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Death of a Soviet Aviation Legend By Dr. Richard Weitz 03/22/2011 – The famed Russian aircraft designer Mikhail Simonov died earlier this month, at the age of 81, after a long illness. His Sukhoi fighter jets represented the best of the Soviet defense industry and continue to dominate Russia’s arms sales to foreign countries. Mikhail Simonov (Credit: http://www.legacy.com/legacies/2011/obituary-photo-gallery.aspx?photo=mikhail-simonov&pid=149081887) Born in 1929 in Russia, Simonov began working as an aviation engineer in the 1950s. He joined the design bureau of the state-owned OAO Sukhoi aircraft corporation as the first deputy chief designer in 1970. During the following nine years he led...

How China’s Jets Threaten Russia December 13, 2010 By Richard Weitz China’s suspected proclivity for copying weapons systems has made Russia wary of exporting its technology. Still, the Russians may one day end up with a taste for ‘Made in China’ hardware. The China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, better known as ‘Airshow China,’ used to see Russian arms dealers descend on the event to peddle their wares to potential Chinese customers. Held every other year in the city of Zhuhai, the Russians were eager to persuade potential Chinese customers to part with their cash. But last month, few Russian...

Photo No. 1 Photo No. 2 Photo No. 3 Photo No. 4 Photo No. 5 Photo No. 6 Photo No. 7 The Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm (photos 25 and 26)   The Photographer Major Michael S. Humphreys, United States Army   The Video NORAD and Russian Air Force Participate in Air Defense Exercise  

Russia started the first day at an arms show in Jakarta with a contract on the delivery of munitions for Sukhoi-family fighters to Indonesia, worth $54 million, a senior defense official said on Wednesday. The Indo Defense 2010 Expo & Forum opened on November 10 in Jakarta to host over 400 exhibitors from 38 countries until November 13. Nine Russian defense companies are exhibiting various types of sophisticated weaponry at the biennial arms fair. "Russia's [arms exporter] Rosoboronexport signed a contract on the delivery of munitions for Su-family fighters in service with the Indonesian armed forces," said Mikhail Pukhov, deputy...

The military dimension of Sino-Russian ties, particularly arms sales, has been deteriorating since 2006-07. While that decline partly reflects the growing prowess of China's defense industrial base, a major part stems from Russia's growing apprehension about China's growing capabilities and anger over its wholesale piracy of Russian weapons' designs and ensuing competition with Russia for third party markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The unlicensed copying of military arms has made China a formidable military player and a redoubtable competitor with Russia in emerging defense markets. For instance, Russian experts profess surprise at how fast China has been able...

Iran opens airspace to China warplanes Chinese fighter jets, file photo The Islamic Republic of Iran has reportedly opened its airspace to Chinese warplanes taking part in joint military maneuvers with Turkey. Ankara and Beijing conducted the drills in Turkey's Central Anatolia region last month. The war games, codenamed the Anatolian Eagle, were the first involving Turkey and China. Turkey had previously carried out Anatolian Eagle maneuvers with the US and other NATO members as well as Israel. Turkish F-16, Chinese Su-27 and Mig-29 fighter jets took part in mock dogfights during the drills. The maneuvers come ahead of a...

Chinese Su-27s Fly Mock Combat in Turkey Posted by David A. Fulghum at 9/30/2010 10:29 AM CDT An unexpected military cooperative exercise between China and Turkey has caught the eye of Washington-based analysts. The two air forces were involved in a joint air exercise in the central Anatolian province of Konya, the first such exercise involving the air forces of China (People’s Liberation Army Air Force – PLAAF) and NATO member Turkey. Part of the significance is that the PLAAF recently demonstrated major advances in long-range strike during their own “Peace Mission 2010.” The latest joint exercise, “Anatolian Eagle,” in...

By backpedaling on a campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine Corps airbase from Okinawa, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may have nonetheless secured additional airborne cruise missile and tactical ballistic missile defenses for Japan. China is seen as the cruise missile threat since it has developed a new, faster, long-range weapon that can be launched from its Su-27MKK strike fighter fleet. North Korea has the greater fear factor, however, because of its suspected nuclear ballistic missile capability and its government’s erratic behavior and apparent aggressions, such as the alleged sinking of a South Korea warship. Okinawa is already home...

Satellite photos recently revealed that the Chinese Navy has received J-11 jet fighters. These are illegal Chinese copies of the Russian Su-27. This plagiarism has been a source of friction between Russia and China for over five years. It all began, legally, in 1995, when China paid $2.5 billion for the right to build 200 Su-27s. Russia would supply engines and electronics, with China building the other components according to Russian plans and specifications. But after 95 of the Chinese built aircraft were built, Russia cancelled the agreement. They claimed that China was using the knowledge acquired with this Su-27...

The U.S. Air Force has decided that its looming fighter shortage, caused by delays in the F-35 program, and the aging of its F-16 and F-15 fleet, is not as bad as they believed. Two years ago, before the F-35 development got delayed even more, the air force predicted being short 800 fighters in the next decade or so. But now the shortage is believed to be no more than 185 (in 2024), and this could be avoided if production of F-35s was speeded up. The F-35 delays have been growing over the last few years, and the air force...

Russia's effort to develop an F-22 class fighter (the PAK FA) is going to require a lot of work. The prototype, that took its first flight recently, was clearly the basic Su-27 airframe modified to be stealthier. This included changing the shape of the aircraft to be less radar reflective, and providing internal bays for bombs and missiles. But there's much more to do in order to achieve anything close to the stealthiness of the F-22. It took fifteen years for the F-22 to go from initial flight, to entering service. The PAK FA could proceed faster, learning from the...

Russia has grounded all of its Su-27 fighters. At least until it can be determined what caused one to crash on January 14th, 30 kilometers from its airbase at Dzemga (in the Far East). The pilot died in the crash, but the flight recorder was recovered. Last year, two Su-27s crashed. The Su-27, which entered service 25 years ago, is showing its age. It's still a first line fighter, but is fading fast. Last year, the U.S. bought two Su-27 fighters from Ukraine, to be used to help train American pilots to cope with the growing number of Su-27 and...

Russia has grounded all of its Su-27 fighters. At least until it can be determined what caused one to crash on January 14th, 30 kilometers from its airbase at Dzemga (in the Far East). The pilot died in the crash, but the flight recorder was recovered. Last year, two Su-27s crashed. The Su-27, which entered service 25 years ago, is showing its age. It's still a first line fighter, but is fading fast. Last year, the U.S. bought two Su-27 fighters from Ukraine, to be used to help train American pilots to cope with the growing number of Su-27 and...

Rescue teams discovered on Friday the crash site of a Su-27 Flanker fighter jet which had been missing in the Khabarovsk Territory since Thursday, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said. The fighter had been performing a scheduled flight and was about 30 km away from the Dzemga airbase when it disappeared off the radar screens. "The crash site has been discovered by military rescue teams near the town of Galichny, about 20 km [12.5 miles] north of Komsomolsk-on-Amur," the official said. Rescuers are continuing the search for the pilot, he added. The Su-27 is a Mach-2 class air-superiority...

'Father of Su-27' Simonov: F-15 hater Mikhail Petrovich Simonov, designer of the iconic Su-27 Flanker, realized after the 1977 first flight that the T-10 prototype was a dog, a fact he explained to the aviation minister in Moscow. "'It's a good thing, Petrovich, that today is not 1937," the minister replied. That is one of the incredible anecdotes sprinkled throughout a Simonov feature published today in the London Telegraph. The article is a must read for anyone even slightly curious about aviation history. For example, we learn the lead designer's delightfully Russian reaction to Simonov's proposed solution to the T-10's...

An American company is offering two Su-27 fighters, for the bargain price of $5 million each. The aircraft are demilitarized, but recently refurbished. Since the refurbishment, the aircraft have been in the air only 16 hours, and the engines only have 19 hours of use. The aircraft were purchased, from Ukraine, last year by an American firm (Tac Air), to assist the U.S. Air Force is determining how the Su-27 performs. This work is apparently done, and now the Su-27s are no longer needed. The electronics are up to date, and qualified maintenance services are available, in Nevada (where Tac...

Chinese Carrier Strike Posted by Douglas Barrie at 10/12/2009 7:48 AM CDT Chinese ambitions may be to give its carrier air wing an air-to-surface role from the outset, at least if what appears to be a mock-up of a naval Flanker is to be taken at face value. Numerous images of an intriguing facility claimed to be at the Wuhan ship design institute have appeared on the internet in the past few days. The images show a building on which an aircraft carrier’s main superstructure is being fabricated, along with a large roof area that could be used to practise...

Two Belarussian pilots killed at Polish air show Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:30pm IST RADOM, Poland (Reuters) - Two Belarussian Air Force pilots were killed on Sunday when their SU-27 fighter plane crashed during an aerial acrobatics display at an air show in central Poland, police said. "The two pilots did not manage to catapult to safety and were killed in the crash but there were no other casualties," police spokeswoman Agnieszka Humelusz in Radom, a city about 100 km (62 miles) south of Warsaw, told Reuters. Witness Leszek Kopec told Reuters by telephone: "The SU-27 crashed far beyond the...

Two Russian military jets collide Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets have collided during rehearsals for a flying display at a big air show near Moscow. "The jets collided about 5km (3 miles) from Zhukovsky airfield," RIA news agency quoted a witness as saying. Two pilots from the elite Russian Knights aerobatic team parachuted to safety, Russian media said. But the fate of a third pilot is unclear, with unconfirmed reports that he died in the accident, RIA-Novosti and Interfax news agencies said.

The Pentagon purchased two Russian-made Su-27 fighter jets from Ukraine. The United States will reportedly use the Russian jets to train effective counter-operation efforts. The Russian jets are a serious competition for the US F-15 fighters. The jets of Russia’s renowned Sukhoi design bureau proved to be more successful than their US competitors during a number of tests. The Pentagon has been trying to obtain the Russian warplanes, and Ukraine helped the nation do it legally. The news about the deal between the USA and the Air Force of Ukraine appeared on the US-based website Strategypage.com. The website said that...