MOSCOW, January 10 (AVN) - The Ukrainian government has allowed to transfer Russian SU-24 frontline bombers to the Gvardeiskoye airfield near the Crimean town of Simferopol, a spokesman for the Russian Air Force Staff told the Military News Agency on Monday.
The first two of 12 bombers are expected to fly from the town of Anapa in the southern Russian Krasnodar territory to the Crimea on Wednesday, the spokesman said.
The government decision helped the Russian Black Sea Fleet solve one of its thorniest problems. Service life of SU-17M3 planes adopted by Separate Attack Squadron 43 of the Black Sea Fleet expired already by early 1998, and they were written off. Their pilots and staff were re-trained for SU-24, but it took Ukraine almost two years to sanction the transfer of new planes to Gvardeiskoye. No reasons for the delay were presented.
As a result, 12 combat-ready bombers have been staying in Anapa for more than six months, and the Black Sea Fleet has been lacking aerial support.