Alexander Velovich/MOSCOW
The Russian army's rotary- wing capability is being dramatically degraded, with helicopter units suffering from extremely poor levels of combat readiness. The average mission-capable rate of the army aviation unit is as low as 28%, admits commander Col Gen Vitaly Yegorov.
What is worse, Yegorov says, the figure is still falling because of a lack of financing. The army has suffered a further cut of 30% from an already parlous funding level.
"Today, we do not plan acquisition of any new aircraft, and we will have to spend all the funds allocated to us for purchasing spares for Mil Mi-24 Hind, Mi-8 Hip and Mi-26 Halo helicopters in service which still can fly," says Yegorov in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda military newspaper.
About 1,000 army helicopters are awaiting scheduled overhauls at army aviation bases. Some of them are ready to be returned to operational units, but there is not enough money to pay the repair plants and take them back. Yegorov says that sometimes there is no cash just to send crews to ferry aircraft back to their units.
Yegorov says that the army aviation wing badly needs a replacement trainer helicopter which was to be developed by 1994, but has not appeared. Yegorov believes that the Ansat helicopter developed by the Kazan plant would be suitable for the trainer role, but the type has not been flown yet.
Other army aviation long-term priorities include development of a night-attack combat helicopter, either the Mi-28N Havoc or Kamov Ka-50/52 Hokum. Yegorov is reluctant to disclose which of the types in the long competition his service favours.
He does, however, say that Mil plans to install Russian-made equipment, in particular that developed by the Uralsky optical mechanical plant in Yaketerinburg.
The service plans a three-stage modernisation programme for its fleet of several hundred Mil-24 Hinds. Phase One calls for substituting retractable landing gear with a fixed unit, mounting a new lighter main rotor, gearbox, and installing new longer-range weapons. The second phase would include modifications to the airframe design, and the third would add night-attack capability.
Source: Flight International
