The composition of the military aircraft fleet of the Russian Aerospace Forces for 2020

Vladislav Perminov @flicker

The composition of the military aircraft fleet of the Russian Aerospace Forces for 2020 | Aviation of Russia

*Photos added not in original post

Translated by google

Published by 08/13/2020

The Aerospace Forces of Russia were formed on August 12, 2015 after the merger of the Air Force and the Aerospace Defense Forces.

Videoconferencing solve a wide range of tasks:

• Repulsing attacks and protecting against aggressive actions of the enemy in relation to administrative facilities, political centers, military groups, industrial and economic regions of Russia, the most important infrastructure zones.
• The use of a wide range of weapons against the enemy, including nuclear ones.
• The implementation of hostilities in cooperation with other types of troops.
• Destruction of enemy cruise, tactical and ballistic missiles, as well as unmanned attack aircraft.
• Providing management personnel with accurate information on missile movements and warning of a possible attack.
• Observation in space and detection of threats in relation to objects on the territory of Russia and its allies, the defeat of space attack weapons.
• Launch of special vehicles into space, control of a constellation of satellites.

At present, the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation include the Air Force, the Air Defense Force and the Anti-Missile Defense Force, and the Space Force. The Air Force is comprised of Long-Range, Military Transport, Operational-Tactical and Army Aviation. The reform started in 2008 ended with the formation of 4 armies instead of 6, which later became part of the renewed military districts.

Until 1998, the air and missile defense troops were a separate type of the RF Armed Forces, then they were merged with the Air Force, and later reorganized into 11 aerospace defense brigades. After the merger in 2015, the new troops received the abbreviated name of the air defense-missile defense of the Aerospace Forces. Using the appropriate means, they must defend and repel enemy attacks, as well as destroy ballistic missiles.

Space Forces are designed to protect the country from the strikes of a potential enemy from near-earth space. From 2001 to 2011, they functioned as a separate branch of the military, then they were included in the VVKO, and since mid-2015 they have been part of the Aerospace Forces. The main tasks solved by these troops are to monitor space objects in order to detect threats, launch special vehicles into space, and keep satellites ready for use.

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Su-30SM - Oleg Pavlov

The military aviation of Russia has over 1,800 aircraft, including more than 800 fighters Su-27, Su-30SM, Su-33, Su-35S, MiG-29, MiG-31 and their modifications, about 200 front-line bombers Su-34, Su-24M and their modifications, over 200 Su-25 attack aircraft, about 150 Yak-130 training aircraft and others, about 70 Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers and over 40 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers.

In addition, the Aerospace Forces has about 400 military transport aircraft and Il-78 tanker aircraft, as well as more than 20 A-50 and A-50U long-range radar aircraft systems.

A-50U - Andreas B. @flickr

The helicopter fleet numbers about 1,500 attack, multipurpose and transport and landing helicopters Mi-8, Mi-24, Mi-35, Mi-26, Mi-28N, Ka-52.

The fleet of military aviation equipment in Russia is in second place in the world in terms of the number of planes and helicopters. Such data are contained in the annual survey World Air Forces 2020 published on FlightGlobal.com.

Mi-28NM - NickJ 1972 (flickr)

According to this study, at the beginning of 2020, the composition of the fleet of military aircraft and helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces consisted of 4,163 aircraft, which is 8% of the global indicator, second only in number to the United States - 13,266 aircraft and helicopters, 25% of the global indicator. In third place is China, which has 3,210 military aircraft and helicopters, or 6% of the global indicator.

The 2020 WAF survey notes that the global navy has been fairly stable over the past year since the previous survey, down 0.2% or just 63 aircraft. If you look at the regions of the world, only two registered growth compared to the previous survey - these are Russia and the CIS countries, the aggregate size of which increased from 4,904 to 5,016 units, which is an increase of 2%. The Russian Aerospace Forces accounts for 83% of this amount.

According to Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, in 2019, there was a decrease in the supply of new military aircraft to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In fact, the Aerospace Forces received ten Su-35S and eight Su-34s, which in total is only 18 aircraft.

The AST Center also reports that according to the State Defense Order in 2020, it is planned to supply one Su-57 and ten Su-35S, in 2021 - two Su-57 and five Su-35S.

On August 12, 2020, during an inspection trip to the Irkutsk aircraft plant of the Irkut corporation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the planned signing of a contract for 46 aircraft by the end of the year, of which 21 were Su-30SM fighters upgraded to version CM2 and 25 Yak-130 aircraft. ...

Yak-130 - Vladislav Perminov @flickr

In August 2018, at the Army-2018 International Military-Technical Forum, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and PJSC Sukhoi Company signed a contract for the supply to the Armed Forces of the first two serial fifth-generation fighters Su-57 (in the form of T-50S: T -50S-1 and T-50S-2) with engines of the "first stage" ("product 117"). The terms of the contract are 2018-2020, with the delivery of one aircraft each in 2019 and 2020. In June 2019 at the International military-technical forum "Army-2019" The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and PJSC "Company" Sukhoi "signed a contract to supply the Armed Forces with a total of 76 serial fifth-generation fighters Su-57, including the first two contracted aircraft in 2018. The terms of the contract are 2027.

27 December, but on December 24, 2019, at the final stage of factory tests, crashed as a result of an accident, presumably due to a failure in the aircraft control system.

The loss of the first production model of the Su-57 entailed a change in the management of PJSC Sukhoi Company. According to the AST Center, Sukhoi will be forced to compensate for the loss at its own expense by manufacturing another aircraft to replace the crashed one.

In 2016, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation ordered 150 Yak-152 light training aircraft for the primary training of military pilots. Currently, the aircraft is going through the final stage of flight tests, and their serial production is being prepared at the Irkutsk aircraft plant.

In 2018, the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with the UAC for the supply of three Be-200PS aircraft to the Naval Aviation of the Navy, the first of which was to be delivered in 2019. On February 14, 2020, the first Be-200ES amphibious aircraft intended for the RF Ministry of Defense took off. On July 20, the Be-200 Alexander Mamkin landed at the Gromovo airfield of the Western Military District, where it arrived to participate in the Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg.

llya Solovey

Aviation group of aerobatics "Russian Knights", which is part of the Center for the display of aviation equipment of the 4th Order of Lenin of the Red Banner Center for military tests and training of personnel of the VKS named after V.P. Chkalova at the beginning of July 2020 completed the transition to the Su-35S multipurpose fighters.

On July 8, the specialists of the Aviation Equipment Show Center completed a comprehensive check and acceptance of aircraft at the manufacturing plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the Vityaz pilots conducted a control overflight of the aircraft, checking the fighters in the air.

On July 9, the crews of the aerobatic team relocated the aircraft from the manufacturer to Kubinka near Moscow with an intermediate landing in Novosibirsk. The aircraft, painted in the colors of the Russian flag, are supplied as standard.

The first Su-35S aircraft entered the Russian Knights in November 2019. Prior to that, the group's aviation fleet consisted of eight two-seat Su-30SM fighters received in October-November 2016. Su-30SM fighters have replaced the Su-27 fighters that the Russian Knights have flown since their formation in April 1991.

Gleb Mayorov - AviMedia

Note:

1. There are no data on the Be-200PS, Tu-142, Yak-152 and Il-38 aircraft in the WAF 2020 review. Information on the aircraft data was added to the table during the preparation of the article, because of this, the final figures for the number of aircraft may not coincide with the data of WAF 2020.
2. The number of ordered Yak-152 trainers is indicated according to media reports in 2016.
3. The number of Be-200PS aircraft ordered for the naval aviation was received from the AST Center.
4. The number of Tu-142 anti-submarine aircraft is indicated as of 2018 and is taken from Wikipedia.
5. The number of Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft is indicated as of 2016 and is also taken from Wikipedia.
6. According to The Military Balance, for 2020, the Long-Range Aviation of the Aerospace Forces includes 44 Tu-95MS and 16 Tu-95MSM missile carriers (information from Wikipedia). According toJSC "Splav" NPO im. Ganicheva, as of the end of 2017, there were 55 Tu-95MS and Tu-95MSM aircraft in the Long-Range Aviation.

Andrey Velichko

for the site "Aviation of Russia"

*Photos added not in original post