The collapse of the USSR and the long term economic crisis of the 1990s were extremely damaging to the Russian air force.
The collapse of the USSR and the long term economic crisis of the 1990s were extremely damaging to the Russian air force.
JANUARY 17 — A video revealed, six massive Russian Antonov An-124 Ruslan transport aircraft were participating in joint training flight in severe conditions; including snow, cloud and strong winds.
The training took place in Bryansk region of Russia, and the crews of the Seshchinsky and Tver aviation regiments were managing the fleet of a massive four-engine aircraft, the world’s heaviest until Boeing 747-8F was built.
The “Ruslan” is still the world’s largest military transport aircraft in service and was built in the Ukrainian SSR. In a statement to Newsflash, Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the An-124-100 “Ruslan” can lift more than 120 tons of cargo and fly more than 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles), including simultaneously carrying eight units of armored vehicles or up to 500 military personnel.
“The purpose of the training flights was to improve the skills of young crews of An-124-100 “Ruslan” military transport aircraft in the simultaneous transfer of personnel of military units with standard weapons and military equipment over long distances,” said the Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement.
The flights were conducted at an altitude more than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) with the fleet travelling 600 kilometers (370 miles) at a speed of 500 kilometers (310 miles) per hour before returning to base.
“During the flights, the crews of the An-124-100 “Ruslan” military transport aircraft practiced take-off, landing, and en-route flights,” said the statement. “The flights took place in difficult weather conditions in the form of precipitation, low clouds and strong wind gusts.”
The practice was done under the leadership of the Commander of the Military Transport Aviation of the Aerospace Forces (MTA), Lieutenant General Vladimir Benediktov, the senior staff of MTA Command and the 12th Military Transport Aviation Division.
The collapse of the USSR and the long term economic crisis of the 1990’s were extremely damaging to the Russian air force. The major purchases of new combat aircraft for the armed forces stopped. Though in 1990s most of the new and modern aircraft were left for service, significant funds were needed to maintain them in an operational status.
A new report published by the Center for Naval Analysis highlights the improved capability of the Russian Aerospace Forces and naval aviation.
According to the report’s author, Leonid Nersisyan, from 2009 to 2020, Russia’s armed forces received around 460 fixed-wing combat aircraft, 110 Yak-130 jet trainers and 360 attack helicopters.
“By the beginning of the 2010s, the vast majority of combat aircraft of the Russian Air Force an Naval Aviation had been produced in the Soviet Union and only a few of them had been significantly modernized,” the report stated. “The new state armament program to 2020 was approved in 2010, and 24 percent of it was supposed to be allocated to the Russian Air Force.”
The Russo-Georgian war in 2008 accelerated the plans for modernization of the Russian armed forces in general and combat aviation in particular.
(Edited by Saptak Datta and Gaurab Dasgupta)
