Flying Too High, Venezuela Shops for MiGs

Wall Street Journal ^ | Friday, July 25, 2003 | MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY

[presidio9]

When former Colombian Finance Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a Caracas audience last week that Venezuela is trying to buy 50 MiG fighter jets from a Russian manufacturer, the Venezuelan government bitterly denounced him.

Although Mr. Santos does not represent the Colombian government and Colombian officials tried to stay out of the fray, his words risked further deterioration of the already strained relationship between the two nations.

[El Conservador]

Well, then can you send us some F-15 to counter the Venezuelan order???

[sticker]

"The confluence of events on the Colombian-Venezuelan border does not bode well for hemispheric peace. Perhaps the U.S. senators who have been sabotaging George Bush's efforts to create an effective Latin American policy should take some note of this."

They will take note and do what they always do, everything possible to help the communists

[BenLurkin]

Please ping to Mr. H- and Frank G- right away.

[texas booster]

A little more info on the MiG-29M2, an upgraded MiG.

Zhuk-M radar:

MFDs in rear cockpit

MiG-29M2 in flight:

Zhuk-series Working Modes

The radar features a built-in test capability and is credited with 15 operating modes divided between air-to-air and air-to-surface modes as follows:

Air-to-air
Look-up/look-down range-while-search and Track-While-Scan (TWS) of 10 targets with simultaneous engagement of up to four.

Air combat
Vertical search; head-up display search; wide-angle search; boresight and automatic terrain avoidance for low-altitude combat operations.

Air-to-surface
Real beam ground-mapping; Doppler beam sharpening; synthetic aperture; display enlargement/freeze; TWS on four targets; ground target Moving Target Indicator (MTI)/tracker; air-to-surface ranging and navigation update.

Weapons compatibility includes the Kh-31A, R-27R1, R-27T1, R-37E and RW-AE munitions.

Status
As of late 2001/early 2002, the Zhuk, Zhuk-8-II, Zhuk-27, Zhuk-F and Zhuk-M variants of the Zhuk airborne multimode radar were being promoted. According to Jane?s sources, the People?s Republic of China ordered 100 examples of the Zhuk-8-II for retrofit aboard J-8-II interceptors of the People?s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) in June 2001, while the Zhuk-M-S is understood to have been installed aboard late production PLAAF Su-30MKK fighters. Here, sources suggest that the first 20 Su-30MKKs were fitted with the N001VE variant of NIIP?s Mech radar. For its part, Zhuk-MF has been suggested as a candidate radar for installation aboard the Russian Federation?s forthcoming 5th generation combat aircraft.

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I don't understand all of the implications of these details, but Chavez is looking to build a fleet of very modern fighters. Of course, he will need Cuban or Chinese pilots to keep them in the air.

[MonroeDNA]

Right in our own backyard.

I say put NK on hold (let the asians handle it), and take out Hugo ASAP.

[11B3]

And Fidel.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[brooklin]

These are very capable planes and they will need some very skilled pilots to make the most use out of them.
If we didn't train our pilots as well as we do, ourF-15's and 16's would be used as fast roto-tillers.

[El Gato]

Of course, he will need Cuban or Chinese pilots to keep them in the air.

Oh I imagine he can find enough stick pullers, but Maintainence troops will be another matter. For that he'll need the Chinese, or Russians or other former Soviet block types under long term contract. BTW, terrain avoidance is an air to ground mode, not an air combat or air to air mode. Depending on just what is meant by that term of course. Our Navy F/A-18s have it, as did the old A-6 and does the B-52, but F-16s and F-15Es, as well as B-1Bs and B-2s have terrain following modes in the case of the latter two and special purpose radar in the LANTIRN nav pod for F-15Es and some F-16s. TF and TA are similiar, when using the US terminology, but sometimes one is called the other, and sometimes the TA term refers to something different than either.

[sport]

My sentiments exactly.

To hell with North Korea. Let jimmy carter and bill clinton fix it, they are who helped them get started.

[Wilhelm Tell]

BTW, terrain avoidance is an air to ground mode, not an air combat or air to air mode.

Sounds like the new Migs would be very useful for attacking ground targets in, say, Colombia -- just the thing to help the communist rebels. Colombia is right to be concerned.

[livius]

Perhaps the U.S. senators who have been sabotaging George Bush's efforts to create an effective Latin American policy should take some note of this.

Important point. Maybe the fact that a country with no economy and dwindling food supplies is planning to spend a fortune on unneccessary high-end weaponry will get their attention. But probably not.

Ping to CW.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thanks for the pings and the post.

June 12, 2003 - Dodd's request for memo hinders Latin envoy's job ***Dodd asked the State Department to explain the stated goal of the current senior U.S. diplomat in Havana, James Cason, in carrying out a ''more confrontational approach'' toward the Fidel Castro regime. He asked for an outline of instructions on any such policy that Cason might have received. Dodd also asked for the final lengthy ''end of tour'' cable sent by Huddleston before her departure from Havana about 10 months ago. She was Cason's predecessor.

While Dodd appears satisfied by lengthy responses delivered by the State Department to Capitol Hill June 4 on the Haiti matter and Cason's role, his office has insisted on seeing the Huddleston cable. Just what is in her cable is not publicly known. Some congressional staffers say Dodd believes the cable contains warnings that the Bush administration policy of intense engagement with political dissidents in Cuba would lead to a crackdown. ***

_________________________________________________________________

June 29, 2003 - U.S., Europe work on Latin crises - First on Otto Reich's agenda - Venezuela ***Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio spent ''quite a long time'' discussing Latin America and possible areas of U.S.-European cooperation, Palacio told me in a telephone interview from Washington.

And the Bush administration is sending its special ambassador to Latin America, Otto J. Reich, to Spain, Italy and France next week to discuss the region's hottest crises, as well as lingering financial troubles in Brazil and Argentina, White House officials and Palacio told me.

Among the people who have been asked to meet with Reich is French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, the diplomat whose public criticism of the Iraq war so exasperated the White House. Others will be Spanish Ibero-American Cooperation Minister Miguel Angel Cortes and Italian and Vatican officials.

The most pressing issue on Reich's agenda will be Venezuela, U.S. officials say.

The administration fears that Venezuela's populist leftist President Hugo Chávez will renege on an internationally brokered agreement to convene a national referendum on the duration of his term, and that he will provoke a violent clash with the opposition in order to suspend constitutional guarantees and radicalize his ``Bolivarian revolution.''

''He is trying to create an incident where he can call out the military and say that democracy has been threatened,'' a U.S. official says. ***

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt