BUDO AIRFIELD, Norway. Oct 15 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Mikhailov says that operational aircraft account for about 35% of the Russian army aviation.
"The operability of the aircraft is the primary sensitive issue of the army aviation. It totals about 35%," Mikhailov, who heads a large group of Russian aviators, which is paying a visit to their Norwegian Air Force counterparts, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
The commander-in-chief noted that the 1960s-1970s-vintage MI- 8 Hip and the MI-24 Hind, which had long become obsolete, constituted the mainstay of the aircraft fleet of the army aviation.
Modern helicopters (of the KA-50 Hokum-type) account for only about 10% of the organic strength, Mikhailov said.
He emphasized that the process of transferring army aviation units to the Air Force was competed in 2003, while steps, aimed at streamlining the army aviation units and establishment command and control bodies was still underway.
"The main tasks, facing the Air Force at the current stage, include maintaining aircraft combat readiness and operability by conducting overhauls, extending the service life of helicopters and their main units, and producing spare parts, first and foremost, main rotor blades," the commander-in-chief said.
He stated that it was a must to strive for maintaining the organic strength of army aviation command and control bodies and units, which had been transferred to the Air Force, with respect to personnel, weapons systems, and aircraft.
According to Mikhailov, "the issues of organizing operational, combat, and mobilization training of army aviation units, assigned to the Air Force, as well as their comprehensive supplying, and review and clarification of combat regulations, pertaining to all workstreams, area also of paramount importance."
Since January 1, 2003 the Air Force has received in excess of 20,000 army aviation servicemen and 7,000 civil employees, about 20 military units, subordinate directly to the central command, and over 40 units in military districts, as well as a flight school, which trains flight personnel, and a flight personnel conversion training center.
The army aviation operates MI-24 Hind, MI-8 Hip, MI-26 Halo, and KA-50 Hokum helicopters.