http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2004/01/15/043.html

Air Force Upbeat, Despite Crashes

By Lyuba Pronina
Staff Writer

Despite a series of accidents that culminated in the first crash of a
Tu-160 strategic bomber, the air force had a good 2003, and after a
long break received a batch of modernized jets, its commander said
Wednesday.

At the end of the year, the air force received five upgraded Su-27SM
Flanker fighters fitted with new avionics as part of an ongoing
modernization plan and will have 20 more Su-27 jets upgraded to that
standard in 2004, air force commander Vladimir Mikhailov told
reporters at an annual briefing.

"We have chosen a single type of modernization for the Su-27 that
allows us to concentrate our resources," Mikhailov said. "And 20 more
jets were transferred to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation production
association for the upgrade at the end of last year." He said that one
regiment would be fully re-equipped with this jet in 2004, with the
first Su-27SMs initially being flown by test pilots at the Lipetsk
combat training center.

Mikhailov said the Su-27SM contains the best avionics and has new
air-to-surface capabilities as well as all-weather and nighttime
strike capabilities. He added that the Su-27SM was an interim fighter
for use before a fifth-generation model developed by Sukhoi joins its
ranks in the next decade.

"It lacks in stealth and does not have the weapons that will have to
be fitted on the fifth-generation fighter," he said.

This year the air force plans to receive its first Su-34 Flanker
strike derivative, formerly known as the Su-27IB, eight of which have
been produced at the Sukhoi's facility in Novosibirsk. After repeated
delays due to underfinancing, the program is now back on track with
improved avionics, he said.

Another long-overdue delivery, the new generation S-400 long-range air
defense system, will be inducted this year, Mikhailov said.

As he has many times before, the air force commander lambasted a joint
Russian-Ukrainian program to build the An-70 military transport plane,
saying Wednesday that no improvements have been made to its D-27
engines.

This year the air force expects some additions to its helicopter
fleet, among them the Mi-28N, which Mikhailov said would become the
backbone of its attack combat helicopters, and 12 Ka-52s.

The recent deliveries have been a welcome change for a cash-strapped
air force that for years has been unable to buy new aircraft. Defense
plants have been rolling out jets mostly for foreign customers, and
those planes are superior to those in the Russian air force.

Mikhailov lamented that only 15 percent of the arms procurement budget
goes to cover the air force's needs, but would not provide precise
figures.

Chronic underfinancing cost the air force dearly last year. In
November, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov blasted the air force, saying
that "none of the air regiments comply 100 percent with the
requirements of constant combat readiness due to poor training and the
poor technical maintenance of aircraft."

Although the average number of flight hours for pilots was doubled to
40 last year, human error was blamed for an astounding series of 11
crashes that killed 23 people. Among them was the crash of a MiG-29UB
on a training flight in June and a collision of two helicopters during
maneuvers near Vladivostok. Ivanov, who was attending the Vladivostok
event, accused the pilots of "negligence, showing off and air
hooliganism."

The biggest blow to the air force's reputation came in September when
the Tu-160 crashed 33 minutes after takeoff.

An investigation cleared the four crew members, who died in the crash,
of wrongdoing and blamed a 1997 decision not to put liquid nitrogen
into the plane's fuel tanks in certain cases.

Mikhailov said Wednesday that the Tu-160 will resume flights Friday or
Saturday.

He said the air force this year will test its first three Yak-130
training combat jets, which are to be delivered after a 2002 tender
lost by the MiG-AT. He said the air force, however, is also ready to
take a squadron of MiG-ATs for experimental flights.