Russia says it will update its Air Force

By Reuters

August 21, 2009

ZHUKOVSKY, Russia - Russia is to make the largest overhaul of its military aviation in post-Soviet history, its Air Force commander said yesterday, but he acknowledged that the planned modernization was still a far cry from Soviet times.

	Discuss
	COMMENTS (2)

Russia’s creaking military machine contrasts starkly with the Kremlin’s drive to be more assertive in world affairs, and analysts say much of its technological potential was lost in the turmoil that followed the Soviet Union’s demise in 1991.

In what some officials branded a “record contract,’’ Prime Minister Vladimir Putin oversaw the signing of a $2.5 billion deal this week for state-controlled plane maker Sukhoi to supply 64 new jet fighters.

“For the Air Force, this is one of the largest orders, which we must fulfill by 2015,’’ Air Force Commander Alexander Zelin said at a news conference during the MAKS-2009 aerospace fair outside Moscow. “I believe this is a real breakthrough in Russia’s recent history.’’

Zelin said the Air Force would finally receive in the next few years the new Mi-28NM helicopter, dubbed Night Hunter, the Ka-52 attack helicopter, known as Alligator, and the Su-34 advanced fighter-bomber. He gave no numbers or time frame.

A handful of each of these aircraft have trickled into the armed forces in recent years, despite the fact all of them were designed in Soviet times.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2009/08/21/russia_says_it_will_update_its_air_force/?s_campaign=8315