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At 35,000 Feet, a Russian Image Problem By ANDREW E. KRAMER MOSCOW — Airlines are a cautious lot, slow to trust a new airplane maker with multibillion-dollar orders and passenger lives. It took Embraer, a Brazilian maker of regional jets, two decades to become a major supplier to the industry. So Sukhoi, a Russian company best known for making supersonic fighter jets, did not exactly get off to an auspicious start. When it delivered one of the first of its highly promoted new 100-seat Superjets to Aeroflot in June, a piece of safety equipment immediately broke down, prompting Sukhoi to...

New stealth fighter to top the bill at Moscow Air Show A new generation prototype fighter is set to make its first public appearance at the Moscow Air Show this week. The Sukhoi T-50 will be the jewel in the Russian Air Force’s crown. The service has relied on the Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 family of combat aircraft as the core of its fighter force since the mid-1980s, but these aircraft are seen as approaching obsolescence. The T-50 is Russia’s first new major combat aircraft design to fly since the end of Soviet Union. When an operational fighter based...

Irkut to supply 40 Su-30 fighters to Russian Air Force Su-30 © RIA Novosti. Maya Mashatina Russia's Irkut aircraft holding is in talks with the Defense Ministry on the delivery of up to 40 Sukhoi Su-30 multirole fighters to the Russian Air Force, the company said on Monday. "We will sign a contract with the Defense Ministry next year," Irkut President Alexei Fyodorov said. The contract stipulates the initial delivery of 28 fighter jets and the supply of an additional 12 aircraft as an option. The Su-30 Flanker-C is a twin-engine, two-seat multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface missions....

Advanced Russian jet fighter enters production May 3, 2011, 13:10 GMT Moscow - The first production version of a fighter jet that promises to fill a critical gap in Russia's air defences has carried out a successful flight, the Interfax news agency reported Tuesday. The Sukhoi-35S fighter completed a one-hour test flight Monday above the eastern city of Komsomolsk-Na-Amure without incident, a Sukhoi spokesmen said in a report by Interfax. The Kremlin ordered 48 of the aircraft in 2009 as part of a 2.5- billion-dollar deal. The flight marked the first time Russia's current top-line fighter was built start-to-finish in...

Death of a Soviet Aviation Legend By Dr. Richard Weitz 03/22/2011 – The famed Russian aircraft designer Mikhail Simonov died earlier this month, at the age of 81, after a long illness. His Sukhoi fighter jets represented the best of the Soviet defense industry and continue to dominate Russia’s arms sales to foreign countries. Mikhail Simonov (Credit: http://www.legacy.com/legacies/2011/obituary-photo-gallery.aspx?photo=mikhail-simonov&pid=149081887) Born in 1929 in Russia, Simonov began working as an aviation engineer in the 1950s. He joined the design bureau of the state-owned OAO Sukhoi aircraft corporation as the first deputy chief designer in 1970. During the following nine years he led...

Russia's top aircraft designer Mikhail Simonov, creator of Sukhoi fighter jets, dies at 81 By Vladimir Isachenkov (CP) MOSCOW — Mikhail Simonov, one of Russia's top aircraft designers and creator of the famous Sukhoi fighter jets, has died. He was 81. Simonov died in Moscow on Friday, said Sukhoi company's spokesman Sergei Meshcheryakov. He wouldn't specify the cause of Simonov's death, but said he died after a long illness. A former Russian air force chief lamented Simonov's death as an "irreparable loss." Simonov started working as an aviation engineer in the 1950s, and joined the Sukhoi design bureau as a...

The Russian-Indian joint development of a fifth generation fighter jet will cost some $6 billion, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) Financial director D. Shivamurti said Russia and India signed in December last year a contract to jointly develop a design for a new 5G multirole fighter. Russia's Sukhoi holding and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited agreed in early 2010 to jointly develop a fifth-generation fighter jet based on the T-50 design. "A detailed design phase, including the cost of the project, is likely to cost more than $6 billion," Shivamurti said. "The work between us and them [India and Russia] will be...

Development and production of perspective multi-role fighter is the largest joint project of Russian-Indian military-technical cooperation. In December 2010 during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to India, the Rosoboronexport, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Sukhoi Company signed a contract to develop a preliminary design project of the new aircraft. This is the first of a series of documents governing the obligations of the parties at different stages of the program. The PMF project includes the design and development of a next-generation fighter, which will have such advanced features as stealth, supersonic cruise speed, high maneuverability, highly integrated...

Indian defence minister AK Antony has re-affirmed his nation's commitment to the fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) being jointly developed by Hindustan Aeronautics and Russia's Sukhoi, while also voicing his optimism about one of its other key military aviation programmes. "The difficulties in joining this programme are over," he says of the first project. "We've signed a deal with the Russians, and we will see the FGFA inducted by 2017." Russia's developmental PAK FA fighter had its maiden flight in early 2010, and late last year it agreed with India to cooperate on a combined project. New Delhi will send engineers...

The advanced Russian passenger jet linier Sukhoi Superjet-100 has arrived in India for an airshow, the Aviation Holding Sukhoi’s press service told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. The air liner will take part in the show’s flying program. Visitors and specialists will have an opportunity to see it on the ground, too. The aircraft was successfully demonstrated at three world airshows - Le Bourget (Paris), MAKS (Russia) and Farnborough (UK). “Demonstration flights in Bangalore will show the world aviation community once again that the Russian plane meets all standards of the world market, and customers will see for themselves the ability of...

For the second time in a year, Azerbaijan lost an Su-25 ground attack aircraft to an accident. Poor maintenance is believed the main reason for both losses, and that is a result of military budget cuts, and corruption (stealing some of the money allocated for maintenance.) Azerbaijan has about 30 Su-25s, but because of the maintenance problems, only about a dozen are fit for duty at any time. Last year, five used Su-25s were bought from Belarus. Despite these losses, the Su-25 is still a popular aircraft. When well maintained, the Su-25 is very effective. Over a thousand have been...

Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin was Monday flown on a Sukhoi SU-30MKM fighter jet in conjunction with his visit at the air force base here. The aircraft, piloted by Squadron Commanding Officer II Lt-Col Mohd Asghar Khan Gauriman Khan, flew in a supersonic speed over Langkawi, Kedah and Penang and landed back 45 minutes later. It was accompanied by another fighter jet, the FA/18D Hornet. Royal Malaysian Air Force commander Gen Tan Sri Rodzali Daud told reporters Tuanku Mizan was happy and thrilled by the experience. Earlier, Tuanku Mizan arrived at the base and greeted by Yang Dipertua...

The Interstate Aviation Committee Committee (IAC) will issue a type certificate for the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 plane on February 3. The IAC Aviation Register has also decided to issue a certificate of civil aircraft designer to Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company. The company said “the type certificate will allow commercial operation of the plane and confirm its conformity with the rules and regulations of the Interstate Aviation Committee.” The new plane will replace Tu-134 jets. The first SSJ-100 should be handed over to Armavia in early 2011. Currently, orders for 170 new planes have been confirmed. Aeroflot plans to receive the first...

A Su-25 Frogfoot close air support aircraft crashed on Thursday in the Kurdamir district of Azerbaijan, local media reported. The Trend news agency cited Azeri Defense Ministry's spokesman Eldar Sabiroglu as saying that the crew ejected from the plane and survived the crash without injury. An investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched, the spokesman said. The Azeri Air Force has about a dozen Soviet-era Su-25s, which are poorly maintained due to budget constraints. A previous Azeri Su-25 crash in March 2010 killed the pilot.

Russia to offer fifth-generation prototype fighter to Brazil? Su-35 fighter © RIA Novosti. Anton Denisov The global arms trade runs to billions of dollars, but few such deals attract as much media attention as Brazil's recent tender, for the purchase of 36 combat aircraft which includes an agreement on production of another 84 planes under license. Media interest in the tender grew after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was inaugurated on January 1, 2011, annulled the results of the previous tender. A modest beginning The core of the Brazilian Air Force consists of obsolete U.S. F-5 fighters made in the...

Russian Air Force to receive up to 100 Sukhoi fighter jets by 2015 The Russian Air Force will receive up to 100 Sukhoi fighter jets by 2015, the Defense Ministry spokesman said on Sunday. Three state contracts with the Sukhoi design bureau on the supply of the jets have been already signed, Vladimir Drik said. Fifty advanced Su-35 Flanker-E multirole fighters, billed as "4++ generation using fifth-generation technology," more than ten advanced Su-27SM Flanker multirole jets and five Su-30M2 Flanker-C multirole fighters are among the aircraft to be supplied. The Russian Air Force will also receive twenty-five new Su-34 Fullback...

Russian Air Force receives new Su-34 fighter-bombers Su-34 © RIA Novosti. Igor Rumyancev Russia's Air Force received four new Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers on Tuesday as part of its current modernization program, an Air Force spokesman said. Russia started full-scale production of Su-34s in 2008 at a Novosibirsk-based aircraft-manufacturing plant, a subsidiary of the Sukhoi Aircraft Holding. A total of 70 aircraft will be delivered by 2015 to replace outdated Su-24 Fencer fighter- bombers, which are currently undergoing modernization to prolong their service life. Designed by Sukhoi, the $36-million Su-34 fighter-bomber is a two-seat strike aircraft fitted with twin AL-31MF afterburning...

Russia and India signed a contract on Tuesday to jointly develop a design for a new fifth-generation multirole fighter. The document was signed between Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's current visit to India. Russia's Sukhoi holding and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited agreed in early 2010 to jointly develop a fifth-generation fighter jet based on the T-50 design.

The Russian-Indian second prototype T-50 fighter aircraft will take to the skies in early 2011, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) President Alexei Fyodorov said on Monday. "We have put the deadline forward to the start of 2011," he said. "It is important for us that the second prototype is a development of the first, not simply a repeat," he added. Work is underway on the third prototype, incorporating even more advanced systems, he said. Russia's Sukhoi holding and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) agreed in early 2010 to jointly develop a fifth-generation fighter jet based on the T-50 design. They later...

Russia and India have agreed the estimated cost of a design contract for their joint fifth-generation fighter project at $295 million, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman Ashok Nayak said in an interview with RIA Novosti. "The cost of preliminary design is estimated at $295 million. The work is expected to be complete within 18 months," Nayak said. Russia's Sukhoi holding and India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) agreed in early 2010 to jointly develop a fifth-generation fighter jet based on the prototype T-50 design. India confirmed that it had finalized a draft contract at a meeting with Russia in early October....