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Tactical aviation: A strong
point
Fighter aviation is about the only thing that
poses no problems. The Sukhoi Design Bureau made
a huge leap forward in the 1990s.
The T-10 (Su-27) platform was creatively used
by both Sukhoi “clans” (Mikhail Pogosyan
at the Sukhoi Design Bureau and a plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur
and Alexei Fyodorov at Irkut) to release a family
of sought-after Su-30MKI fighters, the Su-30MKK/MK2,
which is similarly popular with foreign buyers,
and a newly available Su-35 fighter jet. Having
achieved recognition abroad, the Sukhoi manufacturers
now have a bunch of export orders under their
belt and stand ready to fulfill government contracts
for the Russian Air Force.
The Su-35 tactical fighter will fill the niche
for the new 4++ generation of ultimate fighters
and reinforce the fleet of old and slowly modernized
Su-27 fighters. Forty-eight aircraft have been
commissioned and will be delivered through 2015.
There is every reason to believe that the contract
will be renewed after 2015. These fighters will
go into mass production as soon as next year.
The Su-35 machines will come as a makeshift solution
before the PAK FA fifth-generation fighters are
fielded by the Russian Air Force around 2015.
However, given the huge amount of innovation brought
in by the PAK FA, it will take time before this
aircraft is fully deployed and mastered.
Therefore, the purchase of approximately 100
Su-35 fighters will complete the transition period
of the 2010s in a relatively painless manner.
The Su-30SM, a localized version of the Su-30MKI
–the Indian Air Force version – fighter,
will serve as a second security blanket for the
Russian Air Force. The Defense Ministry has commissioned
30 such aircraft recently. Recently, First Deputy
Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov told the
press that an additional contract for the supply
of these all-purpose fighters was very likely.
The fate of still another 4 ++ generation fighter
(MiG-35) is not yet clear. Contracts for the Su-35
and Su-30SM have been signed and work on them
is underway, but the machine designed by the Mikoyan
Bureau has been hanging thick in the air for the
sixth straight year.
A major export contract could be instrumental
in building the infrastructure for the serial
production of the MiG-35, but it is difficult
to sign one without an existing order from the
Russian Air Force. Meanwhile, the Air Force itself
seems wary and utters mysterious phrases like
“we have not yet abandoned the idea of buying
this aircraft.”
It is therefore quite possible that the planned
purchase of these fighters will drown in vague
promises, and a greater number of serial Su-35
fighters (including the PAK FA) will be purchased
instead.
The fate of assault aviation is equally uncertain.
On the one hand, the Air Force made a bet on the
modernized Su-25SM fighter version. On the other
hand, according to Air Force Commander Viktor
Bondarev, a new assault aircraft should become
available in late 2010s and replace the modernized
machines.
The production of the Su-25TM (Su-39) is still
a possibility. The design of this fighter has
been largely unified with the Su-25UBM dual control
flight simulator, which is scheduled for production
at the Ulan-Ude aircraft plant or the Sokol plant
in Nizhny Novgorod. However, no concrete decisions
have been made yet.
One hundred and twenty frontline Su-34 fighter
bombers have been commissioned already. They will
replace the aging Soviet Su-24 bombers and, according
to the Air Force command, may be involved in long-range
missions, such as carrying cruise missiles.
Long-range aviation unfit
to fly
Long-range aviation is represented by heavy machines
of the Soviet era, including a turboprop Tu-95MS,
strategic supersonic Tu-160 bomber and the remnants
of the former Euro-strategic forces represented
by a number of TU-22M’s that were deployed
not only in the long-range aviation, but, until
2011, in sea-based missile-carrying aviation as
well.
All of these aircraft will be retrofitted and
their onboard equipment upgraded to increase their
longevity in the Russian Air Force. The Tu-95
turned 50 without much wear to show for it and
is well positioned to last another 50 years.
New weapons for the airborne arm of the nuclear
triad are becoming available, but there are no
new long-range bombers. There is a slow-moving
PAK DA project, which, according to recent reports,
has been put together in terms of technical requirements.
The debate about the future of the new strategic
bomber has taken on a nervous tone recently.
Thus, in early June 2012 Deputy Prime Minister
for Defense Dmitry Rogozin came down hard on the
PAK DA project, saying that the Air Force didn’t
need it and that long-range aviation should develop
in unconventional ways. He didn’t provide
his vision for such unconventional ways, though.
The Tu-160, Tu-95MS and Tu-22M do need to be
replaced, and this issue has been discussed for
a long time. The arguments made by Rogozin to
support his view that this aircraft cannot make
it past the layered anti-aircraft defense would
make some sense in the 1950s - 1960s, but not
in the era of long-range high-precision weapons.
Similar to the range of tasks that can be assigned
to PAK DA, missions that can be assigned to a
modern bomber are much broader as compared with
the classic strategic bomber of the Cold War era.
The need for the use of high-precision weapons
in local conflicts and Russia’s vast territory
pose specific requirements with regard to long-distance
multi-purpose carriers of high-precision weapons.
Vladimir Putin ended the PAK DA discussions in
a resolute manner. “This is a challenging
scientific and technical task, but we need to
start working on it. If we don’t do it right
now, we will miss a lot,” the president said.
Geography is the main
customer
Russia’s vast territory positively requires
that it has well-developed military transportation
aviation, especially amid cutbacks in the Armed
Forces and attempts to give the army a “new
look” – that is, to keep it mobile and
in constant combat readiness.
One new-look mobile brigade should be able to
replace several old units but it will be able
to accomplish this only if it has proper transportation.
Moving forces between theaters of operation on
Russian territory can be done quickly only by
air (provided the military equipment can be transported
by air and adequate numbers of air strips are
available). In other words, the focus on the military
transportation aviation should be even greater
now than in Soviet times.
Meanwhile the situation in the sphere of aircraft
building remains extremely tense. Some experts
indicate that the Russian aircraft industry is
losing its competence in this area even in comparison
with the Ukrainian Antonov Design Bureau, which
isn’t in its best shape, either. The Antonov
Design Bureau was an established leader in military
transportation aircraft in the Soviet Union.
The new version of the familiar heavy transportation
aircraft IL-76 that was built in Tashkent in Soviet
times has been deployed almost in full in Ulyanovsk.
The first aircraft will take off in September.
With certain reservations, this part of the program
can be considered fulfilled.
When will airborne cabs
become available?
The renewed production of super heavy-duty An-124
in Ulyanovsk is brought up often in conversations.
However no one seems to be able to tell who, how
and when this will be done. This excellent piece
of equipment would certainly come in handy for
the Air Force’s military transportation aviation.
The An-70 aircraft doesn’t seem to be able
to find a place of its own at any of the impoverished
aircraft-making plants. This turboprop freighter
is much needed by the Air Force. It has a short
takeoff and landing and is capable of operating
on poorly equipped airfields. There is a problem,
though: its production is being reassigned back
and forth between different plants.
The Air Force is test-flying two prototypes built
by the Ukrainian Aviant plant operated by the
Antonov Design Bureau. The list of complaints
about the work done by Ukrainian designers is
not getting any shorter. This story may reach
the proportions of a soap opera.
But not the longest one, though. There is a wonderful
tactical transportation aircraft project implemented
jointly with India. Well, “implemented”
may be an overstatement. At the moment, in addition
to a decision on making 205 aircraft (of which
100 will go to the Russian Air Force), both sides
have an IL-214 project now scheduled to take to
the air in 2017.
Meanwhile, there is a competitor – the Ukrainian
An-178. However, it has a problem, too: the transfer
of the full production cycle to Russia meets with
resistance from the Antonov Design Bureau, which
would rather get an order for the manufacture
itself than cede the license to Russian plants.
It is absolutely impossible to figure out what
will become of the Russian military transportation
aviation ten years from now in these circumstances.
Run-down plants and design bureaus that have remained
without work orders for the past 20 years (in
stark contrast with the manufacturers of tactical
aircraft, especially helicopters), preclude any
chance of making plans for the future.
The foreign market for transportation aviation
is much tougher than that of combat aviation;
therefore, the manufacture of military transportation
aviation has no future in Russia without a properly
thought-out strategy of government procurement
and production upgrading programs.
The author is RIA Novosti’s
military affairs columnist.
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