inkDates prove to be true: a prototype will show on August, 14-18th
I hope you’re right but I would bet money you’re not. And, yes, you can quote this post on the 19th.
inkbut he’d be reluctant to risk his livelihood doing so
I’m sure it wouldn’t be his livelihood he’d be worried about risking :diablo:
inkIs this how they are trying to stir up new readership? HA
Actually its a long standing tradition – The Sun has featured a topless model on page three since the early seventies.
inkFact is this complaint does the rounds every so often. I think even a superficial search of archived threads will turn up several that start very similarly to this one. The problem is that during down times in terms of news about new aircraft, new operations or fresh revelations about previous conflicts there really isn’t all that much to talk about. You just have to only read the things you are most interested in, be more picky, skip posts by posters you know to be time wasters and so on. When something happens, a new aircraft is revealed or used in combat or Georgia invades South Ossetia, this can still be a good place to pick up information. There are still plenty of members who are worth listening to (Swerve, RM55, SOC, Jonesy to name just a few) so its definitely worth sticking around even when things are slow.
inkAgain … let’s sit and wait, sooner (I hope very soon) or later we will se that bird … and I’m sure, we all will be surprised and impressed, but discussing these things is plain stupid.
I have to say, I’m glad I’m not the only one getting bored of all this speculation based on… well, nothing much.
I can’t wait for the PAK-FA to be revealed (one day) but all this lame hype and speculation is actually starting to get on my nerves. And, yes, I am aware that I could just ignore this thread (and others like it), and I would – believe me – but its worth wading through the crap for genuinely interesting posts, such as those by RM55 and others.
inkPhantomII,
In terms of mission, I’d say the 2000D and Su-24 are similar although airframe wise they are very different.
Even then you have to admit the similarity is only very slight. A sentence comparing the Su-24 to Western analogues which mentions the Mirage 2000 but not the Aardvark deserves to be ridiculed.
Anyway, here’s a follow-up to the earlier news of a FENCER crash in Russia:
MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Air Force has resumed Su-24 Fencer attack aircraft flights after a 10-day suspension following two crashes in mid-June, a Defense Ministry official said on Monday.
The Su-24 is a two-seat, twin-engine fighter-bomber similar to NATO’s Tornado and Mirage 2000 planes.“The Air Force commander issued an order on Monday to resume Su-24 flights, which had been halted after two consecutive crashes of these aircraft,” the official said.
A Su-24 plane crashed on June 19 in the Rostov region of southern Russia, with both pilots ejecting safely. Another Su-24 aircraft crashed on June 17 on a runway as it landed at an airfield in the Murmansk region in the far northwest, but both pilots also ejected safely.
Pilot error has been identified as the cause of the June 17 crash, while the June 19 accident probably resulted from a failure in the Su-24 wing positioning system, a flight safety official said on Monday.“The cause of the Su-24’s crash has been established. It was a pilot error made during the landing,” Lt. Gen. Sergei Bainetov said adding that the investigation into the Su-24 crash in the Rostov region continued.
Ten pilots have died in the last decade in 13 Su-24 aircraft crashes in Russia.
The plane has been in service with the Russian Air Force since the mid-1970s. However, in recent years Russia has gradually been phasing out the planes, which have a patchy safety record.
According to the Defense Ministry, the Su-24 will be gradually replaced with new Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft, which has the potential to become the top plane in its class for years to come.
inkWant I will tell a secret? The lightweight fighter too is developed
Suddenly I’m beginning to doubt your credibility – wonder why that is?
inkThe matter is that for August, 16th celebrating 75-years of KNAAPO has been planned, this day in Russia day of Military-air forces is celebrated. However all actions have unexpectedly transferred for July, 18th. Besides hearings about August for a long time already went. By the way by tradition the first flight is made more close by the end of December. [Source: worker of KNAAPO]
Will it be an official presentation or are we going to get a single grainy photo of it taking off? (I’m secretly hoping for the latter)
inkWhich Israeli defence company is in such dire straights that it is willing to sell UAVs in what is so overtly stated as being a one-off deal with reverse engineering/technology transfer as its principal goal?
That said, it might not be an entirely bad idea – the marketing potential would be significant and third parties might be more inclined to buy such UAVs if they know the Russians are going to be using them.
inkpfcem,
I am not going to waste my time searching for & reposting a link that has already been posted in this forum (quite possibly in this very thread). IF you had/have been following the discussion here you would most certainly have seen & read the link I am referring to. I can however make no claim as to your ability to recall having done so if you did.
This source of yours notwithstanding, I am inclined to continue to be convinced that the official Russian AF and Sukhoi positions on the Fullback are that it represents the most capable aircraft in its class. There have probably been hundreds of official statements to the effect that the Su-34 is superior to all foreign analogues (including the F-15E) in the air-to-ground role. Until I see a statement to the contrary I will continue to see this as the official position.
Also worth bearing in mind is that there are plenty of Russian naysayers when it comes to Russian kit – just as there are plenty of Westerners willing to point out, often fictional, shortcomings with programmes such as the JSF or the Super Hornet. In short, just because a source is Russian in origin does not automatically mean it is the official position of the producer, the end user or the Russian government.
inkRussia even says that its Su-34 avionics do not match the F-15E in air-to-ground capabilities and it is a dedicated air-to-ground aircraft so I have my doubts the much more air-to-air oriented PAK-FA will surpass even that.
I’d really love to see a source for that.
inkThe Russia-Turkey helicopter saga continues:
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) – A Turkish military delegation has come to Russia to discuss the possible acquisition of Mi-28 attack helicopters. This is not the first time the two countries have discussed cooperation.
In the 1970s and the early 1980s, Turkey bought 32 used AH-1P/S Cobra attack helicopters in the United States and later upgraded them to the AH-1F specifications. The Turkish army still has 23 AH-1P/S Cobras. However, Turkish military authorities started thinking about replacing them in the mid-1990s.
During the subsequent tender they considered several models of combat helicopter, including the Ka-50-2 Erdogan, a version of the Russian Ka-50 Black Shark developed by Russia and Israel for Turkey. Unlike the Ka-50 where the pilots sit side-by-side, the seats in the Erdogan are placed in tandem as in the U.S. Cobra chopper.
However, Turkey did not choose the Kamov helicopter for political reasons, such as growing U.S. influence in Turkey and, conversely, the lack of Russian influence. Also, Russia could not then guarantee the timely production of the required number of new helicopters or post-sale service. Lastly, the Ka-50 was not mass-produced even for the Russian army at that time.
An updated Cobra with new weapons and equipment was the most probable winner in the Turkish tender, but the contract was eventually awarded to a European producer, the Anglo-Italian AgustaWestland, which proudly proclaims to be “a total rotorcraft capability provider.”
AgustaWestland, announced as the winning bidder in March 2007, pledged to assemble 50 T129 prototypes in Turkey. However, the first T129 will be rolled out only in 2015, whereas Turkey needs choppers now to fight Kurdish militants.
The purchase of seven used AH-1W SuperCobras in 2008 has not solved the problem either. Turkey needs modern attack helicopters to fill the gap until 2015 and for several more years while its pilots learn to fly the T129 choppers.
As a result, Turkey has decided to purchase Russian machines. It has opted for the Mi-28N Night Hunter, which, unlike the Ka-50, has been mass-produced since the 1990s and is supplied to the Russian Armed Forces.
Turkey may buy between 12 and 32 helicopters within two or three years. It is unclear if it wants the choppers with or without top-mounted radar, which is an extremely expensive option.
The Turkish military had once considered buying the Mi-24 Crocodile, which has several common structural elements with the Mi-28. The Mi-17 multirole helicopter is currently used in Turkey for military, police and civilian purposes.
Significantly, the Mil helicopters have for years been used in similar terrain in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East. Moreover, Russia’s influence and relations with Turkey have grown dramatically and many contradictions in bilateral ties have been smoothed over since the 1990s.
Therefore, Turkey could buy the Mi-28, whose track record over the past 20 years and the initial results of its combat use show that this highly versatile helicopter could remain on combat duty even after T129 assembly start-up in Turkey.
And the final touch: the protection and combat payload specifications of the T129 are below those of the Mi-28.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
Try to ignore the low-quality journalism… if you can 😎
inkWell, while we’re on this topic:
MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) – Flights by Russia’s Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers will continue despite a crash on Wednesday in the north of the country, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
A Su-24 aircraft crashed on a runway upon landing in the Murmansk Region, but both pilots ejected safely and there was no destruction reported on the ground.
“This Su-24 crash is not a catastrophe and therefore flights by this type of aircraft have not been suspended,” the spokesman said.
A source in the ministry said earlier that a special commission, set up to investigate the cause of the incident, had already begun decoding flight records, which remained in a good condition despite the aircraft burning up.
The Su-24 is a two-seat, twin-engine tactical bomber similar to NATO’s Tornado and Mirage 2000 planes.
The plane has been in service with the Russian Air Force since the mid-1970s. However, in recent years Russia has gradually been phasing out the planes, which have a patchy safety record.
According to the Defense Ministry, the Su-24 will be gradually replaced with new Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft, which has the potential to become the top plane in its class for years to come.
Bet you didn’t know the Su-24 was similar to the Mirage 2000 😀
inkI think the preconceptions do take a back seat to the fact that the gear is usually inferior and that Russia will use anything and everything to gain leverage, even at a cost to themselves. There is a reason why major developing markets are shipping from Russia to the West. India being the prime example here.
It may be worth remembering that several NATO member states operate really quite significant quantities of Russian kit.
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