Russian Air Force to get 10 fifth-generation fighters by 2015 (update 1)

RIA Novosti ^ | 7/19/2010 | RIA Novosti

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The Russian Defense Ministry will buy the first 10 fifth-generation fighters between 2013 and 2015 and then another 60 after 2016, a senior military official said on Monday.

Deputy Defense Minister for Arms Procurements Vladimir Popovkin said the first fighters will be purchased in 2013, while in 2015 the Air Force will start test flying them.

He did not explain what will happen between 2013 and 2015.

"We will start purchasing this fighter in series in 2016 and a total of 60 fighters will be bought under the state [arms procurement] program," Popovkin said.

Air Force chief Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said last week the first batch of new fighters would be provided with older, "non-fifth" generation engines.

In mid-June, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin observed the 16th test flight of a prototype fighter.

The prime minister said 30 billion rubles (around $1 billion) had already been spent on the project and another 30 billion would be required to complete it, after which the engine, weaponry and other components would be upgraded.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Ping

[Yo-Yo]

"We will start purchasing this fighter in series in 2016 and a total of 60 fighters will be bought under the state [arms procurement] program," Popovkin said.

OK, but you have to promise to stop at 187 just to keep it fair.

[GonzoGOP]

If they only buy the 80 birds mentioned they aren't going to be able to do a lot of replacing. It is a nice strike force but you can't defend an area the size of the former USSR with 80 aircraft. Just like our pitiful 187 F-22s they will be shuffled from trouble spot to trouble spot. Not enough to have standing front line squadrons like we did with the F-15s

[cunning_fish]

They still have some two thousand legacy fighters too. There is no need to buy thousands of such an expensive 5 gen aircraft yet. There is no threat for them to deal with now.

[GonzoGOP]

They still have some two thousand legacy fighters too. There is no need to buy thousands of such an expensive 5 gen aircraft yet. There is no threat for them to deal with now.

Exactly my point the 5th gen aircraft, even the cheaper Russian ones, are too expensive to replace conventional fighters. The will supplement them and perform certain specialized missions, like high value strike and AWACS killing, that require stealth and surprise. But the day to day jobs of air superiority and ground attack will be carried out by fleets of cheaper and easier to maintain conventional aircraft.