Originally posted by flex297
Got any pictures, as well? I got one small picture of Uzbek Su-24M, I definitely would welcome some nice addition.

The drawing of their Flanker is pretty common on the net and surely very well known..

Flex

Flex, unfortunately the place where I used to get pictures of Uzbek aircraft (uzreport.com), no longer allows free public viewing of its photo collection and I must subscribe to them 🙁

Originally posted by Srbin

Kazakhstan looks the best with Mig-31 and Su-27, I don’t think Uzbekistan or Turkemistan can cope with that even if they are very active.

Thanks for the numbers Srbin. However there are a few changes.. I had a chat with this Kazakh fellow who stated that the KzAF has up to 54 Flankers, mostly based in Astana. Shortly after he told me that, there were news articles stating that Russia has transferred several Su-27s and S-300s shortly after a joint Russia-Kazakh wargame 2 or 3 years ago.. so they now have up to 54..

the KzAF also averages 100 flying hours according to their president.

Although Kazakhstan has the best economy of the region and has the potential to invest more money.. arms procurement by Kazakhstan is very small compared to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Much of Kazakhstan’s weapons procurement after the collapse of the USSR came in the way of Gifts from various countries (primarily Russia).. not to mention that the Kazakhs still intend to have their Russian and Kazakh military to be closely incorporated with each other, which is why it doesn’t seem anything will happen..since their operations are so closely integrated with each other..

on the other hand Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have independant military policies from Russia and have often gone their own ways.. Turkmenistan often approaching other ex-USSR countries for weapons procurement..while Uzbekistan looking to Europe and even India.

Furthermore.. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are much more likely to use it in action since they have unstable neighbors/borders.

If India is wanting an Attack aircraft, how about the Mirage-2000D instead of the M2K-5, since it’s more specialized in that role and has been used in Afghanistan.

Originally posted by MarocMirage
Just if you wanted to know, in the late 90s ( 97 or so ) Pakistan contacted Turkmenistan to buy their surplus Foxbats but they refused not to offend India ( IAF MiG-25 flew over Islamabad in 97).

well I’m not going to try to convince you to like any airforce since we’re all entitled to our own opinions.

Personally out of the 6 Central Asian nations.. Turkmenistan is one of the stronger ones (but the strongest is with the Uzbeks who have also been upgrading theirs and have used it in combat).

Thanks for that tidbit on the MiG-25.. India has been pretty active on getting countries in this region on their side.. it’s a bit ironic too..since one of the AFM’s stated that Turkmenistan sends some of it’s pilots to train in Pakistan.

Originally posted by MarocMirage
German I thought but no one knows the exact figures.

BTW what is so special about the TurAF?

what’s so special about any AF? The reason I posted was to see if anyone knew what kind of new aircraft purchases they made since they have been modernizing their military.

Originally posted by Billy Bishop
How about their air defense systems? Do the Turkmens (Turkmenistanis?) have any S-300’s?

Hi Billy, information on Turkmenistan’s air defence is hard to come by..but there was supposed to be a transfer of Russian S-300’s to Turkmenistan.. here’s a bit of info I found on it, dated from 97′ so it probably might have happened already..

Date: 6 July 1997
Bibliography: Krasnaya zvezda, 6 July 1997, p. 7, by Aleksandr Uzhanov
Headline: CIS Air-Defense Will Become More Reliable
Orig. Source:

Abstract:
Viktor Prudnikov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Air-Defense Forces, and his Uzbekistani and Turkmenistani counterparts reached an agreement that Russia will bolster the air-defense forces in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with new missile systems. It was agreed that Uzbekistan’s old SAMs would be replaced with more advanced air-defense systems. In 1997-98, Turkmenistan will receive new SAMs to improve the air-defense system in its capital Ashgabat. Accordingly, Russia may provide S-300 [NATO designation SA-10 ‘Grumble’] SAMs to Turkmenistan

furthermore, and more definite.. is that Turkmenistan acquired the Kolchuga radar system from Ukraine (two of them) as well as Kalkan and Grif patrol boats.