The Russian Military Merged Thread- Air Force

[geo]

... I guess the Russian airforce figured they could buy these new "hardly ever used" MIGs at a good price.... supplier can't be asking full retail at this point - can he ???

 

[GAP]

4 Russian Mi-17 Helicopters to Afghan Army for $43.5M
30-Jul-2009 15:14 EDT
Article Link

The Afghan National Army Air Corps is procuring 4 Mi-17 variant helicopters and related tool kits from Defense Technology Inc. (DTI) in Huntsville, AL for $43.5 million. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD, manages the firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0089).

DTI provides military hardware from the former Soviet Union to the U.S. Department of Defense and the defense ministries of other NATO Governments. The company will perform the work in Kabul, Afghanistan, and expects to complete it by September 2009. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, with 4 offers received. “Medium Mainstay: Mi-17s for Iraq” examines a controversy over sole-source orders of Mi-17 helicopters from ARINC; this procurement appears to have been run differently.

The Mi-17 is an upgraded version of the Russian Mi-8 helicopter…

The Mi-17 helicopter, developed at the Mil Design Bureau, is a medium weight, single rotor helicopter. The aircraft construction primarily incorporates the airframe of a Mi-8 with the power train of the Mi-24, which provides an increase in performance and gross weight over the basic Mi-8. The aircraft is configured with a five bladed main rotor system (70 feet diameter), and a wheeled landing gear, notes Globalsecurity.org.

The Mi-17 is a multirole helicopter that can be armed with rockets, missiles and guns. It is often used by air assault infantry forces to attack the point of penetration, reinforce units in contact or disrupt counterattacks. Additional missions include attack, direct air support, electronic warfare, airborne early warning, medevac, search and rescue, and minelaying.
More on link

 

[CougarKing]

Hi, Billy Mayes here from the grave and boy do I have a deal for you...

  MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russian investigators in Nizhny Novgorod have opened a criminal case into the illegal sale of MiG-31 Foxhound aircraft hulls at $5 instead of $3.7 million, the Prosecutor General's Office said Thursday.
The sale came to light after an anti-corruption check was carried out to see whether regulations were followed during the sale of items from the Sokol Aircraft Construction plant located in the Russian Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Prosecutors said that in October 2006 - July 2007, unidentified officials from the local department of the Agency for State Reserves unlawfully included four MiG-31 hulls (without engines and weapons) into a list of sale items.

"As a result, long-range supersonic interceptor aircraft that were not for sale were purchased by a dummy firm, Metalsnab, which was not entitled to trade in arms and military hardware," prosecutors said.

The asking price of the MiG-31 hulls was significantly undervalued by a local valuation company.

According to the valuation report one hull was valued at 153 rubles ($4.9) - this initial price was accepted during bidding and the MiGs were sold at this price. However, one hull actually costs around 116 million rubles ($3.7 million).

 

[Yrys]

Pilot dies as Russia jets collide

Video of 41 sec in above link: The scene soon after
the crash was filmed on mobile phone


Two Russian fighter jets have collided while training for an air show near Moscow,
killing one pilot and injuring at least five people on the ground. Two pilots from
the elite Russian Knights aerobatic team parachuted to safety, but a third, the
group's commander, did not survive.

One woman suffered burns and at least four other people were injured as one jet
struck houses near the airfield. Initial reports say that pilot error caused the crash
of the two Su-27 jets.

Air force spokesman Lt Col Vladimir Drik said the fighters collided near Zhukhovsky
airfield, east of Moscow, where they were preparing for the Maks 2009 aerospace
exhibition, due to start on Tuesday. The dead pilot was named as Russian Knights'
commander Igor Tkachenko, 45, a decorated air force colonel.

Earlier this year Russia grounded its entire fleet of another fighter, the Su-24, after
two crashes in three days, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the Su-27 fleet
had been grounded earlier this year instead of the Su-24 fleet.

 

[CougarKing]

Already posted before below:

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/88497.0.html

 

[CougarKing]

news link

:
"The first flight of the fifth-generation plane has been carried out today. It took place in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The plane was in the air for about 45 minutes. The flight was normal. The plane proved itself very well. All our expectations for the first flight came true. The premiere was successful," the Sukhoi company's spokeswoman Olga Kayukova said on Rossiya 24 Television.

Pic1
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video link

video link 2

 

[VinceW]

The look of it has the characteristics of the F-22 and F-23,so it should have some stealth capabilities,and I'll bet that when it explodes it'll be a beautiful sight.

 

[FoverF]

PAK FA

I'm pretty surprised I couldn't find this here yet (which means I'm probably just blind):

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/01/29/337795/pictures.html

Sukhoi's PAK FA fighter completes first flight
By Vladimir Karnozov


Sukhoi has conducted the first flight of its prototype PAK FA fifth-generation fighter, with the aircraft having conducted a 47min sortie this morning.
Flown from KnAAPO’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur site, the PAK FA was piloted by Sergei Bogdan, and “performed excellently”, says Sukhoi.
“In the course of the flight we conducted initial evaluation of the aircraft controllability, engine performance and primary systems operation,” says Bogdan. The aircraft’s landing gear was also retracted and lowered during the first flight.

The PAK FA is powered by two NPO Saturn "Item 117" engines, developed from the Item 117S design already flown on Sukhoi’s Su-35 and a Su-27M testbed. The experimental aircraft’s integrated flight control system controls the engines, along with all other major systems.


Sukhoi says other key design elements include the use of composite materials, advanced aerodynamic techniques and measures to reduce the aircraft’s engine signature, which it claims results in an “unprecedented small radar cross section in radar, optical and infrared range”. The PAK FA is also equipped with an advanced phased-array antenna radar, it adds. Russia's Tikhomirov NIIP displayed an active electronically scanned array design for the fighter at last year's Moscow MAKS air show.

Some observers have drawn similarities between the Russian design and the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23, which lost the US Air Force’s advanced tactical fighter contest to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The PAK FA also has some characteristics in common with both US designs, such as supercruise performance and internal weapons bays.
Featuring large and deeply set intakes that are likely to shroud the engines from head-on view, and also from radar signals from above, the PAK FA also uses comparatively small and canted horizontal and vertical tail surfaces to boost its stealthy characteristics.
“The massive delta wing, allied with its powerful engines, should make it a potent turning machine at high level,” says Flight International test pilot Peter Collins. “But the exposed exhaust nozzles suggest that they don’t consider IR stealth to be that important.”
The aircraft also has a strong resemblance to an image posted on NPO Saturn's website in 2007 (below) and reported on at the time by Flight International.


“This is a great success of both Russian science and design school,” says Sukhoi director general Mikhail Pogosyan. “The PAK FA programme advances Russian aeronautics, together with allied industries, to an entirely new technological level.
“These [PAK FA] aircraft, together with upgraded fourth-generation fighters, will define Russian air force potential for the next decades,” he adds.
The first stage of flight trials involving the PAK FA prototype will last until 2012, when the Russian defence ministry and air force are expected to decide on the future of the project. A production version is expected to be designated the T-50.


The new design could also form the basis of a proposed fifth-generation fighter to be produced in collaboration between Russian and Indian companies.
“I am strongly convinced that our joint project will excel its Western rivals in cost-effectiveness and will not only allow strengthening the defence power of Russian and Indian air forces, but also gain a significant share of the world market,” says Pogosyan.

A few things I have found noteworthy:

NIIP Thikoromov has displayed an L-band AESA, to supplement the main 3-array X-band AESA (nose and cheek arrays). This longer wave-length radar is claimed by NIIP to provide better anti-stealth performance, and I have seen it speculated by defence bloggers that it is also intended for passive detection of, and active interference with, the L-band Link-16 system.

The round naked exhausts on the prototype have been criticized as not being particularly stealthy. But Saturn has experimented before with F-22 style 2-D thrust vectored exhausts, and these may be on the cards for the production model.

 

[CougarKing]

I'm pretty surprised I couldn't find this here yet (which means I'm probably just blind):

If you had searched under "T50" you would found it was already covered at the thread below:

I've merged them.
Bruce

 

[FoverF]

Ahh yes, there we are... Thanks for the merge!

I'm still quite surprised that there doesn't seem to be much interest in it here.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Latest video of T-50 testing. Good close-up shots.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/

Liked the shots of the two guys watching the testing of the thrust-vectoring engines and the guy ducking when the aircraft starts taxing. Obviously, not as safety conscious as Western air forces. 

Some excellent shots of the T-50 in flight:

http://russianplanes.net/ST/Sukhoi/T-50

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Video of the T-50 going through its paces for President Putin.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2010/06/watch-pak-fas-first-air-show.html

 

[TimBit]

The look of it has the characteristics of the F-22 and F-23,so it should have some stealth capabilities,and I'll bet that when it explodes it'll be a beautiful sight.

Well not from our current gear it won't, for sure...  :'(

 

[SeanNewman]

Wikipedia is showing an approx price of $100m / plane and $8-10 billion total.

How in the hell is Russia going to afford that?

Looks like another round of starving the citizens.

 

[CougarKing]

A plan for procuring 70 of these T50 fighters?

RIA Novosti link

Russian Defense Ministry to buy 10 fifth-generation fighters in 2013-2015

Russia will buy 10 fifth-generation fighters in 2013-2015, and 60 more in 2016, Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said on Monday.
Popovkin said the first fighters will be purchased in 2013, while in 2015 a batch of fighters will be tested by the Air Force.

"We will start the serial purchase of this fighter in 2016 and a batch of 60 fighters will be purchased within a state arms procurement program," the deputy minister said.

FARNBOROUGH (Britain), July 19 (RIA Novosti)

 

[CougarKing]

As stated by Defense Industry Daily:

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to spend 20 trillion rubles ($656 billion) on its 2011-2020 state arms procurement program, which includes purchases of 1,000 helicopters, 20 An-124 Ruslan transport planes, and 70 T-50 fighter jets.

And RIA Novosti:

RIA Novosti link 1

Russian state arms procurement program increased 'almost twofold' - official
Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister for arms procurement
15:42 19/07/2010© RIA Novosti Related News

The Russian Defense Ministry has almost doubled allocations for the 2011-2020 state arms procurement program, a senior official said on Monday.

Vladimir Popovkin, deputy defense minister for arms procurement, said that while the original allocations amounted to 13 trillion rubles, they would be raised to 20 trillion.

Popovkin added that Russian would purchase up to one thousand helicopters of various types in the framework of the state arms procurement program.

"The Vostok-2010 military exercises showed the need to use helicopters in combat conditions," he said, adding that "special emphasis will be laid on heavy transport helicopters."

FARNBOROUGH, July 19 (RIA Novosti)

RIA Novosti link 2

Russia may purchase 20 An-124 transport planes before 2020

The Russian Defense Ministry may purchase some 20 An-124 Ruslan (Condor) heavy-lift transport aircraft according to the 2011-2020 state arms procurement program, a senior official said on Monday.

"We are now working on this issue... We intend to buy about 20 such aircraft," said Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin, who is in charge of arms procurement.

He said an agreement on the modernization of the Ruslan planes which are currently in service had been signed earlier this year.

"We plan to modernize two planes annually, and starting from 2015-2016, if the manufacturers are ready, we will start purchasing them," he added.

In June, Boeing said it may conduct the final assembly of Russian-Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan heavy-lift transport planes for the U.S. market - a move which drew much criticism from the Ukraine-based Antonov Design Bureau.

Russia and Ukraine reached a preliminary agreement to resume production of the An-124 in April 2008.

The An-124, which can be used both for domestic and military purposes, was designed by the Antonov Design Bureau in 1982, and was produced in Ukraine's Kiev and Russia's Ulyanovsk until 1995. The plane has a maximum payload of 150 metric tons with a flight range of around 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles).

The cargo jet is the world's third largest after the An-225 and the Airbus A380F.

FARNBOROUGH, July 19 (RIA Novosti)

Plus more about the future T50 acquisitions at the Russian T50 fighters thread.

 

[Rogo]

Well if the Russkies are doing stealth and we/our allies are doing stealth then how will anyone find anyone?  We should all agree to return to bi-planes and save everyone a lot of money.      Is anyone else getting the urge to watch Red Dawn right about now?

 

[EpicBeardedMan]

We should all agree to return to bi-planes and save everyone a lot of money.     

We might have to revive the Red Baron from the dead. 

 

[Oh No a Canadian]

Well if the Russkies are doing stealth and we/our allies are doing stealth then how will anyone find anyone?

go back to dog fighting  ;D

 

[CougarKing]

NORAD link


NORAD and Russian Air Force plan cooperative air defense exercise
Aug. 2, 2010

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - The Russian Federation Air Force and the North American Aerospace Defense Command will conduct a first-ever cooperative air defense exercise.

The civilian air control agencies of Russia (Federal Air Navigational Service) and the United States (Federal Aviation Administration) will also be involved in the exercise along with the military air operations centers at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, and Khabarovsk, Russia.

The exercise, named VIGILANT EAGLE, will take place on or about Aug. 8-11 and involves Russian, Canadian and U.S. Air Force personnel operating from command centers in Russia and the United States.

This exercise is authorized under a cooperative military agreement signed by the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States of America. The agreement tasks NORAD, the bi-national U.S. and Canadian command, and the Russian Federation Air Force to conduct a live-fly exercise for up to five days.

It will consist of two international flights: one originating in Alaska and traveling to the Far East followed by one originating in the Far East and traveling to Alaska. Both flights will follow the same route.

The basic premise is that a U.S. flagged commercial air carrier on an international flight (Fencing 1220) has been taken over by terrorists. The aircraft will not respond to communications. The exercise scenario will create a situation that requires both the Russian Air Force and NORAD to launch or divert fighter aircraft to investigate and follow Fencing 1220. The exercise will focus on shadowing and the cooperative hand-off of the monitored aircraft (Fencing 1220) between fighters of the participating nations.

Airborne warning and control aircraft (AWACS E-3B and A-50) from Russia and the United States will be involved along with fighter-interceptor aircraft and refueling aircraft from both countries.

This combined exercise moves us forward in the development of cooperation between the Russian Federation Air Force and NORAD in preventing possible threats of air terrorism. This exercise provides the opportunity to cooperatively detect, track, identify, intercept and follow an aircraft as it proceeds across international boundaries.