US again cautiously looking at the Russian Air Force
The US military is sounding the alarm in connection with the growing military capabilities of Russia. Of particular concern to them is the Russian aviation and to an even greater extent air defense, which, according to the generals, is not inferior to the US Air Force. At the same time, American combat aircraft is rapidly aging. Are such statements justified - or are they just attempts to knock money out of the budget?Commander-in-Chief of the United States Air Force in Europe, Frank Gorentz, said that the Air and Space Forces (VKS) of Russia had eliminated the backlog. “I don’t think that it would be controversial to say: they have overcome the gap in opportunities,” he said, commenting on military construction in Russia and the modernization of its air force.
According to Gorentz, he means both “the aircraft that they produce and the ability to create extremely well-protected” zones using access control systems, which he personally “causes more alarm”. At the same time, the general noted that the videoconferencing system of Russia managed to improve "quality and quantity," reports TASS.
From the point of view of Gorentz, in the current conditions the US Air Force will have to improve its training. “It is absolutely clear that we will have to go back (to the old practice) and start practicing the same things that we did during the Cold War,” the general believes. He did not tell in detail about the plans for such combat training.
Gorents called the Crimea and the Kaliningrad region as two well-protected areas from which the Russian armed forces are able to control part of the airspace of some NATO member countries.
This is not the first such statement in recent days. In late August, the former chief of intelligence staff of the US Air Force, Lieutenant General David Deptula, said that while the US command was relying on the actions of small units in third world countries during local conflicts, they had overlooked Russia, whose capabilities had increased significantly.
He noted that "the Russians have one of the best air defense systems on the planet." “Today, the Russians have a significant superiority of ground-to-air weapons, and in the territories protected by their own air defense systems, they have the ability to deny access to the airspace of any aircraft,” he told The Daily Beast.
In addition, last week Deptul directly called the American military aircraft "senile", recalling that the average age of the aircraft exceeds 25 years, and said it is necessary to equip the Air Force with new bomber aircraft. He demands to buy "as many bombers as possible, and as quickly as possible." According to Deptuly, last year the US Air Force purchased the smallest number of new aircraft in its stories.
And this, while the Russian Air Force is exactly the opposite - they bought the largest, record number of aircraft in the entire modern history of the country in 2014 year.
Two districts
It was no coincidence that General Gorentz cited the Crimea and the Kaliningrad Region as an example. Both of these areas are constantly being strengthened. The grouping on the peninsula began to build up immediately after the return of the Crimea to Russia. At the end of November 2014, the 14 Su-27CM and Su-30 fighters were redeployed to the Belbek airbase. Machines took up combat duty for the protection of the airspace of the Crimea. This year, Su-24 attack planes and Su-27 fighters are being replaced by Su-30.
Last year, the decision was made to deploy long-range bombers and Iskander-M operational tactical complexes on the peninsula. In addition, in July, the Ministry of Defense announced plans to strengthen the grouping on the peninsula by long-range bombers Tu-22М3. Sources of the newspaper VIEW reported that the Tu-22М3 and the Iskander-M complexes have not yet made a final decision.
Experts believe that the deployment of the Tu-22М3 strategic missile-carriers is a sufficient and comprehensive response to the antimissile base in Romania: airplanes can strike at it without entering the air defense zone. The range of their missiles reaches 600 km, the base is removed from the coast by about 400 km, and the NATO countries simply do not have ground-based means. Only fighters could try to stop the Russian missile carriers.
Kaliningrad special area is also increasing. According to the Treaty on Conventional Arms in Europe (CFE), Russia could have only two motorized rifle brigades in the region, but Moscow withdrew from this agreement, and from 2011, the grouping of troops began to build up. In particular, the radar of the early warning system of a missile attack of the Voronezh-DM type was built near Kaliningrad, and the Iskander-M complexes were deployed.
“We need to justify the budget”
The expert of the Center for Political Studies of Russia on conventional weapons, Vadim Kozyulin, expressed the opinion that General Gorentz was somewhat exaggerated. “Such statements often appear when you need to justify the budget. It is mainly during these periods that alarmist messages from the military begin. Of course, Russia’s budget has grown, new developments have begun, but the situation is far from what the general described it, ”he told the VIEW newspaper.
“This is one of the few statements in favor of our capabilities,” commented Vladimir Anokhin, Vice-President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, to the VZGLYAD statement on the statement of the American General. “Although, on the other hand, it can be understood: NATO is bursting at the seams in the international situation that has developed in Europe, and I do not rule out that this is the message: NATO should focus on any one enemy.”
“Recently, we have comprehensively approached the solution of the problem of protecting aerospace, and not only in material terms, but also in the preparation of flight personnel,” the expert believes.
Problem areas
According to Kozyulin, Russia has and still has a lag in aircraft. “The USA has been using the fifth generation airplanes for many years, they are only being tested here. If we talk about air defense, then the general probably had (in mind) first of all the fact that Russia is developing the C-500, begins the production of the C-400. But rearmament is just beginning, and the production of promising models is only planned. It’s too early for the Americans to get scared. ”
“As for the technological lag, in some areas it was not there,” said Viktor Murakhovsky, editor of the journal Arsenal of the Fatherland, in an interview with VZGLYAD. - For example, in air defense systems, in warning systems for a rocket attack, on the contrary, we have a certain lead. Indeed, we had a period when we were significantly behind in certain types of military aviation. I can not say that we completely eliminated it - for this we need to at least launch a series and put into service the fifth generation aircraft. ”
“We really eliminated the lag in the aviation weapons of destruction,” he added. - On radars, which are responsible for air traffic control, for detecting air targets, also came to the forefront. In addition, the electronic warfare systems in our country are indeed at an advanced, comparable to the American level. ”
Recall aerospace forces were formed as a result of the unification of the troops of the East Kazakhstan region and the Air Force. Aviation, air defense and missile defense forces and the Space Forces are subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the space forces, all of which are headed by his deputies.
Aviation VKS includes all types of aviation of the current Air Force, including the army. However, front and army aviation, except for fighters, is included in the VKS only structurally, but in fact it will be used in accordance with the plans of the commanders of military districts.
The fact that the VKS began to perform tasks, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in early August.
Earlier this year, Shoigu said that by the end of the year, the Air Force and the naval aviation would receive 126 new aircraft and 88 helicopters, while the aircraft fleet should be in good condition at 80%.
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