MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia plans to upgrade 20% to 25% of its warplanes to the 4+ generation by 2005, Air Force Commander Vladimir Mikhailov told Interfax-Military News Agency on Monday.
"After that the army will start to receive a promising plane of the Sukhoi design bureau, an SU-27IB, the testing of which will be wrapped up by 2004-2005," Mikhailov said.
The army will be equipped with fifth generation warplanes in the future, he said. A sample plane will be flown in 2006-2007 and testing should be completed by 2010, after which mass assembly will begin.
When asked about developments in strategic aviation, Mikhailov replied that the service lives of TU-160 Blackjack, TU-95MS Bear and TU-22M3 Backfire aircraft would be prolonged. "Moreover, we achieved solid results during the testing of new arms for strategic bombers," he said.
"Military transport aviation will continue upgrading AN-124 Condor planes to the level of the AN-124-100. In addition, a part of IL-76 Candid planes will be fitted with new PS-90A engines. The Air Force is planning to commission several IL-76MF military transport planes in the near future, for they are needed to accomplish special missions on the plan of the president and Defense Ministry," Mikhailov noted.
According to him, planes and helicopters of the next generation will surpass present-day aircraft several times as far as combat efficiency is concerned.
"They will not be inferior than their foreign analogues in technical perfection, efficiency and universality of combat application," the commander stressed.
Almost all work aimed at perfection of the Air Force's inventory is carried out so that the developments could be offered to potential foreign customers in the future. "That is why existing aircraft are modernized and new ones developed in a manner that provides for their technical and information integration with foreign support systems and weapons," Mikhailov stressed.