Posted on 10/21/2010 10:54:46 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Russian naval aviation is in critical condition, particularly the aviation units of the Black Sea Fleet, which may lose most of their fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in the next five to six years.
This problem demands a rapid solution. Otherwise the new warships ordered under the 2011-2020 state rearmament program will be useless.
So far there are no official plans for equipping the navy with new fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. There have been no public reports or official statements regarding the purchase of new aircraft for the navy citing specific figured or parameters, except for the announcement of the purchase of 26 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum carrier-borne fighters.
Off-the-record comments and articles by experts indicate that Soviet-era Ilyushin Il-38 May and Tupolev Tu-142 Bear F/J maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft are currently being modernized, and that the navy will receive new helicopters under a program to provide a thousand new helicopters for the Russian Armed Forces between 2011 and 2020
(Excerpt) Read more at en.rian.ru ...
They should talk to the Brits who would probably sell them some high time harriers for a good price. [/s]
ping
No, buy back the Chinese-made planes...whose designs and specs were reverse-engineered by the Chinese (and produced cheaply) when they bought the planes from the Russians in the first place.
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