#8
BBC Monitoring
Russia's military aviation said in crisis
Source: Interfax-AVN military news agency web site, Moscow, in English 1432
gmt 18 Sep 02

Moscow, 18 September: The state of Russia's military aviation is extremely complicated, a competent source in the Defence Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday [18 September].

"The share of up-to-date aircraft of the fourth generation amounts to less than 45 per cent of the aircraft fleet. The share of operational aircraft in general has fallen to 60 per cent.

Only a little over 30 per cent of airfields are ready for operation. The personnel's annual flying hours do not exceed 20 to 25 per cent of the required number. As a result, the volume of missions accomplished by military aviation has fallen to 30 per cent of the missions it is assigned," the source said.

Air forces of the Federal Border Guard Service, Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service and Emergencies Ministry are in the same condition, he stressed. "A stable tendency towards the reduction of the number of aircraft is observed.

The main reasons are the expiration of the aircraft's service lives and the industry's inability of filling up military aviation fleet which may become three to four times smaller already by 2005.

The problem will be the most acute in the aircraft fleet of front-line, military-transport and naval aviation that will lose 60 to 65 per cent of their strength by 2005 and in the army aviation that may retain only 30 per cent of its current number," the source noted.

The volumes of research, development and tests have fallen dramatically, he went on. "Expenses on research, development and tests have been cut five to 10 times depending on a field. Allocation of funds does not exceed 25 per cent of the level that is required for successful development of the state aviation," the source said.

Only 8 per cent of capacities of the Russian defence industry are used in the interests of defence, he stressed. "As a result, the financial and economic situation of the aircraft industry can be characterized as difficult.

Technological facilities are not developing, while equipment, laboratories and buildings are wearing out and becoming outdated," he said. "In general, the crisis in the military aviation has resulted in Russia lagging behind the world's leading aircraft powers in several key spheres of aircraft development, quitting several important segments of the aircraft product market and witnessing the beginning of disintegration in its aircraft industry," the source said.

"Russia's military aviation forms the core of the state aviation. The necessity to ensure a high level of its development meets the interests of the state in the spheres of both national security and social-economic development. The role of military aviation in conflicts of various scales has grown considerably. The Russian military aviation is assigned up to 45 per cent of the armed forces' missions in regional wars not involving nuclear weapons. The share of missions assigned to the military aviation in local wars and armed conflicts grows to 75 per cent," the source said.

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