Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Air-To-Air Combat Is Not Dead



Air-to-Air Warfare Isn’t Dead -- Defense Tech

A couple of items involving Russian defense procurement lately caught our eye here at the DT World Headquarters. UPI ran this item a few days ago:

The Russian government said it contracted with an aircraft maker for delivery of 30 fighter jets — in addition to the 30 for which it contracted in March. The Irkut aircraft manufacturer will provide the Defense Ministry with the additional 30 Su-30SM fighter jets by 2016, RIA Novosti reported in Moscow Wednesday. The Russian Air Force got its first two Su-30SM planes on Nov. 22, the newspaper said. The Su-30SM is one of the air force’s most important planes. It boasts an improved radar, communications and friend-or-foe identification system, and new weapons, among other updates, the newspaper reported.

And this yesterday from UPI:

Read more ....

My Comment: Russia is clearly dedicated to developing and fielding jet fighters that will compete with America's best for supremacy of the skies. Here is a chart (from Russia's RIA Novosti) that compares the U.S. F-22 to Russia's T-50. Cause for concern .... the T-50 is cheaper .... hmmmm .... let's hope that it will be the avionics that will give U.S. jets an edge.

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