The Russian Military Merged Thread- Air Force

[CougarKing]

Should the US regret being an Open Skies signatory?

Defense News

Pentagon official decries Russian flights over US


WASHINGTON — A senior US intelligence official warned Wednesday that he has “great concern” about Russia’s intentions to fly sophisticated surveillance planes over the United States, saying it would give Russia “a significant advantage."

Russia reportedly announced its intent to submit plans for the flights using advanced digital cameras under the 2002 Open Skies Treaty. With more than 30 signatories, including Russia, the US and the European Union, the treaty established a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights giving all participants the ability to gather information about military forces and activities of concern to them.

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[CBH99]

Unless major military bases have been moved, there isn't much to see today that they haven't already seen in the years previous to 2016 in which they undertook their flights.

Sure, certain types of aircraft and in different numbers may be present & visible at certain bases - but in the US, those things can change on a daily or weekly basis.

At the end of the day, it seems like a few folks are worried about the Russians seeing things they have already seen.    :2c:

 

[CougarKing]

The Russian withdrawal begins, though a residual presence in both of Russia's bases in Latakia airbase and Tartus harbour will remain:

Aviationist

Here’s the first video of the Russian combat planes leaving Syria
Mar 15 2016
By David Cenciotti
The first group of Russian aircraft redeploying to Russia after Syria air war has left ‪‎Hmeymim‬ airbase.

On Mar. 15, the Russian Defence Minister General of the Army Sergei ‪‎Shoigu‬ ordered to redeploy a large part of the the Russian Aerospace Forces contingent deployed to Syria to fight terrorists.

The redeploy order saw technical staff at Hmeymim airbase, near Latakia, started preparing aircraft for the long-range flight to airfields located in mainland Russia: the aircraft, first of all Su-34 “multidimensional bombers” (this is definition used by the Russia’s MoD) based on the footage released so far, are returning home with long-range flight (more than 5,000 km), inflight refueling and intermediate flight stops at the Russian Federation airfields.

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[jmt18325]

They probably ran out of money for bombs.

 

[CougarKing]

While most of Russia's air contingent to Syria withdraws, its attack helos will continue to make their presence felt:

Foxtrot Alpha

As Russia's Tactical Jets Leave Syria, Its Most Advanced Attack Helicopters Arrive
Tyler Rogoway
Yesterday 12:26pm
Filed to: Syria

As Russia's Tactical Jets Leave Syria, Its Most Advanced Attack Helicopters Arrive
Russia says that its pullout from its air base in Syria will be complete in just two or three more days, but it is leaving behind a more potent attack helicopter force than what was ever there before.

Both the Mi-28 and the KA-52 attack helicopters have been spotted around the base within the last 24 hours. Here’s why the Kremlin is upping its combat helicopter capability just as it is pulling its fixed wing fighter and attack aircraft.

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[MarkOttawa]

Note Russian cruise missiles at end:

New Head of US NORTHCOM–And, One Assumes, NORAD
...

https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2016/03/18/mark-collins-new-head-of-us-northcom-and-one-assumes-norad/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

The results of Frogfoot jets' participation in the Syria air campaign:


Aviationist

Russian Air Force Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft dropped 6,000 (mostly unguided) bombs over Syria
Mar 19 2016 -
By Dario Leone
The Russian Air Force Su-25 Frogfoots were pretty busy during their Syrian deployment.

On Mar. 16, the Russian Aerospace Forces (RuAF) welcomed the return of their Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft from Hmeymim airfield, in Syria, to their home base in the Krasnodar region.

As reported by the Tass News Agency, during the ceremony, Alexander Galkin, the Russia’s Southern Military District commander, said the Frogfoots flew more than 1,600 sorties and dropped around 6,000 bombs since when Russian aircraft began missions against terrorists in Syria on Sep. 15, 2015.

“After a prolonged assignment away from home we are welcoming back our best pilots. They have coped with all of their tasks. Over the past six months they flew 1,600 sorties in adverse conditions spending more than 1,000 hours in the sky over Syria to have dropped about 6,000 bombs on the terrorists,” Galkin said.

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[MarkOttawa]

Possible escorts for cruise missile-carrying Russian bombers vs NORAD?

Intercept This! Russian MiG-31BM Takes Longest Non-Stop Flight in History
...
Spending seven hours and four minutes in the sky, Russian pilots broke the new record for the longest non-stop flight of a MiG-31BM supersonic interceptor, RIA Novosti quoted Russian Central Military District spokesman Yaroslav Rashchupkin as saying.

He said that the record was set during drills in which the crews of the MiG-31BMs, stationed in eastern Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, covered almost 8,000 kilometers to reach their new destination in southern Russia's Astrakhan region...
http://sputniknews.com/russia/20160408/1037700769/russia-interceptor-plane-flight.html

Earlier--note link at end on Russian nuclear doctrine:

NORAD Note: Russian Bomber (with cruise missiles) Strikes in Syria
https://cgai3ds.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/mark-collins-norad-note-russian-bomber-with-cruise-missiles-strikes-in-syria/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

Another incident from a couple of days ago, aside from the buzzing incident of USS Donald Cook by a Russian jet last week:

Wall Street Journal

Russian Fighter Buzzes U.S. Air Force Plane Over Baltic Sea
Incident is second between U.S. and Russian military assets that has been reported recently

By Gordon Lubold,
Julian E. Barnes and
Nathan Hodge
Updated April 17, 2016 6:47 p.m. ET


A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane was intercepted by a Russian fighter plane over the Baltic Sea in what American officials said on Sunday was an unsafe and unprofessional manner, the second such instance in a week.

Russian officials disputed the account, saying they were responding to an unidentified target approaching their border at high speed.

The incident, which happened Thursday but didn’t come to light until this weekend, could further complicate U.S.-Russia relations. As the U.S. builds up its assets in the Baltic Sea, Russia has taken a more aggressive posture in response.

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[CougarKing]

To think there were just crashes last week in both the USAF and USN aerobatic teams, the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels.

Aviationist

Su-27 Flanker of the Russian Knights aerobatic team crashes in Russia. Pilot killed.
Jun 09 2016
By David Cenciotti
It’s not a good period for military aerobatic teams.

A Su-27 Flanker belonging to the Russian Knights aerobatic team crashed on Jun. 9 in Russia, killing the pilot, TASS news agency reported.

According to the first reports, the jet crashed in a forest located about 2 km from the village of Muranovo, in western Russia, after taking part with the rest of the aerobatic team to a flyover of the nearby monument to aviators in Ashukino, a ceremony attended by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force Viktor Bondarev.

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[CougarKing]

The result of the crash reported above:

CNN

Russia grounds Su-27 jets after crash

By Ralph Ellis, CNN

Updated 9:16 PM ET, Thu June 9, 2016
(CNN)The Russian air force has grounded its fleet of Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jets until determining what caused one of the planes to crash on Thursday, killing the pilot, the government-run Tass news agency said.
The warplane, part of the Russian Knights aerobatic team, crashed near Moscow after the team took part in the opening ceremony for a monument to aviators in Ashukino, Tass said.
The Defense Ministry said technical problems probably caused the crash, Tass said.

The ministry said the pilot steered the plane away from a community and did not have time to eject before the crash, Tass said.

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[CougarKing]

Low-rate initial production...until India orders more.

Air Recogition

UAC now gearing up for T-50 PAK FA low-rate initial production batch

The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is gearing up for the manufacture of a low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch of T-50 fifth-generation fighters (Russian acronym - PAKFA) for the delivery to the Russian Aerospace Force (RusAF), according to the Izvestia daily.

The eighth flying prototype almost meeting the military’s requirements to the fifth-generation fighter’s characteristics will take to the skies in Komsomolsk-on-Amur on June 20. Unlike the previous prototypes, the eighth one is fully outfitted with the equipment and systems spelt out by the requirements specification for the future fighter. With the advent of the eighth prototype, the configuration of the T-50 as a combat aircraft has been finalized, and the type is ready for the production for the RusAF.

At present, four more T-50s are sitting in the shops of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant in various stages of assembly. Aircraft No. 9 will join the trials in September. The 10th and 11th airframes are in their assembly jigs, one with its fuselage mated and the other with its wing center section assembled. Both will have started their flight tests before the end of the year. In the fall, UAC will be prepared for signing a LRIP batch contract with the Defense Ministry.

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[CougarKing]

Not sure whether to believe this, considering the source:

Sputnik News

I See You: Russian-Made Sunflower Radar is Capable of Detecting F-35 Jets
Tech
17:40 02.07.2016
© Sputnik/ Vitaliy Ankov

The Podsolnukh short-range over-the-horizon surface-wave radar is developed by Moscow-based OJSC NPK NIIDAR. The Russian Defense Ministry plans to deploy several of these systems in the Arctic, as well as on Russia's southern and western borders. 

The radar is capable of detecting sea surface and air objects at a maximum distance of 500 kilometers (over 310 miles) at different altitudes in line of sight and over the horizon. The Podsolnukh "can simultaneously detect, track and classify up top 300 sea and 100 aerial targets in an automatic mode," the Global Security website detailed.

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[Lightguns]

Claim, counter claim.  Better to see it in action first.

 

[tomahawk6]

Putin is building a hypersonic stealth bomber called PAK-DA strategic bomber to drop nuclear weapons from space.Quite an expensive program.I hope we in the US are not too far behind.The engine is able to fly in air and space.quite a feat.Maybe even a game changer.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/russia-building-hypersonic-stealth-bomber-can-launch-nuclear-bombs-space-1570625?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=rss&utm_content=/rss/yahoous/news&yptr=yahoo

In October 2015, a representative of the Russian Military Academy reported plans to combine an air-rocket ramjet engine with a pulsating combustion chamber. The new aircraft—equipped with an engine able to work both in airspace and outer space—was, at the time, conveniently needed for delivering supplies to an international orbit station, the representative explained.

Judging by recent developments, a lot has changed.

Just one day after NATO’s Warsaw Summit came to a close, Russia announced to the world she was aggressively building a hypersonic aerospace bomber to make nuclear strikes from outer space possible. The engine’s projected speed will allow the bomber to reach any point on Earth in under two hours.

A functional model of the bomber’s engine will be developed by 2020, Colonel Alexei Solodovnikov told RIA News. Solodovnikov is the project’s general contractor as well as a professor of Strategic Missile Forces at the Military Academy.

 

[CBH99]

T6, you guys are still well ahead of the curve with your Aurora program.    :Tin-Foil-Hat:

 

[Good2Golf]

T6, you guys are still well ahead of the curve with your Aurora program.    :Tin-Foil-Hat:

...pshawwww.  'AURORA' is so (not ) 90s....

;D

 

[Good2Golf]

Any reason a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead that can be launched from a Russian SSBN with just minutes of flight time to the U.S. seaboard isn't already the highest threat capability?  PAK-DA just seems like Tier-2 posturing...save the money and keep riding horses bare-chested for popularity... :

G2G

 

[CougarKing]

Another Russian helo shot down over Syria:

Specialops.org

Russian helicopter shot down in Syria

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Syria following delivery of humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said. Three crew and two officers from Russia’s Reconciliation Center died, according to a Kremlin statement.

Specialops.org

Body of Russian pilot dragged through dirt after helicopter is shot down over Syria

 

[tomahawk6]

Aljazeera better watch out.Their reporters were first on the scene and hammed it up for the camera.Russia isnt happy at all.Just because your helmet says PRESS,wont save you from Russian retribution.