Russia needs 1,600 PAK-FA.

[MKSheppard]

Link

90 Russian MiGs found unsafe to fly
VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Fri Mar 13, 8:19 am ET

MOSCOW – A large part of Russia's fighter jet fleet has been found unsafe during inspections made after a MiG-29 plane lost part of its tail on a training flight, the air force said Friday.

The air force grounded the entire MiG-29 fleet after the Dec. 5 crash in southern Siberia, an area where another of the jets had crashed in October. A check of the planes' condition began as a military panel investigated the cause of the December crash.

Air force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said Friday that about 90 MiG-29s had been found unsafe to fly and would need repairs. Over 100 of the planes have been cleared for flights, and a number of others remain to be checked, he said.

Drik did not say how many MiG-29s the air force has. Russian media reports put their number at about 300, and the entire fighter fleet at some 650.

Drik would not say how long repairs of the faulty planes and checks of the remaining part of the fleet could take.

"That will depend on the availability of funds," he told The Associated Press. Drik refused to provide a cost estimate or give any further details on the planes' condition.

Air Force Lt.-Gen. Sergei Bainetov said investigators continued looking into the reason for corrosion that caused the tail section to break off in December, Interfax news agency reported.

The twin-engined MiG-29, codenamed Fulkrum by NATO, has been in service with the Soviet and then Russian air force since the 1980s. The two other types of fighters in the Russian inventory, the Su-27 and the MiG-31, also date from the 1980s.

The military may find it hard to afford costly repairs of the planes now, when slumping oil prices have drained the government coffers. During eight years of Russia's oil-driven economic boom, the military has upgraded only a few dozen fighter jets.

Grounding of the MiG fleet has dealt a blow to the Kremlin's effort to revive the nation's military and project its power worldwide. It may also jeopardize Russia's efforts to increase arms sales.

In a humiliating blow to Russia, Algeria last year returned 15 MiG-29s, saying the quality was poor. Moscow has dismissed the claim, and the Russian military said it would commission the planes this year.

[K. A. Pital]

Only 100 MiG-29s are "safe to fly". The frame fatigue in all others is too much.

In a humiliating blow to Russia, Algeria last year returned 15 MiG-29s, saying the quality was poor.

Because they wanted Su-3X family which cost the same but are much more powerful and capable than the lightweight MiGs we were offering. So they said fuck it. Also, rumor has it, they discovered that the newly built MiGs for them cannibalized some parts of old machines, despite the promise of not using fatigued parts. So it went down the shitter, but that doesn't mean the 29SMT is a bad plane.

And yeah, we do need the PAK-FAs. I hope me and my wife get to see one this year on the MAKS 2009.

[MKSheppard]

Only 100 MiG-29s are "safe to fly". The frame fatigue in all others is too much.

And let me guess; most of them are either low flight hours early MiG-29s, or the few advanced MiG-29s built before the Fall?

[K. A. Pital]

Yeah, these are 100 frames of baseline MiG-29s which have very low flight hours, or none. The newer models are counted alone, they are all considered safe to fly.

[MKSheppard]

So basically, Russia is essentially screwed. They have a huge boarder needing fighters to defend; and up till now; you guys have been depending on the huge surplus glut of 1980s fighters to patrol your airspace. But now they're falling apart like the F-15As and F-15Cs, forcing you to ground 'em.

I foresee an order for several hundred Su-3xMBKSIJAISOI Flankers in your future.

[starfury]

Does this means the Mig-29 is essantially discontiuned as, it seems they are basicly passed over for the Various memebers of the Flanker family.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

And yeah, we do need the PAK-FAs. I hope me and my wife get to see one this year on the MAKS 2009.

Is it true they are going to use the AL-31F engine instead of the AL-41F engine for the PAK-FA?

[Sidewinder]

In a humiliating blow to Russia, Algeria last year returned 15 MiG-29s, saying the quality was poor. Moscow has dismissed the claim, and the Russian military said it would commission the planes this year.

Bullshit. If Algeria's actions were really politically motivated, they would've bought Boeing, Dassault, Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin, even Chengdu or Shenyang-built fighters to replace the MiGs they say are shit, i.e., not Sukhoi, and certainly not Russian-built aircraft.

Does this means the Mig-29 is essantially discontiuned as, it seems they are basicly passed over for the Various memebers of the Flanker family.

I think the blame lies squarely upon MiG. They're the ones who FUBARed efforts to market their own products, e.g., failing to offer MiGs compatible with non-Russian weapon systems (Sukhoi had similar problems when selling Su-27s to China, but at least they sold something), failing to pursue markets outside the former Soviet bloc (Sukhoi offered Flankers to the Brazilian and South Korean Air Forces; I believe they even made offers to the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force), and deciding, "Hey, we should recycle and reuse parts from old planes to make the new ones our customer ordered! It'll save us a lot of money!" (if it was a Russian government decision, Algeria would've placed an order for something non-Russian, like the F-16, F/A-18E and F, Eurofighter, etc.).

[The Duchess of Zeon]

So do we think that Mig's days are numbered and that Sukhoi will end up the only military fighter manufacturer in Russia?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

So do we think that Mig's days are numbered and that Sukhoi will end up the only military fighter manufacturer in Russia?

MiG has been shifting towards other projects after they lost the PAK-FA competition. They were working on some UAV projects and others.

[K. A. Pital]

So do we think that Mig's days are numbered

No. MiG has suffered a heavy blow after losing the lightweight 5th generation fighter order, but it's far from a complete demise.

Servicing Russian and Indian MiG-35 orders, upgrading the MiG-31 fleet to MiG-31BM standard, as well as the MiG-29K order for India is still on the list, so MiG has things to do. The MiG-35 is basically a 4+ generation with very good internals (including AESA radar), so the corporation is far from demise.

More likely the grounding of baseline 29s would lead to the enhanced procurement of MiG-35s, but one can only hope.

[Pelranius]

Well, if the merger of Russian aircraft designers into the United Aircraft Corporation goes as planned, then the Russian government is probably happy to see who's having trouble and start to prune their staff (MiG naturally isn't going to be happy about that though).