Russian Airstrikes in Syria: Pre- and Post Cessation of Hostilities

Russia intensified its air campaign against the Syrian opposition in and around Aleppo City from September 20 – 22 following the breakdown of the nationwide ceasefire in Syria. The dramatic uptick in Russian airstrikes coincided with the Syrian Arab Army’s announcement of the start of an offensive to seize the remaining opposition-held districts of Aleppo City on September 22, demonstrating Russia’s continued commitment to support pro-regime operations against the Syrian opposition. Russian strikes concentrated against opposition-held terrain in the southern districts of Aleppo City as well as in the city’s western countryside, marking the largest three-day surge in Russian airstrikes against the city and its environs since mid-August. Russian warplanes reportedly conducted several airstrikes using cluster or incendiary munitions, including an alleged wave of incendiary attacks against opposition frontlines south of Aleppo City, while regime jets also intensified their bombardment of the city and its suburbs. 

The surge in Russian strikes defied U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s demand on September 21 that pro-regime forces “immediately ground all aircraft” flying over opposition-held areas in order to “restore credibility” to U.S.-Russian negotiations on the Syrian Civil War. Russia has periodically intensified and tempered its air operations in Aleppo Province during negotiations with the U.S., wielding the threat of even deeper humanitarian crisis and the defeat of the acceptable opposition in Aleppo City in order to extract concessions. Russia will not accede to a partnership with the U.S. except on its own terms, and will continue to wage its air campaign in Syria coercively in order to secure them.    

The following graphic depicts SW’s assessment of Russian airstrike locations based on reports from local Syrian activist networks, statements by Russian and Western officials, and documentation of Russian airstrikes through social media. This map represents locations targeted by Russia’s air campaign, rather than the number of individual strikes or sorties. 

High-Confidence Reporting. SW places high confidence in reports corroborated by documentation from opposition factions and activist networks on the ground in Syria deemed to be credible that demonstrate a number of key indicators of Russian airstrikes.

Low-Confidence Reporting. ISW places low confidence in reports corroborated only by multiple secondary sources, including from local Syrian activist networks deemed credible or Syrian state-run media.

ANOTHER RUSSIAN WAR CRIME - Precision Bombing by Putin's Airforce in Syria

DEATH BY PUTIN - Putin’s goal is destroying the city of Raqqa Not fighting ISIS

Once the Russian Kremlin announced its intention to intervene in the conflict in Syria to save the Assad regime under the pretext of fighting terrorism, until the Russian aircraft begun implementation of air sorties in the skies of Raqqa city and its countryside.

However, the repeated Russian’ statements of targeting ISIS were not consistent with the conduct of the raids carried out by the Russian aviation on the ground, as documented by local and international news agencies that most of the strikes were aimed mainly at the civilians, and through the shelling of residential neighbourhoods, popular markets and public facilities and infrastructure that serve the civilians directly.

This means that these raids were not aimed at the headquarters or any security military check points of ISIS known by everyone inside the city, but rarely, on the other hand they did not target the heavily armed ranks of ISIS which have long been scouring the public roads within and outside the city in the daylight, while the raids were aimed at the headquarters of ISIS ,they did not significantly affect the human structure of the military, where the losses of ISIS were virtually non-existent because most of the raids were aimed at former headquarters and absolutely empty of the ISIS members and its mechanisms as a result of the repeated targeting by the international airline alliance. 

What makes the Russian raids more advanced than the raids of the Syrian regime?

-The big destruction as a result of the enormous destructive power of its missiles, which caused dozen of massacres 

– Over flights and bombing day and night, which was something that the Aviation of the Syrian regime incapable of.

– Targeting all districts of the city, where neighbourhoods have been bombed that have never been exposed to any raids, not to mention, being purely civilian neighbourhoods.

– The systematic destruction of the infrastructure, and targeting sites that the Syrian regime did not dare to bomb such as bridges, water plants and silos and granaries.

What distinguishes the raids done by the Russian aircraft is another matter, which is targeting oil refineries which are called locally (oil Burners), which is a very small projects of refining crude oil in primitive ways, and they are owned mostly by the local population and have no direct link with ISIS

Also the raids targeted on the other hand, oil trucks that move between the towns of Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa and owned by civilians also.

. 
And it seems like the Russian are trying so hard to convince the world that they are aiming at destroying all kinds of sources of ISIS through these raids that are targeting the Limited and primitive oil circulation which owned by the civilians, and that affects only the civilians.

However, the Russians know best about the economical and oil close relations between the regime and ISIS.

Not to mention targeting many of the Facilities and installations, which have been long ignored by the aviation of the regime previously, such as :

1. the trucks that move oil from where they find it inside areas controlled by ISIS to cities controlled by the regime

2. the wells that produce oil which by the way are still working until now under the supervision of ISIS 

3. the gas wells and the pipes that move it from ISIS areas to the regime’s, which the regime is depending on that for power generation

4. the trucks that move wheat and other sold grains by ISIS to middlemen working for the regime and deliver them to the its areas

On another hand, the Russian tried in Raqqa different kinds of weapons , such as, strategic missiles that were lunched from submarines stationed in the Caspian Sea, which landed in barren and free zones of population in the countryside of Raqqa, as they tried new types of Steric missiles, the residential neighborhoods were taking these kinds of experiments, and one of these experiments for instant , targeting the neighborhood of 23rd of Feb and the neighborhood of Saif Al Daola, where building were completely destroyed , and in some cases , streets were also completely destroyed , which is something happening for the first time in the city.

The civilians inside the city of Raqqa realize that the first goal of these raids is evacuating the city completely from the locals, and that through targeting residential neighborhoods to force the families to be displaced to other safer areas.

as everyone knows that the Russian air force and its aviation are more advanced and developed significantly than the Syrian counterpart, and the mistakes are rarely done by the Russians , when they target a residential neighborhood where there is no sign of ISIS on the range of 4oo meters is a clear clue that the target is the civilians and no one else, as we mentioned before that the main goal is evacuating the city of the locals so the city of Raqqa will be an empty and free stage for all types of aviation, beginning with the aviation of the international coalition who is an assumed friends and ending with the most Aggressive enemy , the Russians and the Assad regime.

In this context we can understand that the US Department of Defense remarks that the upcoming military operation on the city of Raqqa will be extremely difficult and complicated, pointing that what it seems that the city is still filled with lots of people , which is a reason that’s preventing its military operations, and since ISIS has emptied its spots and re-spread in the residential neighborhoods inside the city to make it worse and more complicated, it is okay for the Russian to handle “ The Dirty Job” which is killing the families of the city and bombing it without any mercy or evacuation

.

The international coalition and the United States are aware of the Reconnaissance planes that are flying 24/7 in the skies of the city, However the Russian raids are focusing on the neighborhoods directly and ISIS to be affected is almost non-existent, Therefore they don’t care as long as they are achieving their main target which is evacuating the city of Raqqa from the civilians as many as possible , so their aviation can fly later on to destroy the city completely just like what they did before in the city of Ein Al Arab in north of Syria.

“ISIS” military lull before the storm

Exclusive – RBSS

ISIS didn’t used to have a military recession like the one they’re having now in the light of the stopping of most of fighting fronts with the various armed factions and armed militias, when the front of Ein Essa is safe for the militia of popular protection units after it was one of the most ferocity fronts as in Dir Elzor in the east, where fighting stopped in almost completely since the last major operation launched by ISIS against the regime and its militias, leaving the north of Aleppo raged against the backdrop of clashes between factions of ISIS and the FSA in conjunction with the Russian aerial bombardment and the military progress of the regime forces towards the Nobil and Zahra.

Rally in Raqqa and fear of a repeat of Tel Abyad scenario

Raqqa city is witnessing a rise recently in the number of members of ISIS and his cars and pervasive barriers at the entrances and exits of the city as well as intensive patrols, which suggests that something is being planned.

According to our reporter in turn, that ISIS brought in reinforcements, including mortars and long-range missiles were also able to get information from different sources confirm the ISIS transferred a large number of confiscated cars to bombed cars is likely the possibility of processing an attack widely unknown destination until the moment.

For his part, Munther a young man from the city said: “We can say for sure that what is happening is the lull before the storm, I do not know if ISIS will attack somebody or that the city will be attacked by the regime or militia of protection units, do not want to get rid of the criminals to another criminal like it comes as happened in Tel Abyad, I know that the Russian bombing will stop in case of regime control or protection units control of the city but all residents will be displaced and northern countryside is living example of that. “

Destination is Aleppo

Aleppo Lives today the most difficult days in the Syrian revolution as it is now in danger of collapse at any moment with the documenting of nearly 150 strike within one day added to the regime progress backed by Hezbollah militia and Iraqi militia and Russian mercenaries from the point of Nobil and Zahra, at a time ISIS are trying to pressure from the opposite side to put it in the jaws of the pliers.

ISIS, as usual, trying to exploit the Russian military pressure on the city to subjugate and the opening of new crossings over control of parts of the border with Turkey and in particular with the strangle of it since losing Tel Abyad crossing and stop the flow of fighters, says Abu Mohammed, a bus driver, “I passed in front of several cars of ISIS loaded with fighters and dragging behind mortars I asked them to win their favor in order to avoid harassment where are going guys , to Dir Elzor ? One of them answered me, to Aleppo to fight the FSA there. “

Her name was Basma

Her name was Basma, meaning a smile.

She was killed today Saturday February 2016 by Russian Bombers (Source - Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently The Syrian Campaign Against #ISIS and #Assad regime in #Raqqa

#Daraa #Syria

Sukhoi PAK-FA to be armed with IMPOSSIBLE-TO-EVADE K-77M missile

Sukhoi's PAK-FA fifth generation fighter plane being jointly developed by Russia and India is all set to be armed with never-seen-before advanced air engagement system.
 

 

The K-77M air-to-air missile will combine fire-and-forget guidance and single-shot-kill that will triumph over any evasive manoeuvres by the target.
 

"The major innovation of the K-77M air-to-air missile is its guidance system, based on an active phased array antenna (APAA) of its own, Izvestia daily reports. With APAA onboard, the missile has zero reaction time to unexpected evolutions of the target, which means that once it locks on an aircraft, it would hit it no matter what aerial acrobatics the target would perform to shake off the inbound killer missile," quoted Russia Today.

 

 

The APAA is the most modern technology and is extremely expensive to produce. It consists of large number of cone-shaped cells installed on the nose of the missile. The information obtained from all the cells help system complete a picture and engages the target.

 

The Sukhoi PAK-FA
 

Indian Air Force has signed partnership deal with its most trusted ally- Russia, to jointly develop a Fifth Generation Fighter Place that is expected to be ready by 2022. The Indian version would be based on currently in-development Russian Sukhoi PAK-FA T-50 prototype.

 

 

The aircraft will be jointly developed by Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) and the Sukhoi concern in Moscow. Once operational, it will replace the existing fleet of, Soviet-era, MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-30MKI.

 

 

 Under the USD11-million deal, India will receive its first working prototype by 2014, followed by a second prototype in 2017 and the third in 2019, from Russia.
 

The three prototypes would be subjected to extensive evaluation to test various components, onboard systems and general handling of weapon delivery.

Development of Sukhoi FGFA on course, full-scale development contract being drafted

The front-end engineering design of Sukhoi FGFA, the fifth generation fighter plane being jointly developed by Russia and India for Indian Air Force has been completed.

 

The United Aircraf Corporation (UAC), the company beghind the designing of the state-of-the-art fighter jet, is under the process of preparing the contract for full-scale development of the jet.

The Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) or Perspective Multi-role Fighter (PMF) is a fifth-generation fighter being developed by India and Russia.

 

The Indian model will bear slight difference from its Russian counterpart based upon the needs of Indian Air Force.

FGFA was the earlier designation for the Indian version, while the combined project is now called the Perspective Multi-Role Fighter (PMF).

Two separate prototypes will be developed, one by Russia and a separate one by India.

 According to erstwhile HAL chairman A.K. Baweja (speaking shortly after the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Committee meeting on 18 September 2008), both the Russian and Indian versions of the aircraft will be single-seater. The first aircraft is to begin testing in India in 2014, with introduction into service expected by 2022.

 

Last year, India and Russia signed a contract to arm the jet with never-seen-before advanced air engagement system.

The K-77M air-to-air missile will combine fire-and-forget guidance and single-shot-kill that will triumph over any evasive manoeuvres by the target.

"The major innovation of the K-77M air-to-air missile is its guidance system, based on an active phased array antenna (APAA) of its own, Izvestia daily reports. With APAA onboard, the missile has zero reaction time to unexpected evolutions of the target, which means that once it locks on an aircraft, it would hit it no matter what aerial acrobatics the target would perform to shake off the inbound killer missile," quoted Russia Today.

 

India plans to buy 3 radar reconnaissance aircrafts A-50 in Russia

AEW&C aircrafts A-50 are used to detect and track air targets and surface vessels, warn automated systems of command posts and to control airplanes in sighting

 

India plans to buy three airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircrafts A-50 in Russia, a source in Russian governmental military and industrial commission told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

In 2003 India has already ordered three such warplanes and the contract was fulfilled in 2010.

“India is mulling possible delivery of another three AEW&C aircrafts, talks are on now,” the commission’s source said. He did not specify a timeline planned for a deal to strike.

 

The delivery of AEW&C aircrafts is planned “in the same configuration” as under the agreement in 2003, he said.

 

Meanwhile, the source added that after the A-50 delivery a contract for their maintenance was signed with India, “warplanes pass it successfully with assistance of Russian specialists.”

 

A-50 built on the base of a military transport airplane Ilyushin Il-76MD was brought into service in 1989. AEW&C aircrafts A-50 are used to detect and track air targets and surface vessels, warn automated systems of command posts and to control airplanes in sighting.

Russia to commission T-50 Stealth Fighters in 2016

The Russian Air Force will start receiving the T-50 fifth generation stealth fighters in 2016, the Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev has said.

"We should start getting these aircraft from 2016," the Air Force Chief told the Russian News Service radio.

"It (T-50) has already participated twice in the Aviadarts (international pilot competition) show and performed aerobatics figures in pairs with other planes... Everything is going according to plan.

"In 2016 we will start receiving the first T-50 planes," the Air Force Commander said.

The T-50 PAK FA is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring elements of "stealth" technology," super-manoeuvrability, super-cruise capability and advanced avionics suite including X-band active phased-array radar.

Designed and built by the Sukhoi Company, five prototypes of the new combat plane are presently undergoing flight trials. The maiden flight test of T-50 was conducted in January 2010.

The T-50 is scheduled to eventually replace the Sukhoi Su-27s of the Russian Air Force.

The new-generation fighter aircraft was publicly unveiled for the first time in August 2011 at the MAKS international air show. The fighter is Russia's first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

India has joined hands with Russia to design and produce the new fighter for its Air Force.

Meanwhile, the Russian Air Force also plans to start deploying the new S-500 long range air defence missile systems by 2016.

The state-of-the-art S-500 surface-to-air missile is an advancement of the S-400 Triumf air defence system with "dedicated components designed to intercept ballistic missiles at a height of up to 200 km."

Developed by Almaz Antei, the fifth-generation S-500 anti-missile system will have an extended range of about 600 kilometers and will engage up to 10 targets at the same time. It will have the capability to destroy hypersonic and ballistic missiles and other aircraft, according to earlier reports.

Russia to upgrade 50 military airfields by 2020

About 50 military airfields will be repaired and supplied with modern equipment in Russia by 2020, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Col.-Gen. Viktor Bondarev said on Monday.

“Large funds have been allocated for the construction. Today 17 such aerodromes are involved in this effort and we’ll increase their number to 50 by 2020. They will be repaired or built anew,” he said.

The Russian Air Force has almost 150 military airfields and virtually all of them have been exploited “for a very long time,” Bondarev said.

 

A 4 km-long runway was commissioned at the Akhtubinsk flight and testing center in south Russia on August 14, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force said.

 

“This is a splendid runway, which helps perform all test flights,” he said. The runway will be supplied with ultra-modern navigation equipment to allow landing virtually in any weather conditions, he said.

 

“We’ll bring all the aerodromes to this condition,” the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force said.

 

Russia will also restore Arctic aerodromes, including the Rogachyov airfield on Novaya Zemlya and airfields in Vorkuta, Alykel and on Cape Schmidt. The Temp aerodrome on the Kotelny Island of the New Siberian Islands archipelago will be modernized to receive aircraft round the year and eventually land Ilyushin Il-76 heavy military transport planes there, Bondarev said.

 

The Russian Air Force has almost 150 military airfields and virtually all of them have been exploited for a very long time.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Suggests Resuming MiG-31 Interceptor Aircraft Production

The production of MiG-31 interceptor aircraft should resume, as they could prove effective for another 15 years, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday.

 

“The aircraft had no rivals. That was the opinion of the Military-Industrial Commission, the Defense Ministry, the industry on the whole and even the State Duma, which used to hold special hearings on the subject of the interceptor. The production should be revived, as the jet is being upgraded. This fighter will certainly be effective for another 15 years, with its various modifications that are up to today’s military requirements,” Rogozin said.

 

The deputy prime minister went on to say that he believed the aircraft had big export potential and expected high demand for the MiG-31.

 

The MiG-31 is a long-range supersonic interceptor aircraft based on the MiG-25. The MiG-31 went into production in 1979, with some 500 delivered. In 1994, production of the jets was curtailed.

Commander: Russian army to start receiving newest T-50 jet fighter from 2016

Russia’s fifth-generation T-50 jet fighter will begin to be supplied to the Armed Forces from 2016, Air Force Commander, Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev said on Saturday.

 

“It [T-50] has already participated twice in the Aviadarts show and performed aerobatics figures in pairs with other planes. I think it has a bright future,” he told the Russian News Service radio, adding that plane was being created using stealth technology.

 

Several such planes have already begun testing at the Akhtubinsk range in the southern Astrakhan region.

 

“We should start getting these aircraft from 2016,” Bondarev said.

 

The Russian Defence Ministry has worked out a detailed plan up to 2020 for re-equipping the country’s Air Force.

 

“In 2016 we will start receiving the first T-50 planes,” the commander said, adding that everything was going according to plan and the flight personnel of the 929th Chkalov flight test centre retrained for the T-50 aircraft also knwon as the Prospective Airborne Complexes of Frontline Aviation (PAK FA).

 

According to Bondarev, the pilots have already started flights on one plane, and the second one is being readied.

 

The first PAK FA aircraft will perform its first flight in 2019.

 

“In 2019, the plane is to perform the first flight, and in 2023 its tests will be completed and delivery to the troops will be carried out,” Bondarev said earlier.

 

PAK FA (T-50) is Russia’s multipurpose fifth-generation fighter jet, created by the Sukhoi design bureau. The plane performed its first flight in 2010. It is a missile-carrying strategic bomber of a new generation, designed by the Tupolev company. The plane will not be a deeply modernised version of Tu-160, but will become a principally new aircraft. In the future, PAK FA is to replace the Tu-95 and Tu-160 planes of long-range (strategic) aviation that are in service in the Russian Air Force.

The Yak-130: The Russian Army’s ‘flying iPhone’

The Yakovlev Yak-130 is Russia’s newest trainer aircraft, capable of being programmed to recreate a range of different flight conditions for trainee pilots as well as functioning as a ground-attack craft. Russia now hopes to take advantage of the plane’s export potential.

Within the next two or three years, Moscow intends to present the Yakovlev Yak-130, its newest trainer aircraft, to a wider world market. In comments made at the recent Farnborough International Airshow outside London, Sergei Kornev, head of the Department for Exports of Aircraft and Special Property at Rosoboronexport, the Russian exporter of armaments and military equipment, described the Yak-130 as not only one of the best trainer aircraft in the world, but also a plane that can act as a light ground-attack aircraft, which Russia’s foreign partners find of particular interest. "Simple and flexible" The Yak-130 is one of the main hopes of Russian military aviation. Development work on the aircraft began as far back as in the 1980s, and was focused on producing a primary trainer aircraft capable of flight simulation for all types of modern and prospective fighters. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union put an end to the work. Russian pilots show they can hit the target at Aviadarts Under the terms of the deal, the Italians were to have provided airborne equipment for the plane and act as agents to sell the aircraft on the world market, with property rights divided 50/50. But in the end the Italians abandoned the aircraft and developed their own, the M-346. In the Russian army, the Yak-130 is called "the flying iPhone”: It is reliable, easy to manage and, most importantly, highly oriented to a specific customer and their needs. "I have never seen an aircraft easier to manage and more flexible than this one," said former commander of the Russian Air Force and Hero of Russia Vladimir Mikhailov of the new trainer aircraft after a flight on the Yak-130. The general was certainly cunning – a training flight is never "easy", and an aircraft is never "flexible."

 

The thing is that, just as with the iPhone, the Yak-130 features technical solutions that make it as user-friendly as possible. For instance, according to the designers, the aircraft can be reprogrammed directly while in flight to perform a training flight in various weather or pilotage conditions, depending on which aircraft the pilot is being prepared for. If this is the modern Su-30 aircraft, the Yak-130 will fly according to one scenario; if the flight program of the newest American F-35 light fighter is entered, it will fly in a different way. Moreover, the flight program will be absolutely secure and predictable for both the student and training pilot. If the student pilot loses control of the aircraft, it can be landed by an instructor using radio signals from the ground. The Yak-130 is able to fly safely at angles of attack of up to 40 degrees with a velocity varying from 125 to 500 miles per hour. There is by no other trainer aircraft today capable of achieving similar functions. More than a trainer aircraft However, the Yak-130 can resolve not only training problems. This “flying school desk" can be easily converted into a light fighter or ground-attack aircraft if necessary. The craft has 9 hardpoints – 6 under its wings, 2 on the wingtips and 1 under the fuselage – on which it can carry a weapon load up to 6,600 lbs, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, as well as bombs of 550 lb and 1,100 lb calibers, cluster bombs and other aircraft weaponry.

 

According to experts from the Russian Air Force, the cost of sending the Yak-130 to perform local tasks, such as the destruction of terrorist camps, border defense (including marine borders) and the fight against drug traffickers is significantly less than if an F-35 or Su-30 were sent on a combat mission. In addition, since it is practically autonomous, this Yakovlev aircraft can be based anywhere, be it on a concrete airfield with a normal maintenance system or on an unpaved airdrome.

 

 This makes it possible to base the aircraft as close to areas of combat operations as possible and to ensure its use in operations in places which are unprepared in respect to aviation. Export prospects Until recently, the Yak-13 has not been supplied to foreign customers. Under a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, the aircraft manufacturer, Irkut Corporation, had first to satisfy the requirements of the Russian military for 70 such planes. However, the experience of using the Yak-130 in the domestic army has quickly opened up the plane’s export potential for foreign customers. Algeria, which obtained 16 aircraft for its armed forces, became the first buyer of the Yak-130. Later, contracts were signed to supply 36 Yak-130s to Syria, 26 to Bangladesh and four to Belarus.

Russian Air Force Receives New Stealth Fighter Prototype

A new advanced fighter jet prototype has been delivered to the Russian Air Force for testing, the manufacturer said Friday.

 

The first T-50 “stealth” fighter had been delivered to a military airfield in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region for test flights, the Sukhoi company said in a statement.

  

The chief air force commander, Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev, said in December that combat squadrons could expect deliveries of the production version, known by its Russian acronym PAK-FA for future tactical fighter aircraft, in 2016 at the latest.

 

The PAK-FA is slated to replace the country’s aging fleet of Soviet-era fighter jets.

 

The Sukhoi T-50 is a fifth-generation fighter jet and features a stealth profile with internal weapons bays for air and ground-attack weapons, thrust-vectoring engines for high-acceleration turns and an ability known as supercruise to fly supersonic without the use of a fuel-guzzling afterburner.

 

An export version, called the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA), is also under development in a joint project with India for that country’s air force.

 

Experts consider the plane comparable to the only fifth-generation fighter currently in operation worldwide, the American F-22 Raptor, which entered service in 2005.

 

The Moscow-based Sukhoi has been conducting its own test flights of several of the aircraft since 2010, including in-flight refueling and high-agility maneuvers. The company said in October that these had produced favorable results.

 

Russian Air Force to Get Su-30SM Fighter Jets in Bulk

Sukhoi Su-30SM multirole fighter jets will be delivered to the Russian Air Force as fully equipped squadrons, rather than “piecemeal,” deputy commander Colonel Sergei Kobylash said Thursday.

The Su-30SM is the latest development of the twin-seat Su-30 jet fighter family, a derivative of the long-serving single-seat Sukhoi Su-27, one of the air force's most important warplanes.

The new aircraft has better radar and communications capabilities, an improved friend-or-foe system, a new ejection seat and new weapons. It also has thrust-vectoring engine nozzles, providing super-maneuverability at low airspeeds.

The first contract between the Defense Ministry and Irkut Corporation for 30 Su-30SMs was signed in March last year. The Russian Air Force received the first two Su-30SM aircraft in November. In mid-December, a new contract was signed for an additional 30 jets by 2016.

Antonov An-148 Prospects Boosted by Russian Military Order

The Russian ministry of defense (MoD) has awarded United Aircraft (UAC) a firm order for 15 Antonov An-148 twinjets, according to UAC president Mikhail Pogosian, speaking at the Paris Air Show. The contract is worth Rouble 18 billion ($550 million). The delivery schedule calls for one aircraft this year, eight in 2014-2015 and six in 2016-2017. The Russian government has previously expressed a need for 130 jetliners for various government agencies. This requirement includes 59 An-148s, according to minister for industry and trade Denis Manturov.

The MoD order is highly profitable for aircraft maker VASO, a UAC factory in Voronezh, with some 25 percent margin over the manufacturing expenses. This contract, along with another for six Il-96-300s for VIP transport, is meant to help the plant establish cost-effective production. VASO lost Rouble 1.2 billion ($36.5 million) in the past year, despite a rise in revenues to Rouble 8.8 billion ($268 million). Last year the factory delivered only one An-148-100EA to the Russian government’s special air detachment (a second is due by year-end) and one An-148-100EM to the Ministry for Emergencies (a second is due this summer), along with three An-148-100Es to Ilyushin Finance (IFC), which subsequently placed them with the airline Angara.

Speaking to AIN at Paris, Alexander Roubtsov, general manager at IFC, said the MoD order “will help gear-up type production at the Voronezh plants, from which commercial buyers will only benefit.” The military order will enable VASO to invest in advanced manufacturing methods and equipment, and to master lean, resource-saving technologies. IFC holds orders for 34 An-148s, and another commercial buyer, Savings Bank, has ordered 10. Thus far, 11 aircraft have been delivered, split between the two.

Eighteen An-148s are currently in service (plus two extended-fuselage An-158s), counting both Russian- and Ukraine-built examples, and to date they have carried two million passengers, according to Antonov. The design house is shaping the An-148-300MP maritime patrol version with 10-hour loitering capability and armed with anti-ship missiles, unguided rockets, depth charges and 23-mm cannon pods. This version is aimed at Russian and Ukrainian MoDs and is also on offer to India. In addition, Antonov is developing the An-178, a ramp-equipped airlifter based on the An-148 and able to carry a 16-metric-ton payload 3,800 km. At the Paris Air Show, Antonov president and general designer Dmytro Kiva said the first prototype is under construction for an anticipated maiden flight next year.

Russia to Open Airbase in Belarus Within Months

Russia is opening an airbase in northwestern Belarus, near the Polish and Lithuanian borders, within just a few months, a Russian Air Force general said Wednesday. 

The airbase, modern Russia’s first on Belarusian soil, will consolidate bilateral defense collaboration as part of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Russian Air Force chief Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev told reporters.

Located in Lida, a city of nearly 100,000, the base will be an important element in the “strategic defense of the Union State,” the two-star general said, adding that Russian Su-27SM3 fighter jets would be stationed there.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in May that the base was not being set up in response to deployment of a US missile shield in Europe that has been strongly opposed by Russia.

However, Moscow has also taken issue with NATO jets flying combat air patrols close to Russian airspace. Belarus borders NATO nations Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

Japanese Air Force Intercepts 2 Russian Aircraft

Japanese fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian military aircraft identified as Tupolev Tu-142s, a reconnaissance and anti-sub version of the Tu-95 strategic bomber. 

The two Tu-142s were first detected in the Sea of Japan near the Northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, RT reported.

They then moved Southwards until they reached Tsushima Island of Nagasaki province, where they turned around.

The Russian aircraft did not violated Japanese airspace, Tokyo stressed.

The incident happened the same day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went to Moscow for the first time in 10 years.

Rumble Over Russian Aircraft Reliability

The Indian Air Force lost another of its Russian made Su-30MKI jet fighters on February 20th. This is the fourth loss since 2009. Two years ago the commander of the Indian Air Force took an hour-long flight in one of India's Su-30MKI to reassure Indian pilots that the Su-30MKI was safe. Two had crashed in 2009 due to mechanical failures and there were widely publicized reliability problems with the engines and many of the other Russian designed and built components of the aircraft.

 

Indian pilots are understandably nervous about the safety of the many Russian warplanes they fly. The MiG fighters are the most dangerous but the more recent Su-30 models were believed to be a lot safer. Recent problems indicate this may not be the case, thus the 2011 flight by the head of the air force.

 

The MiGs are still crashing, with a MiG-27 going down on February 12th. India has lost so many MiG-21 fighters that it is trying to retire this type of aircraft as quickly as possible. Over the last half century, India has bought 976 MiG-21s and over half are gone, mostly because of accidents. While India was something of an extreme case in this area (other users don't fly their MiG-21s as much), it's been typical of MiG aircraft. All this is part of the decline of the once feared, and admired, MiG reputation. Starting in World War II (the MiG-1 entered service in 1940), through the Korean War (the MiG-15 jet fighter) and the Cold War (the MiG-17/19/21/23/27/29), MiGs comprised the bulk of the jet fighters in communist, and Indian, air forces. But after the Cold War ended in 1991 the flaws of the MiG aircraft (poor quality control and reliability, difficult to fly) caught up with users, in a big way. In the last few years, most of the bad news about military aircraft reliability, accidents, and crashes has involved MiG products. For example all Indian MiG-27s have been grounded several times in the last few years because of suspected mechanical problems. These fears are not new. The MiG-27 and Cold War era Russian warplanes in general, do not age well. 

 

Last year India went public with yet another complaint about the Russian made Su-30 fighters. That was about an unspecified "design flaw" in the electronic flight control system for the aircraft. This bit of information was made public because India found that more discreet communications about these matters results in little or no action from the Russians. For example, India has been pressuring Russia for several years to do something about component failures in the Russian designed AL-31 engines that power the Indian Su-30MKI jet fighters. There have been several AL-31 failures because of this in both Indian and Russian Su-30s. The latest accidents indicate that the problems remain.

New Russian Bomber 'Will Not be Hypersonic'

Russia's future PAK-DA manned bomber project will not have hypersonic speed capability, Russia's bomber force commander said on Wednesday, in an apparent contradiction of claims by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin earlier this year.

"PAK-DA, currently under development, will not be hypersonic," Lt. Gen. Anatoly Zhikharev.

The first prototpe PAK-DA is due to enter service around 2020, he added.

Hypersonic speeds are high supersonic, usually referring to Mach five and above, which can usually only be generated using advanced propulsion technology such as ramjet or scramjet engines. No manned aircraft has yet been flown using such technologies, which are on the cutting edge of aerospace know-how.

Zhikharev's statement follows a protracted exchange in the media between senior air force officers, including himself, and Rogozin, who has special responsibility for the arms industry, over what shape PAK-DA should take.

Rogozin repeated in August an earlier appeal for Russia to develop a hypersonic aircraft for its PAK-DA long-range bomber requirement.

"I think we need to go down the route of hypersonic technology and we are moving in that direction and are not falling behind the Americans," he said on Rossiya 24 TV. "We will use this technology when developing a new bomber."

In June, President Vladimir Putin ordered initial development of the new long-range bomber for strategic aviation. Speaking during a conference on defense orders, Putin said: "We have to develop work on the new PAK-DA long-range bomber aircraft for Long-Range Aviation. The task is not easy from a scientific-technical standpoint, but we need to start work."

Rogozin initially said in June he saw no need for PAK-DA to replace the air force's aging Tu-95MS cruise-missile carriers and Tu-160 supersonic bombers.

“These aircraft will not get anywhere. Not ours, not theirs,” he said in an interview with Izvestia that month. He later clarified his statement by saying he was in favor of developing a future bomber, but it should not just be a copy of the serving US Northrop B-2 and should employ hypersonic technology.

In May, he called on Russia's defense industry to develop hypersonic air-breathing weapons as a future strike system. He cited American development work in the X-51, Falcon, HiFire and HyFly hypersonic programs as examples of what he described as the perspective threat posed by U.S. hypersonic development work.

Some aerospace analysts RIA Novosti has previously spoken to say Rogozin's comments are more likely to be relevant to a future air-launched missile, rather than the bomber that launches it.