VVS Russian Air Force: News #1

If the background colour was black it would absorb light and make the cockpit appear darker than it actually was.

For the same reason most textbooks have white pages with black text.

There is no physical reason why they couldn't make the pages black and the text white, but by making the page white it increases the amount of light reflected from the page which makes it brighter and clearer.

They tested a lot of colours and found the Blue Green colour to be light enough to reflect a lot of light to make the instruments easier to read, while not reflecting so much light as to create glare and make the instruments hard to look at.

Russia to Modernize All Military Airfields by 2020

All of Russia’s military airfields will be upgraded and modernized by 2020, Defense Ministry spokesman Col Vladimir Drik said on Thursday.

That includes airbases, flight test and training centers, army aviation sites, and other facilities, he said.

This year construction of new runways and command and control structures will begin at military airports in the Krasnodar territory, and the Saratov, Astrakhan, and Kaliningrad regions.

Gen Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said in November the Defense Ministry had a total of 356 aerodromes.

http://www.en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120126/170964645.html

Excellent news... there is no point in spending enormous amounts of money on new kit and not giving the bases they operate from a good upgrade.

Russia Revives Production of Flarecraft



Russia’s Federal Border Guard Service is planning to build a center for the production of flarecraft to improve protection of the country’s maritime borders.

Russian media cited a government source on Friday saying that the center will be built at the former Avangard shipyard in the northern city of Petrozavodsk.

Flarecraft, also referred to as wing-in-ground effect (WIGE) vehicles or by the Russian term ekranoplan, are vehicles that fly near the surface of the Earth due to the ground effect created by the aerodynamic interaction of the wings and the surface.

At present, the Orion-20 flarecraft is being built in Petrozavodsk. It will serve as a testing platform for engines, navigation equipment and control and safety systems of the future vehicles.

The Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau (CHDB) was the center of flarecraft development in the Soviet Union.

The Soviet ekranoplan program produced a variety of military and civilian flarecraft, including the 125-ton A-90 Orlyonok.

The Orlyonok ekranoplans were originally developed as high-speed military transports, and were usually based on the shores of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea.

A few Orlyonoks served with the Soviet Navy from 1979 to 1992. In 1987, a 400-ton Lun class ekranoplan was built as a missile launcher.Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, small-size ekranoplans have been produced by the Volga Shipyard in Nizhniy Novgorod but mass production has been folded due to a shortage of funds and lack of demand.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not shown interest in military flarecraft and the financing of their production has not been included in the state armament procurement program until 2020.

However, Border Guard Service officials believe that ekranoplans may prove effective in the protection of shipping routes in the Arctic and Russian borders along major rivers, such as the Amur and Danube.

http://www.en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120127/170987800.html

When I first saw this post my initial thought was that they have introduced an aircraft specifically designed to release flares at night for night operations...

It is good that the Ekranoplans are going to be used... they are certainly an interesting idea, though they are not likely to replace all ships and aircraft.

What is the unit cost of Su-35S and Su-34 that Russian Air Force is procuring for it self ? I am sure it must be lower then export model price but by how much ?

Hard to say, if we look at money given by gov to Sukhoi to create programs and production lines, but at least sometime ago saw Su-34 unit cost was somewhere around 34 million USD for the RuAF.

Hard to say what Su-35 price was, but the deal signed @ MAKS 2009 was 2.5 billion USD for 48 Su-35, plus the Su-27s and Su-30s.

How many Su-27SM and Su-30 were ordered , we will atleast have some rough figures for unit cost in terms of average

48 Su-35C, 12 Su-27SM3, and the four Su-30M2.

Pretty cheap if we even it out. I wonder how much credit the gov gave to Sukhoi though, the project is of national importance. That doesn't figure into unit cost.

Yeah comes to $40 million per aircraft , quite cost effective price for fly away coast.

Although i think they do not include R&D cost and other cost involved for production technology etc.

A reliable person told me that indian MMRCA Rafale cost is $18 billion for 126 Aircraft comes to ~ $142 million per aircraft.


I have read that there will be re-order of equal amount of Su-35 once this order is complete.

18 billion for 126?!?! That is lot worse than I honestly expected. I though it would include potential add on orders, and the initial deal was for 11 billion. Hopefully India is getting a lot of extras in this deal, as it should not be footing any of the development and research. Of course, kickbacks and indigenous production set up are a big part of the deal, hopefully the money recycles into India.

Indeed a second follow on of 48 Su-35C is expect after the 1st batch is complete. Will be interesting how much that deal is for. Also how much the Su-30SM will be from Irkut.

Well there is the cost involved in some Transfer of Technology and setting up production to build most of Rafale in India , a new factory will be build ..... then take into account machines need to be imported , training manpower etc

I will be surprised if they can get all that at $11 billion considering Western aircraft be it Rafale or Typhoon are darn expensive bird.

And if you see the cost of 500 Mica we purchased for Mirage upgrade it costed us $1.2 billion.

French equipment are quite reliable but they are quite costly.

Now that is some very good news, -if it will be realized-. Air power is very important to me. And Mother Russia, unlike the US is perfectly capable of producing some excellent off-the-shelf fighter aircraft. Don't you just instantly fall in love with the Su-35BM? Equipmentwise, the Russian Air Force would be more then perfectly served with this bird. Sukhoi is soooo number one.

Personally I have gone through a bit of a roller coaster regarding the looks of Russian and Soviet fighters...

I loved the WWII models... especially the La-5FN and La-11, but also the Mig-3 and Yak-9.

With their post war models there was a tendency for winged tubes like the Mig-21 and Su-9 and Su-11 and Su-17 and at the time I got a little bored with the shapes, though I loved the Mig-25 shape, the other tube places seemed a little boring.

Then in the Mig-23 and then Mig-29 and Su-27 were revealed and it was so exciting because they were so different.

Even today I love the lines of the newer aircraft, but have started to appreciate the older tube planes too, plus of course the odd fighters like the Su-15 and the Tu-128...

I am beginning to warm to their drive for high technology everywhere and hope it expands into a national thing where technology spreads beyond the boundaries of Moscow and into the small villages. I am talking about green technology like solar power and wind power generation.

I'm not really in to ancient tech. I'm in love with Su-35Sexy. Dear Santa.....

I think part of my interest in old tech is to appreciate how far we have come in such a short time.

I mean really... if you think about it... the first fixed wing aircraft to fly in 1900 or so, and then leaving the earths atmosphere less than one human lifetime later to stand on the moon...

GarryB wrote:I think part of my interest in old tech is to appreciate how far we have come in such a short time.

I mean really... if you think about it... the first fixed wing aircraft to fly in 1900 or so, and then leaving the earths atmosphere less than one human lifetime later to stand on the moon...

Around 70 years isn't exactly a short time in military terms

Just another example of development.

How many thousands of years was the short sword and the bow state of the art...

SU-30M/M2/35S role is more air defence i think

The two seat Su-30 cold be good as a multirole interceptor/strike aircraft with pilot in the front seat and weapons operator in the back either operating the radar looking for aircraft, or using radar or EOs to scan for ground targets to engage.

From medium altitude it can engage enemy aircraft and enemy ground targets as they appear.

The Su-30 and Su-30M were operated bu the PVO and were intended as miniawacs aircraft using their large powerful radars to scan for targets that would be engaged by smaller radar silent fighters operating closer to the enemy.

GarryB wrote:The two seat Su-30 cold be good as a multirole interceptor/strike aircraft with pilot in the front seat and weapons operator in the back either operating the radar looking for aircraft, or using radar or EOs to scan for ground targets to engage.

From medium altitude it can engage enemy aircraft and enemy ground targets as they appear.

The Su-30 and Su-30M were operated bu the PVO and were intended as miniawacs aircraft using their large powerful radars to scan for targets that would be engaged by smaller radar silent fighters operating closer to the enemy.

That means that the role of Su-30 in RuAF is different than the role of its counterpart F-15E in USAF

That means that the role of Su-30 in RuAF is different than the role of its counterpart F-15E in USAF

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I think for now yes. For now the role of F-15E is doing Su-24 and every year it will be more and more in hands of Su-34. Su-30 in RuAF is air defense fighter with air refueling capabilities and two member crew. For now Su-30M2 work with Su-27SM, what means Su-30 is for longer range patroling or for longer time with air refueling.

We will see what plane will be Su-30SM from Irkutsk, which RuAF also order. I think it will still be more air defense fighter, that could be also used for ground attack role when needed.

They previously only used the Su-30 within the PVO AFAIK and they had no air to ground capability and were not intended for such a role.

They have ordered Su-30s, but it is not clear if they intend to use them in the swing role or just use their fighter capabilities.

When Russia withdrew all its single engine fighters/fighter bombers/light strike aircraft Frontal Aviation lost a lot of bomb carriers. The Su-17/20/22, the Mig-27, the Mig-15, and the Mig-21 and Mig-23 were all used in swing roles where they carried dumb bombs after the enemy air force was cleared from the sky.

Of course an Su-30MKK with laser guided bombs will be superior in performance to any of those old single engine types in terms of weapons and range and precision.

I see in the Russian news that they are working on a new CAS aircraft to replace the Su-25 that will be in service in 2020 and will have some stealth characteristics.

GarryB wrote:
When Russia withdrew all its single engine fighters/fighter bombers/light strike aircraft Frontal Aviation lost a lot of bomb carriers. The Su-17/20/22, the Mig-27, the Mig-15, and the Mig-21 and Mig-23 were all used in swing roles where they carried dumb bombs after the enemy air force was cleared from the sky.

MiG-35 can be used in swing roles. I think it is the best multirole aircraft in Russian air force. Maybe there is no need to procure a 5th generation light fighter. MiG-35 could do the job and enter the Russian air-force in big numbers without delays as the F-35 in USAF

At this point, ordering Su-35 would probably be cheaper.