Russian Commander Paints Rosy Future for Air Force's Transport Planes
Posted on: Sunday, 31 July 2005, 12:00 CDT
Excerpt from report by Russian news agency Interfax
Monino (Moscow Region), 31 July: For the period up to 2020 the Il- 76 will be the main plane for military transport aviation, Army Gen Vladimir Mikhaylov, the commander-in-chief of the air force, has said.
"In the period up to the years 2015-20, Il-76 planes will form the basis of the pool of military transport aviation, both in terms of numbers and in terms of combat capabilities." Using gas-turbine jet engines has made it possible to increase the Il-76's flight speed to 825 km/h and to increase possibilities for overcoming the adversary's air defence. Apart from that, the Il-76 can be used from soil- and snow-covered airfields in any climate conditions," the commander-in-chief told journalists on Sunday [31 July] in Monino, where he was taking part in an aviation festival [entitled Legends of World War II].
In his words, part of the military transport aviation pool has become morally [as received] obsolete, and in particular, this applies to An-12 planes. "Studies are under way for a future medium transport plane to take the place of the An-12 plane. Some foreign countries have shown interest in developing this," Vladimir Mikhaylov noted. [Passage omitted]
"By 2007 it is planned to complete the development of and to begin purchases of new-generation light transport planes - the Il- 112B in place of the An-26s currently used by transport aviation," Vladimir Mikhaylov explained.
He is convinced that the Russian air force's combat potential will increase substantially after the all-weather Mi-28N and K-52 helicopters are taken into service. [Passage omitted]
Apart from that, the commander-in-chief believes that taking the Yak-130 and MiG AT training planes into service will make it possible to ensure the optimum level of training for front-line aviation pilots.
Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union
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