MONINO, Moscow Region. April 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The percentage of operational aircraft in service with Russian Air Force colleges amounts to only 21%, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Air Force deputy commander-in-chief, said on Friday.
"At the moment certain Air Force colleges have only one to five operational aircraft, with their airframe and power plant service life to expire very soon as well. The average percentage of operational aircraft in the inventory of Air Force colleges totals 21% of the organic strength. Especially hard is the situation with regards to combat aircraft and helicopters," Nogovitsyn told an extramural meeting devoted to problems in legislation, pertaining to military education in Russia, which was held at the Gagarin Air Force Academy in Monino.
The general said that Air Force colleges were still underfunded. "Air Force colleges need RUB19.6m (USD676,000) in 2004, but have received only RUB4m (USD138,000), which totals only 20.4% of the overall needs of the 13 Air Force colleges," Nogovitsyn noted.
He emphasized that while several years ago little flying time of Air Force college graduates was caused by the lack of fuel, today this fact was primarily caused by the state of aircraft.
At the present time there are a total of 13 Air Force colleges: two academies, one university, and ten institutes. These colleges train experts, majoring in 52 professions and 31 specialities. The organic strength of Air Force colleges amounts to 18,467 men, including 912 officers and 17,555 cadets.