VVS Russian Air Force: News #1

100 Sukhois to be delivered to VVS by 2015 from KnAAz and NAPO:
http://rbth.co.uk/news/2013/10/11/two_sukhoi_plants_to_make_about_100_warplanes_for_russia_in_2013-14_-_mi_30744.html

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/635093.html

5th An-140 delivered to MOD.

2013 year is the year when we can with 100% certanty say things started to move fast in the right direction 

- production
- new technologies
- new projects
- money spend
- etc


More than 600 young pilots and navigators will join the Russian Air Force in 2013

Firepower: Air

14 OCTOBER 2013

Russia's warplanes remain among the most advanced in the world, both capable of striking targets on the ground and engaging in aerial combat. Sukoi and MiG planes not only constitute the staples of Russian air power but have been used by militaries around the globe. At an airbase in Lipetsk, RT looks into the men and hardware that make up Russia's air force.

http://rtd.rt.com/films/firepower-air/#part-1

It has been a while since we had the last batches of Mi-28 and Ka-52 introduced into service.
What is happening?

TheArmenian wrote:It has been a while since we had the last batches of Mi-28 and Ka-52 introduced into service.
What is happening?

Mi-28 being delivered steadily throughout the year.

Haven't heard much about Ka-52 for several months; they were developing Ka-52K and assembly was being done @ Rostvertol for some reason of land-based Ka-52.
At least 10 were expected to be delivered in 2013.

Are you keeping count of what has entered service thus far?

TheArmenian wrote:Are you keeping count of what has entered service thus far?

You mean numbers? DIMMI has a pretty good bort count on his website.

Mi-28 should be right under 80 produced in total, with a bit smaller number in serial service.

BTW: http://bmpd.livejournal.com/644078.html

Tender announced for two Ka-52K training suits.

27 aircraft to be delivered this year (by KnAAZ alone?), 35 (together with NAPO) in 2014, and 51 in 2015:
http://government.ru/news/7724
http://bmpd.livejournal.com/645890.html#comments
Any more info on these numbers? Strangely, IAPO is not mentioned.

Speculation: If KnAAZ only is to deliver 27 aircraft this year, should be one T-50(-5?), about 10-12 Su-35S, "some" Su-27SM3 (6 to 12?) , and "some" Su-30M2 (4 to 6?)?

where is the news about further sm3 production? I can't find any sources for that...

Could it be something like this: 12 su35, 14-15 su30m2, 0-1 pak-fa? (being unsure if they mean produced at all or delivered to ruaf. new prototype certainly won't be delivered to ruaf so it may not count)

then in 2014 it might be: 12 su35, remaining 1-2 su30m2 (fulfilling that 16 airframe order) and 16 su34 from napo. But that would amount to 30 or so planes, so 5 more are missing. maybe there's added su30m2 on order? or plan for su35 production will change and will increase to 14 a year earlier? or pak-fa prototypes are counted and remaining two will be counted in 2014?

But i don't know how to get to 51 in 2015, at least not without irkut's or rac mig's production. 16 su34, 14 su35, perhaps 4-6 or so first preserial pak-fa... we're still short of 51 quite a bit. There'd have to be another 16 or so planes for which we know no order yet. i guess su30m2 is the main contender for that mystery order, just like with that last one for 16 planes that went under the radar for several months.

If we do include other manufacturers then we also get bigger numbers than 27 and 35 for 2013 and 2014. Plus the text does mention quite clearly it means just knaaz for 2013 and knaaz and napo for 2014. I guess 2015. could be described as unclear in the text, maybe other manufacturers are included there but frankly that whole approach to interpretation doesn't make much sense.

mack8 wrote:27 aircraft to be delivered this year (by KnAAZ alone?), 35 (together with NAPO) in 2014, and 51 in 2015:
http://government.ru/news/7724
http://bmpd.livejournal.com/645890.html#comments
Any more info on these numbers? Strangely, IAPO is not mentioned.

Speculation: If KnAAZ only is to deliver 27 aircraft this year, should be one T-50(-5?), about 10-12 Su-35S, "some" Su-27SM3 (6 to 12?) , and "some" Su-30M2 (4 to 6?)?

I think those numbers are for KNAAZ only. NAPO plan for next year to build 16 Su-34 and if 35 planes for 2014 is meant for both companies, than production in KNAAZ will fall from 27 to 19 planes and than again increase in 2015.

From the photos we could only see Su-30M2 and Su-35 to be build in KNAAZ and Su-33 in repair, but no Su-27 planes. They plan top deliver 12 Su-35 this year, so the rest could be Su-30M2. I wonder if repaired planes are included in this number or it is only for new build planes?

where is the news about further sm3 production? I can't find any sources for that...

It started as "insider" info when the Su-30M2 deal was revealed. Since then there was the news that the squadron to be deployed in Belarus will have Su-27SM3, and that the Southern Military District will receive among other things, Su-27SM3. I reasoned that even if the current SM3 squadron will be moved to either Belarus or the SMD, there must still be a squadron worth of SM3s to equip either units, unless of course all these news mean the current Krymsk(?) SM3 squadron will be moved to Belarus and will be under the SMD command while there?! Guess we have to wait and see...  

Beautiful pics of Tu-214R  

http://russianplanes.net/id123316

http://russianplanes.net/id123014

http://russianplanes.net/id123095

By Mikhail Polyakov

mack8 wrote:

where is the news about further sm3 production? I can't find any sources for that...

It started as "insider" info when the Su-30M2 deal was revealed. Since then there was the news that the squadron to be deployed in Belarus will have Su-27SM3, and that the Southern Military District will receive among other things, Su-27SM3. I reasoned that even if the current SM3 squadron will be moved to either Belarus or the SMD, there must still be  a squadron worth of SM3s to equip either units, unless of course all these news mean the current Krymsk(?) SM3 squadron will be moved to Belarus and will be under the SMD command while there?! Guess we have to wait and see...  

I think production of Su-27SM3 and Mig-29SMT/UBT could have some sense after all. At the beginning they form new plane squadrons until more capable Su-30SM, Su-35 and PAK-FA are available, but later they will be for RuAF squadrons deployed outside Russia like Belarus, Armenia and Tadjikistan. In this way those units will get new planes and they will be without most sensitive equipment, which in this case will not be exposed to foreign ELINT capabilities.

Something interesting, according to this piece of news there should be 41 aircraft delivered this year from KnAAZ and NAPO, so 27 from KnAAPO and 14 from NAPO. Looks like the output is indeed to slightly decrease next year, and to increase again in 2015.
http://www.sukhoi.org/news/smi/?id=5290

Do NAPO or Knaaz produce anything other for the military that is not combat aircraft? As far as I can tell, the answer is no. Their only military related products are su34, su35, su30m2. And perhaps su-27sm3 and pak-fa, if one wants to count those too in the mentioned timeframe.

There definitely does seem to be some extra production at knaaz, over the so far known contracts and known volumes of su35 production.

during 2013 and 2014 there will be 4 planes produced over the known su35 and su30m2 volumes. Added su27sm3 to get them to 16 overall?
Or added su30m2 to get them to 24 overall? The latter seems more logical.

Then comes 2015 with whopping 51 planes. Even with increased production of su35 to 14 airframes and 16 su34, that's still 21 planes extra. Even if one counts in a few of the first preserial pakfa at that point (which may not be realistic as we've recently been told those preserials may wait until 2016) there's a bunch of unknown planes to be procured. Again, extra su30m2 or extra leftover su27sm3? Just how many leftover su27 airframes are there?

With mig29k and su30sm production, total combat plane volumes for 2015 may reach 70 airframes.

 

More than 70 helicopters repaired the defense industry in 2013

Two attack helicopters Mi-35 arrived in WEST

Nice. In a month or two we will witness 50 or so delivered fighters to RuAF. 

Krasnodar aviauchilische before the end of the year receive 18 Yak-130 training

Viktor wrote:Nice. In a month or two we will witness 50 or so delivered fighters to RuAF. 

Krasnodar aviauchilische before the end of the year receive 18 Yak-130 training

Must be a reporting error imo, if i'm not mistaken so far 15 Yak-130 has been delivered this year in lots of 3 or more, last of them only few weeks go. The 18 figure surely refers to the total number to be received this year, so 3 more to go. Isn't IAPO to deliver 18 Yak-130 and 12 Su-30SM this year?

TR1 wrote:Those photos have been floating around for a while, though it was unclear if it was indeed Kh-32.

http://russianplanes.net/id121764
http://russianplanes.net/id114329

External appearance indicates that it's clearly Kh-22 family missile. Anyway what's new in Kh-32 ? I'm under impression somewhat that Kh-32 is another designation for Kh-22MN.

Nice. 

Ten new helicopters joined the fleet WEST

wow wow MIG-31 replacement becoming reality  

"We have started to develop a new aircraft of this type and I think that we will be able to complete it before the end of the state arms program in 2020. - Bondarev said at a meeting with members of the Russian parliament. - The new aircraft will replace the current by 2028. "

http://vpk.name/news/99790_zarubezhnyie_smi_glavnokommanduyushii_vvs_rossii_soobshil_o_zamene_mig31.html

^^ Thats from a dated Flight Intl article

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/russian-air-force-commander-eyes-mig-31-replacement-384732/

Russia's air force expects to begin fielding a replacement for its Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptors by 2020 and to retire the type by 2028, says its commander, Lt Gen Viktor Bondarev.

"We have started development of a new aircraft of this type and I think we can develop this plane before the end of the state armament programme in 2020," Bondarev said at a meeting with Russian parliamentary deputies. "The new plane should replace the existing fleet by 2028."

Bondarev did not specify if the new aircraft might be a derivative of an existing design or an emerging one such as the Sukhoi T-50/PAK-FA or Su-35.

Some analysts think the air force will be hard-pressed to get an entirely new aircraft in use by the date quoted by Bondarev.

"In terms of both design and financial resources this looks very challenging, unless an existing platform was the basis for any project," says Douglas Barrie, air warfare analyst at the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Bondarev says the air force has 122 MiG-31s in service, with about half undergoing conversion to the MiG-31BM standard. This adds a new multimode radar, multifunction cockpit displays and the ability to use Vympel's RVV-BD long-range air-to-air missile.