment updated since the Cold War. There is new equipment for the IL-38s, but only export customers, like India, can afford it.

March 15, 2009: A Russian Air Force general casually mentioned that Russia might base long range maritime recon aircraft (Tu-142) and bombers (Tu-160) in Cuba and Venezuela. This caused an uproar in the Western hemisphere, with Cuba and Venezuela expressing interest, while there was a less friendly reaction in the United States. But the Russian government soon announced that there was never any intention to build bases in South America, simply to land there and refuel before flying back to northern Russia. Cuba was such a base during the Cold War, but the maritime recon missions were of limited use, because space satellites did the job more efficiently. Making those flights today are PR exercises.

March 13, 2009: A third of Russia's 290 Mig-29 jet fighters have passed inspection and allowed to fly again. But 90 of them are grounded because corrosion was discovered. What was most disturbing was that some of the grounded aircraft had only spent a few hundred hours in the air. But these aircraft had also spent years on the ground, because there was no money to buy fuel or spare parts so they could fly. India is not grounding its 70 MiG-29s, mainly because they are better maintained and flown more frequently.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20090328.aspx
 

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