Fate of Russia's old birds.

Isos wrote:

It is a bit like tanks... who is going to buy new optics and new engines and new computer systems and put them in a T-54. It makes more sense to start from a T-90 as a basis because it is a newer and better tank to start with and the improvements make it better.

Upgrading hundreds of t-54 or buying tens of t-90. I would choose the t-54.

Depends what enemy you are fighting. 100 t-54s against 15 abrams, i would bet on the abrams. Better buying 30 T-90s, then you would have a better chance.

An upgraded t-54 would get 100mm APFSDS and new thermals and FCS. With 3-4 times more t-54 you just flank the abrams and destroy them.

Same with mig-23. They have a good acceleration and good speed to launch r-77 even better than a mig-29.

There are a lot of implications, for instance with 100 T-54s you need four hundred men for crews, and the cost of moving 100 tanks around would probably make newer tanks cheaper.

Of course you could argue it would take 100 shots to take them out at the minimum but it really depends on your situation and who you might be facing... modern ERA and APS systems might actually render them as effective as better armoured vehicles.

New types of ceramic armour could potentially be fitted to improve protection without increasing armour weight, so a new more powerful engine might give it impressive mobility.

Having said that a wheeled vehicle like Boomerang might give you much cheaper operational and maintenance costs with better fire power and comparable protection.

Uran-9 with Kornet missiles and Bulat missiles and Ataka for surface to air use might work out more effective.

It rather comes down to what you already have and what you think you need.

You can upgrade old stuff forever but eventually it reaches a limit.

I would suggest for example a poor country with lots of T-55s might consider buying upgraded T-72s and also apply the upgrades to the T-72s to their T-55s as well for standardisation and performance improvements across the board.

In terms of fighter planes I would approach an existing user of MiG-29s and perhaps work out a deal where you buy their old upgraded MiG-29s and they can use that money to buy brand new build MiG-29M2s.

Continuing to use old aircraft only makes sense if it is still being used by the original owner. Otherwise you fund all development yourself so the next generation product up is what you should be looking at...

I am going to see this Yak 110 stunt plane this weekend. Cool to see a Russian aircraft a fixture on the n. american airshow circuit.

The Yak-110 is a twin-fuselage aircraft made from two Yak-55s, fitted with a new wing center section supporting a single General Electric J85 turbojet engine in addition to the Vedeneyev M14P propeller engines. In 2013 pilot Jeff Boerboon and mechanic Dell Coller came up with the idea of the Yak-110. Chad Bartee owns one half, Boerboon the other. The plane is flown with the pilot in the left Yak-55 and is the only trimotor certified for unlimited aerobatics. Its first airshow was the Gunfighter Skies in 2018 at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.

An abandoned military airfield in the Murmansk region near the village of Kilpyavr

The I-16 fighter, restored by the employees of the Avialift Vladivostok company

The restoration of the MiG-17 monument aircraft has been completed in Nizhny Novgorod. 

Mir wrote:

Russian_Patriot_ wrote:The restoration of the MiG-17 monument aircraft has been completed in Nizhny Novgorod. 

Was she restored back into flying condition?

As far as I know, no. The plane will send to the museum

Mir wrote:Pitty. It would be great to see some of these old birds fly again!

Aye. Glad I was able to see a MiG-15 flying at Eastbourne airshow in England of all places. Not enough Russian aircraft at British airshows for obvious reasons!

Finty wrote:

Mir wrote:Pitty. It would be great to see some of these old birds fly again!

Aye. Glad I was able to see a MiG-15 flying at Eastbourne airshow in England of all places. Not enough Russian aircraft at British airshows for obvious reasons!

Try US ones! Interestingly enough, prior to the pandemic just screwing everything up, we attended the same airshow ever year for almost 20 years and this ex-Polish MiG-17 which was part of a private collection I believe, would show up every once in a while in the few years prior to 2020. Always enjoyed seeing such a rarity for up this way!

Gomig-21 wrote:

Finty wrote:

Mir wrote:Pitty. It would be great to see some of these old birds fly again!

Aye. Glad I was able to see a MiG-15 flying at Eastbourne airshow in England of all places. Not enough Russian aircraft at British airshows for obvious reasons!

Try US ones!  Interestingly enough, prior to the pandemic just screwing everything up, we attended the same airshow ever year for almost 20 years and this ex-Polish MiG-17 which was part of a private collection I believe, would show up every once in a while in the few years prior to 2020.  Always enjoyed seeing such a rarity for up this way!

Always loved the mig-17. As a kid I didnt care about the mig-15 but loved the wings and afterburner of the mig-17.

TMA1 wrote:Always loved the mig-17. As a kid I didnt care about the mig-15 but loved the wings and afterburner of the mig-17.

Funny you mentioned the MiG-15 since there's one in the next town over from me as a static display at a small, local airport lol. The airport mostly has Cessnas and other small aircraft flying in and out and also has a flight school which is what makes it more busy than routine flights in and out.

But How this all-black with red stars and two winged fuel tanks MiG-15 UTI (two-seater) is doing there as a static display is quite interesting. It used to belong to a mafiosi who obviously got taken out and raided and all his possessions confiscated including this toy of his. The story is that he would take his friends and family out on rides LOL. I can only imagine sitting in that back seat and this guy flying that thing lmao. But I think those older Russian jets from the 15 to the vaunted 21 are super collectible here in the US, if you can afford to purchase one, have all the legitimate paperwork and licenses and be able to store and maintain it. They seem to be much more wanted than let's say US or European aircraft from the same time period.

I used to have a lot of excellent pics of it up close etc. but lost them in my older computer. So I had to get this one from Google and I can't believe this is the only pic of that aircraft on Google!? I haven't been there in a few years despite it being 12 minutes away loool, but now I might have to go and get more pics but I hope it's still there and the airport didn't get rid of it during the pandemic! That would suck. But she's a beauty in that all-black with the bright red stars. Sorry the pic is so tiny. I'll definitely get there and take better ones. Hopefully they didn't get rid of it since it's been there for at least 18 years that I know of. A Russian MiG-15 in a small, local airport of a New England suburban town LOL!

We have a Warbirds over Wanaka airshow every other year and they have some excellent old Russian birds like the old Polikarpovs (I-15 and I-16) and Yaks.

The I-16 sounds really weird in the flesh so to speak... if you can imagine an old lawnmower engine.... but attach it to a piece of string about 20m long and swing it round your head... that is what it sounds like....

Just do a search of Warbirds over Wanaka for their website and lots of images... like this:

Russian_Patriot_ wrote:The I-16 fighter, restored by the employees of the Avialift Vladivostok company

Honestly, one of my favorite planes ever. I had a small, broken (it was missing at least a wing) diecast model when I was a kid and I just dunno why but I fell in love with the plane.
If anybody knows a good place to grab a diecast, either old stock or new, let me know (maybe I'll just go on ebay now and look).

Mir wrote:I would love to see at least one of each of these majestic Soviet birds back in the air

Actually they are still in service with the chinese air force and naval air force. They have like 150 of them called H-6.

Mir wrote:

Isos wrote:

Actually they are still in service with the chinese air force and naval air force. They have like 150 of them called H-6.

Hahaha very funny!

BTW the first one is the tanker version of the M4 bomber from the Myasishchev OKB - so no Tupolev or Tu-16 (H-6) relation there!

My bad then.

Well they look the same.

Mir wrote:

Isos wrote:
My bad then.

Well they look the same.

It's a bit like saying all Chinese people look the same

Well at least there are some static displays of both these bombers in Russia but who knows, maybe Russia can buy one of the original H-6 bombers from China and restore it back to a flying Tu-16A?

Lol with tonight's AUKUS announcement, China will want all the bombers they can get, and keep!