Yes but could Russia afford 187+ PAK FAs. ?
Of course they can.
All they have to do is to have a huge budget deficit….just like the USA (over a trillion $ in debt).
UAZ, what do you mean with these days??
These days it should be like Snow on the ground in Zhukovsky.
And the forest in the back ground should not be in green summer colours..Thanks
Just check how the weather has been this November around Moscow.
Yeah, no snow…hello global warming.
The BERKUT is very active these days at Zhukovsky.

I think it’s a 1,500L centreline droptank.
Was this taken @ Zhukovsky (MMRCA shakedown)? This could be the new-build ’35 Barkovsky was on about @ AeroIndia 07 (if it’s not a ’29KUB).
Doesn’t the main gear appear ‘taller’?
Photo was indeed taken at Zhukovsky.
It came back from India with the MRCA order 😀
Very true. The long term maintenance/operating costs of Russian aircraft usually tend to be significantly higher compared to similar Western aircraft.
I have heard this over and over again. I have never seen credible figures to back that up.
Could be just a myth created by people who believe that anything Russian can not be good.

MiG-35 with wing drop tanks.
There seems to be a large pod attached to a belly hardpoint. What is it?
Let’s bomb I-RACK :diablo:
First of all they should learn how to say RAFALE. They are pronoucing it RAFAEL.
So, does the person who posts the first CONFIRMED photo of the PAK-FA get a prize?:D
No, he does not get a prize. Instead, he will have to go through the pain and suffering of reading the 736 pages of posts that will follow his :diablo:
I Agree Austin, The YD is better looking than the various Deltas and even the Typhoon.
Larger photos here: http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/soustov/view/188742/?page=1



Does anyone have any data on Georgian and Russian Helicopter Losses, either air-2-ground or air-2-air?
The Russians lost no helicopters to Georgian fire.
Russian Mi-24s destroyed on the ground at Senaki airport 1 Georgian Mi-24 and 1 Mi-14 helicopters. Initially it was believed that it was the airborne forces (VDV) that destroyed the Georgian helicopters when they invaded the airfield, but it is now immerging that those choppers were destroyed on the ground by antitank missiles fired by the Russian gunships before the soldiers arrival.
It’s an American way of saying that the PAK FA is going to be nothing but an F-22 clone.
It’s taking the “Raptor” designation of the F-22 and adding a common Russian syllable on the end to make the Raptor sound ‘more Russian’.
Just a little way for F-22 fanboys to talk bad of the PAK FA :p
Except that the -ski is not Russian. It is more Polish:rolleyes:
But I don’t expect the raptor fans to know the difference:rolleyes:
Wiki also lists Georgia as an operator of the Tor-M1 (SA-15) but, having looked through probably thousands of photos of the conflict (including hundreds of photos of captured Georgian equipment), I don’t remember ever seeing any Tors. Of course, my memory could be playing tricks on me or all the Tors (Wiki says they have six – systems/vehicles?) could have been destroyed prior to capture. Still, I would like to see proper confirmation that they were operated by Georgian air defence units. Wiki and strategypage are sources of questionable reliability in these matters and, what’s worse, tend to feed off one another.
Agreed. I followed (and am still following) that conflict very closely. I have seen no indication of TOR being in Georgian service.
BUKs (SA-11) and OSAs (SA-8), yes. TORs (SA-15), no.
Russian Navy facing ‘irreversible collapse’
The Russian Navy is currently on the verge of ‘irreversible collapse’, according to a recent analysis published by the authoritative Moscow-based weekly – the Independent Military Review .
The report, entitled ‘BMF RF [Naval Military Fleet of the Russian Federation] on Foreign Warships’, says the main cause for the ‘collapse’ is the state of the Russian shipbuilding industry, which is “incapable of producing warships in either the quantity or at the level of quality that their navy customer requires” for the future.
According to the analysis, the navy’s leadership “understands that this is a hopeless situation and are looking for a way out by considering the purchase of naval vessels from abroad”.
The issue was raised during the International Military Naval Exposition (MVMS) that took place in the last week of June in St Petersburg.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, outlined the problem when he said: “Our [challenge] is how to significantly improve the condition of our fleet without destroying the economic activity in the country.”
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jdw/jdw090713_1_n.shtml
Interesting….but, but, but, wait a minute: The Russian shipyards are building 3 frigates for India, 2 frigates for Vietnam as well as submarines, 3 missile corvettes for Lybia etc.etc…not to mention the Gorshkov for India (not new but huge workload).
It looks like it is not a problem of shipyard capability or capacity, rather more like the Navy and the shipyards want more money…