According to previous news, a total of 11 Il-96 are planned for VVS:

http://lenta.ru/news/2014/05/16/il96/

Sensor and Data Fusion is an area where the US has traditionally maintained a lead over Russia.

Networking is one of those ares that i have been looking for information. Is there a Russian equivalent to the Link-16?

I am sure M program feeded into BM program; but that is not the same as saying BM is based on M. Because it isn’t. M was much more advanced and very different from B or BM.

Which is what I meant.

The BM modification then is not the BM modification it is now.

There are quite a few details on the first BM modernization, which was based on the MiG-31M. Russkaya Avionika installed 3 MFI-68 screens for the WO and 1 for the pilot. radar was upgraded to Zaslon-M standard and new missiles were integrated (R-77, Kh-25, Kh-59, Kh-31, KAB-1500, KAB-500). What about the current one?

I will post these question here to avoid opening another topic.

According to this article (in Russian, use google translate) Indian MiG-29 were originally for Eastern Europe clients. Is this correct? I have never read anything like this because India was MiG-29’s first foreign operator. Orders were placed very early, first contract was signed on february 1984. Several more followed during the 80s and early 90s.

http://lenta.ru/articles/2014/11/17/export/

East Germany had ordered a second MiG-29 batch in the late 80s, but was never delivered. Other Eastern European countries were supposed to buy more. Yugoslavia was expected to get another 28.

Did the Soviet Union/India signed a contract regarding these specific aircraft or it was the Soviets altering production schedule/priority?

It would not be the first time it happens either. MAPO-MiG inherited a large number of MiG-29 destined to Soviet VVS and Iraq. In the 90s and 00s they were sold to other countries (Algeria -later Russia-, Yemen, Bangladesh…).

According to an article written (Airforces Monthly 9/14) by Alexander Mladenov, training centre at Astrakhan uses MiG-29 9.12A export varians. Where did these come from? In 1992 Russia inherited over 400 MiG-29, there is no reason to resort to export variants…

Russia has begun testing a new NK-32 engine. It was used in Tu-144L and 160 but was removed from production in the 90s. As it has been selected for new PAK-DA, it has been put back into production. When first announced, some doubted the capability still existed, but progress has been quick since then. Two things I find interesting:

– What are the changes introduced to these new types. Electronics, materials and other components can be improved as base engine is +20 years now.
– PAK-DA is supposed to be subsonic. Why the choice of the engine? It is the most powerful military engine but there are civilian types which could be used. Maybe it is due to dimensions. GE90 is twice as powerful but diameter is also twice as large,

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/russia-tests-engine-for-new-bomber-405805/

Nice … besides that are there already any orders for that type, especially from the Russian military or will they rely on the modernized Mi-8/-17 series since they are cheaper ??? … and what about the so called Mi-38-3 ?

I wonder the same. Does the difference in performance between Mi-171A2 and Mi-38 justify the cost of the tooling and production? The helicopter has been on development for years and no customer has signed any contract.

Both projects are now dead. An-124 is less of a problem because the Russian Air Force still has a few samples stored. There is a plan to bring these back to service*.

Il-76MD-90A can replace An-70 in most situations, but fuselage diameter is lower, thus 35% of vehicles tipically used by a division don’t fit. I wonder if Ilyushing will develop some designs that were supposed to replace Il-76 (Il-106). A few months ago it was mentioned that funding had been received for a 80 ton payload aircraft.

* Actually, there are more in reserve than flying. According to http://russianplanes.net/planelist/Antonov/An-124 the ratio is 8 flying to 16 in storage.