It disturbs me that the worlds largest(?) international supplier of military aircraft can be so overstretched, under-funded, under-flown and under-manned.
How many decent projects have they lost to short money? How many decent people have they had to lay off?
To my inexperienced eye, the Russian Air Force is like a giant beached oil tanker, filled with cracks above and below the waterline, and spewing out its precious oil(manpower/resources/time) into the sea.
Faced with such unbvelievable shortage of cash, one would have considered a massive downsize from existing force strength, with total removal of all obsolete, nearly-obsolete and un-upgradable aircraft from the inventory.
I take into account the vast areas of airspace to defend, but surely, not many nations bordering Russia would likely take up hostile action against the apparently still capable might of that country….
On the flip-side, Russia is in no shape or form to launch a major land offensive against any bordering state, and only just against the Chechens. Does this rule out close-air support aircraft in the majority. How many strike aircraft does Russia need?
Surely, an elite core of maybe X00 interceptors and X00 long-range strike aircraft + whatever bombers and fixed wing support would be sufficient to insure the integrity of Russia national security. The money freed up would allow better investment in weaponry, repairs, upgrades, future projects and personnel employment.
One also wonders, what the S-300 and S-400 series of long-range SAM’s could do to reinforce borders left shortly defended by downsizing. They are cheaper, afterall, are they not?
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April 29, 2003 at 3:03 am