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How the fighter was destroyed aviation Baltic Fleet
... How often we are convinced of the justice of the Russian proverb: "You know less - you sleep better". Especially when we learn SUCH, from which the dream disappears altogether. Completely
Recently, in the Russian press and on TV, they have talked a great deal about the advance of NATO to the east. The patriotic slogans (“Motherland is in danger!”, “The enemy is at the gates of Moscow!”) Sound, the perfidy of “enemy No.1” (as quite recently the NATO bloc was mentioned in Soviet military doctrines) is condemned on the outskirts of our borders. But ... it is really necessary to speak about something else: about what terrible and, obviously, irreversible processes are taking place in OUR Armed Forces.
This topic is dangerous. And our interlocutor is the Guard Colonel Shekurov, commander of the celebrated 689th Guards, Sandomierz, Order of Alexander Nevsky Fighter Aviation Regiment named after A.I. Pokryshkina, is at great risk: military secret is a very loose concept. And if she wants to divulge it, the Russian generals can even declare on the pages of the newspaper that such a regiment exists ... and is based in our Kaliningrad region (although it would be more correct to use these verbs in the past tense). But Shekurov has no other choice. Rather, they did not leave another way. The regiment that he commanded is virtually destroyed. And not some external enemy, and not as a result of natural disaster or man-made disaster. The regiment destroyed the leadership - from the commander of the Baltic fleet, in whose jurisdiction was this military unit, to the chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Defense. It sounds monstrous. But Colonel Shekurov gives arguments that simply can not be dismissed.
... Valery Borisovich Shekurov in the Armed Forces - from October 31 1971. He graduated from the Armavir Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots of Air Defense (Fighter Aviation). He served eight years in the Leningrad Military District. He graduated from the Academy of the General Staff of the Polish Army in Warsaw and in 1988 was sent to the village. Nivenskoe of the Kaliningrad region - the commander of the squadron in the famous Skrensky regiment. From 1998, the regiment commander.
Shekurov - pilot-sniper (the highest level of airmanship, in the regiment of such happens one or two). He has fifty-two years of service - at the age of fifty. He flew the L-29, MIG-15, MIG-17, SU-9, SU-7, MIG-23 (four modifications), SU-27 (the most modern fighter in the Russian army - the plane that has no equal in the world).
15 January 1998 of the Year Shekurov and two more fighter pilots intercepted and forced to land at the Khrabrovo airfield an intruder manned by an English crew ...
Over the years of service, Shekurov received about fifty rewards (only listed in a private affair) and not a single penalty (not counting the ones imposed immediately before his dismissal - but more on that later). Valery Borisovich’s son is also a pilot, the captain, serves in the same regiment, but ... does not fly.
- Why not?
- It happens that the pilots are served and to the majors, and do not fly. Airplanes have no resource ...
- What does it mean?
- ... Once a pilot flew an average 110-120 hours a year. This was obtained by 10-12 hours per month. If we consider that the training flight is 30-35 minutes, it means that about thirty flights per month were performed. We flew five times a week. During the day, at night, in various weather conditions. In addition, the pilots took up combat duty to guard the border (and then - happened - made up to thirty missions per day). I was appointed regiment commander in 1998. Not the best time, but the pilots still lifted into the air.
The regiment is the only one in Russia that has such glorious combat and historical traditions. It was formed in 1939, during the period from June 22, 1941 to May 10, 1945, the regiment pilots carried out 13.684 sorties, 937 air battles were carried out, and 618 enemy aircraft were shot down. The legendary Pokryshkin alone, an ace pilot, three times Hero of the Soviet Union personally destroyed fifty-nine enemy fighters ... You can talk about the history of the regiment for a long time ...
(As well as about the present ... SU-27, which was armed with the regiment - a unique aircraft, perhaps the best in world aviation, a dream of pilots of all generations. A very reliable multi-purpose fighter capable of showing wonders of maneuverability in skilled hands; it has the widest range of possibilities: flies at altitudes from 20-30 meters above ground - to 20 km. Armed with 10 air-to-air missiles - they are able to reach the enemy at a distance of one hundred kilometers. In addition, the SU-27 has a large-caliber gun with a good sighting system, it can be in short bursts and hit ground targets. But the main task of the SU-27 is to conduct air combat. It can even shoot down cruise missiles. The maximum speed of the SU-27 reaches 2500 km / h. Flight range is up to 4.000 km, from Kaliningrad the plane easily gets England and returns to its own airfield. In Russia, no more than ten regiments are armed with the SU-27. Its main opponents in our “near abroad” are the same F-16, which appeared in Lithuania, and MIGs in Poland.
But all of them are inferior "drying" in technical characteristics. And in the Skinsky regiment, which had four dozens of aircraft at its best (3 squadrons), from 63 pilots - 58 were of the 1st class.
Over the past 16 years in the regiment no one died. The last loss is 29 August 1988. After takeoff, the turbine blades of one engine came off the plane and struck the fuel tank. A fire broke out. The pilots could eject, but then the plane would have fallen on the village of Vladimirovo. They managed to turn away from the village and fell close, on the field ... The crew was posthumously awarded orders, - approx. auth.)
“Why are planes flying so rare today?” On the May holidays, I spent two weeks in Chkalovsk, and, to be honest, I have never seen at least one plane take off during this time ...
- From the fifth of May, I have been excluded from the lists of the part ... If to speak as a whole, the main problem is the engine resource development. In September, 1998, after being appointed regiment commander, during my own leave I went to Moscow, to the Salyut plant - to solve the problem with the repair of aircraft engines. A brigade was then sent to the regiment, which extended the life of the 13 engines. A year later, in honor of the regiment's 60 anniversary, on behalf of the Moscow Mayor Luzhkov, we were presented with another 4 engine with a long life. That is, more than half of the aircraft managed to extend life.
There was also a very good prospect: it was possible to donate engines to the plant, which can no longer be used in aerodrome conditions, and they lie in warehouses with dead weight. Instead, the plant offered to repair us more than 20 engines for the year. Absolutely free. There was a second option: repairing more 20 engines - with installment payments for more than eight years. By the way, this agreement is still relevant ...
- That is a disgraceful situation, when today the entire regiment comes flying as much for a year as it was before - one pilot, could it be rectified?
- I do not know where you got this information from ... But the possibility to organize intensive flights existed several years ago.
- And this is the general task of the regiment commander - to go to Moscow, to solve problems with engines? .. Who has your regiment in direct subordination?
- This is not the task of the regimental commander. We are directly subordinate to the head of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Baltic Fleet. Aviation headquarters is located on Sovetsky Avenue in Kaliningrad, there are many offices there ... But my proposals were not implemented.
- And to whom did you turn?
- It's easier to say who I did NOT contact. And to the factories ... And to the commander of aviation — first to General Novikov, then to Sokerin, who replaced him, to the commander of the Baltic Fleet — and Egorov, and Valuev, to the commander of naval aviation of the Russian Navy, Lieutenant-General Fedin, to Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral Kuroyedov (both about the engines, and about the relocation of the regiment to the airfield not adapted for SU-27), and to the Chief of the General Staff, Army General Kvashnin (regarding the preservation of the regiment), and to President Putin - three times ... Wherever I wrote, the answers came, as we say in jest, of "neighboring office" - and in the best case, from the headquarters of the Russian Navy Aviation ... But as soon as I reported to Admiral Kuroedov about the real state of affairs (December 18 2003 years) - then he got the idea for dismissal. Instantly.
- Questions, therefore, did not dare. Does this mean that today most regiment airplanes cannot even take off?
- No comments.
- You say that you addressed the Chief of General Staff Kvashnin about the preservation of the regiment. What does it mean?
- In October 2001 of the Army General Kvashnin signed, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Kuroyedov, and I, Commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Valuyev, ordered to carry out the directive, he would dendyear the ar and defended his regiment to swede the army officer, he will draw out the ar, and he will draw out the campaign officer and will draw out the ar and will defame the army officer by shaving the arinstv.
In fact, this meant the elimination of the famous Skinsky regiment.
- According to the same directive, were you ordered to relocate from Nivensky to the airfield in Chkalovsk?
- No comments.
- And where was supposed to go abbreviated pilots?
- This is not written in the directive. But after these events, 19 pilots of the 1 class decided to stop their flight activities ...
- How much does it cost for the budget to train one pilot of the 1st class?
- More than 30 million dollars. And it is still at Soviet rates. In the West - much more expensive. Judge for yourself: when I entered the Armavir Flight School, from 2500 people who passed medical commission and received referral for entrance exams, were enrolled around 350. That is one of the twelve, already selected. And released - about 200.
Actually - one of a hundred young men of military age. And it is still unknown what kind of a pilot he will make. This is not even piecework, but jewelry work. And when two dozen experienced pilots were shown at the door - consider that the losses amounted to more than half a billion dollars only in monetary terms. A loss in terms of defense is generally impossible to estimate!
- That is, we can say that the directive of the General Staff is the fifth column, a stab in the back ... And now the border of Russia is bare, the sky in Western Russia is left without protection ...
- No comments. I can only say one thing: when the chairman of the Council of Veterans of the 9 Fighter Division, Colonel Maslov, a front-line soldier, learned about this directive, about how many pilots we lost, he said: "We only had such losses in forty-three, in the sky over the Kuban, when we broke the back of a Fritz. This is real wrecking ... "
- In the thirties, the command for such a decision would have been shot. At full strength ... But now there are other times. How did events develop further?
- The airfield in Nivenskoye, from which we were transferred to Chkalovsk - modern, I-th class. The runway - three-layer concrete, special airfield plates, the price of each - more than $ 300, and there are thousands and thousands of them. When the Germans there was an airfield "Luftwaffe". Perfectly equipped: drainage at great depths, as well as deeply laid cables, well-thought-out access roads. (Marshal Goering himself once sat in the office of the current regiment commander. - Ed.) After the war, the airfield was modernized to take into account the specific features of the border. After during the Arab-Israeli war 1967 of the year Israel destroyed all Arab aviation on the airfields of Egypt, we had expensive concrete shelters at the border airfields. At the airport there are heated caponiers, premises for technical and flight personnel, fuel depots and warehouses. weapons, roads, railway lines, electrical substations, etc. etc. According to my estimates, the value of the object is about $ 1.000.000.000.
- Who needs it?
- You know, questions in the army is not accepted. In the army, you must follow the order.
- You did not have a thought: wasn’t this order criminal?
- No comments. I know that representatives of many private firms were interested in the airfield to rent it for 49 years and use it for commercial traffic ... But now it is actually given to plunder. If you take a few photos there at sunset, and then ask "Where is it?" - you are likely to answer: "In Chechnya."
- What is the airfield in Chkalovsk?
- There is a concrete strip slightly wider and slightly longer than in Nivenskomu. Previously, a naval aviation regiment was based there, but it was disbanded. And for six years, this whole farm was abandoned. Homeless people looted it to the ground. The strip is not well groomed, it requires major repairs. It is extremely difficult to restore - in my opinion, it is cheaper to build a new one.
Here are just two examples: October 16 of the year 2002, at the airfield in Nivenskoye, we detained the American Air Force Attache, Colonel Daniel Eagle, and with him - the two US majors. They explained (and submitted documents) that the purpose of their arrival was to prepare for the Bush visit. In Kaliningrad, a meeting of the President of the United States with Putin was envisaged on the issues of the expansion of NATO and the Schengen space.
So, according to Igla, the Niva airfield is the best in the Kaliningrad region ... When Igla and its satellites were handed over to the representative of the command of the Baltic Fleet, he escorted them to Chkalovsk the next day. As a result, the meeting of the two presidents took place in St. Petersburg. American experts were not satisfied with the state of the airfield in Chkalovsk.
And further. In the summer of 2003, you remember, Vladimir Putin’s presidential IL-96 landed precisely in Chkalovsk. A few days later, we received a telegram from the state transport company: "Upon arrival from Kaliningrad (Chkalovsk) IL-96 REG / RA 96012 at Vnukovo, after the flight inspection, the nicks of the blades were found. Please inspect the parking lot, taxi route and lane for extraneous items ".
... The third engine of the presidential airliner was damaged due to the entry of runway degradation products.
(I was taught to drive a car at this abandoned aerodrome — even before the relocation of the Skinsky regiment — the landscape was really infernal. Pits, potholes, tall and hard grass between the plates, crushed concrete was dangerous even for a car - not to mention an aircraft engine, which, at the moment of take-off, sucks in itself pieces of concrete, garbage and other rubbish like a vacuum cleaner - auth.)
And ten days before this, the SU-27 engine (about 30 million rubles of damage) was disabled. The plane was piloted by the chairman of the state commission Hero of Russia, Colonel Kozhin, who took the airfield ... Then the engines "flew" three more times. Three managed to fix the fourth - out of service.
For eight months, the commission "took" the airfield five or six times - and every time serious defects surfaced ... Therefore, Lieutenant-Colonel Reshetov, a full-time flight director, refused to take planes to an unprepared airfield in Chkalovsk.
- He considered it a crime?
- Reshetov filed a report on the dismissal, but did not land the planes - even under pressure from the BF aviation commander General Sakerin ... Then the command found another way out.
(According to the newspaper’s editors, some of the dryers were transported to Chkalovsk disassembled. With wings removed, tail fins, stabilizers, etc. By car, trailer, by road. Almost two-thirds of Skopinski’s planes were dragged to Chkalovsk Regiment. Caravans of four or five "cigars" could often be seen on July 2002 nights of the year. There was even a report on local television. And all those "displacements" were photographed by all who felt like it. Including German tourists. They frankly neighing, seeing like ours military aircraft dragging the trunk, - auth.)
- But as far as we know, SU-27 is impossible to assemble manually? "Zaporozhets" - and that is better to repair in the service station, and not with the help of a sledge hammer and a mother. A super-modern aircraft should be assembled only in stationary conditions of the manufacturer. It turns out that our SU-27 is faulty from 2002 of the year? Or, at least, no longer correspond to their tactical and technical characteristics?
- No comments.
- What is the cost of one aircraft?
- About $ 30.000.000.
- That is, the loss is already close to two billion dollars? And the end-edge they can not see?
- There is another aspect. In Nivensky there are 1320 comfortable apartments, not counting about a hundred German houses, designed for two families, and a quality barracks fund. There is no housing for pilots at the new site. In the future, the commander of the Baltic Fleet promised 12 (!) Apartments, which are unknown when they will be built. People get to a new place of service, either by public transport or by two (!) Garrison machines. Distance - 50 km. Under normal conditions, the road takes 2,5-3 hours ... Previously, an alarm pilot could get from Nivensky to the airfield in 12-15 minutes. And even faster. Another 10 minutes - and the whole regiment in the air.
- So now to raise a regiment, you need 5-6 watches? And is this a real combat readiness? .. Does NATO know about all this?
- This is a provocative question.
- But people are not blind ... Satellites fly over us ...
- When it all started, I began to turn to the management with reports - on bringing the airfield in line with the requirements of the governing documents, I asked for help from the command. It is my duty and duty to keep the regiment, equipment and personnel. I did not receive exhaustive answers. I was just sent on vacation. Ahead of time. And right there, while I was on vacation, they imposed two stern reprimands. And later - four more. I was suspended from flying - and in fact from the performance of official duties. Illegally suspended - as evidenced by the decision of the court where I was forced to turn. As a result, three penalties were removed right there. But while I was on vacation, the planes were transferred first to Khrabrovo (for a month and a half), and then to Chkalovsk. At the same time, the decision was made to resign eight leading pilots (almost the entire command staff of the regiment) —the deputies of the regiment commander, squadron commanders and their deputies.
- If you meekly fulfilled the order of the command - would you have the opportunity to transfer somewhere to the promotion and then get a general?
- It would be a betrayal of the regiment. I saw where all this would lead: the Baltic Fleet would lose its aviation, and the country would be a famous regiment with rich traditions and first-class officers. I went to Moscow four times, tried to save the regiment ...
- I suggest one conclusion: on the eve of the celebration of the 300 anniversary of the Baltic Fleet, its fighter aircraft were destroyed.
- No comments.
- Now it’s clear why SU-27 performed very modest flights at the celebration of the 300 anniversary of the Baltic Fleet ...
- In the 2000 year, when Putin came to the parade in Baltiysk, there was piloting at SU-27. Link (four aircraft) and single. In solitary were Lieutenant Colonel Filippov, the senior navigator of the regiment, a pilot sniper — he performed aerobatics (now written off for health reasons), and — in the 2 9th booth — I.
(“SU-27” then made a passage below the upper decks of warships, over the very edge of the water. Putin said “Super!” - and showed his thumb ... And three years later everything was much more modest. “SU-27” just flew by , no aerobatics. There was already nobody to fly? - Ed.)
You know, the golden fund of the Russian aviation gathered in our regiment. International Fund! Ossetians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Moldovans ... The country collapsed, and the Soviet Union fighter pilots survived and continued to exist. Masters, professionals ... And when the regiment was relocated, the elite of Russian aviation was forced to do the work of the support battalion soldiers ... My friend, the pilot, on whose account 200 combat sorties to escort a real enemy in neutral waters, some kind of hard worker-repairman at the Chkalov airfield, he shouted: "Hey, lieutenant colonel, bring the battery here!" In a sense, heating.
- One pilot told me that Admiral Valuev before the line in general declared: “Everybody can fly, and you twitch weed on the runway!” Is this a relationship level?
- In Chkalovsk there was nowhere to stumble - everything was in collapse, there was neither water, nor a toilet ...
(The pilots believe that more than one million dollars was paid to someone for destroying the regiment of the regiment ... Not to mention money laundering. It’s known that you can drive a lot of money into the "repair" of the same band .. In December, Valuev removed about ten million rubles from SU-2002 repair and transferred it for other purposes. The admiral’s order was demoted by Major Zmushko’s financier because many didn’t sign a paper that was too high for 27. rubles estimate ... Zmushko knew a lot about the relationship of the command of the Baltic Fleet by "Business RINA-5.000.000". Repair, windows, etc.
The president of this company is Irina Nikolaevna, the daughter of the Baltic Fleet Air Force legal adviser - a friend of General Kulakov ... Kulakov came from the Pskov region - and there was "Business Rina" -1 ... Kulakov was the deputy commander there, and then the regiment commander, was engaged in air transportation . On the passenger TU-134 he drove generals and admirals. On SU-27 he did not fly. And on a fighter-bomber, too - approx. Ed.)
- So, today the aviation headquarters, the commander of the Kulakov aviation, remained at the Baltic Fleet ... but there is no combat aircraft itself?
- No comments.
- How many planes today are on duty?
- This question is not subject to discussion in print.
- But after all, it is obvious that combat duties in its previous form does not exist. No one and nothing to watch. It is enough to observe the Chkalov airfield - not from space, but simply from the road to Svetlogorsk ...
- No comments.
- Do pilots have the opportunity to engage at least on a simulator plane?
- Unfortunately, the simulator is not working yet.
(We know that 1 of October 2003 was damaged by an electronic computer during transportation of the simulator. It was accidentally dropped. A lot of money was spent on repairs, about 15 million rubles. But the simulator still does not work. And the helicopter regiment disassembled - . red.)
- That is, it is real today in a normal state only Admiral TU-134, which is at the disposal of Mr. Valuev? In order for Valuev to fly to Moscow, the Chkalov airfield is quite suitable. We know that Valuev spent $ 60.000 only on the interior of his traveling plane ...
- I am more concerned about the condition of the aircraft of his regiment.
- What wording did you get fired?
- Upon reaching the age limit. Although I did not see the order of the Minister of Defense, I did not give up the job and the position. On the eleventh of May 2004, I received a letter from General Kulakov, stating that by order of my deputy (!) I had been expelled from the part lists. But I did not get the calculation. And when I went to court, documents appeared there, that it seems that now I am not excluded, but I went at the disposal of my deputy.
- And the last. The regiment was a museum Pokryshkin. Was he also moved?
- In June, 2002, the museum was dismantled and ceased to exist. The exhibits have been curtailed for almost two years and they are waiting for transportation to the Chkalovsky Officer's House. Although previously the museum was visited monthly by students of 20-30 schools, boarding schools, orphanages.
(Alas, there is no place for the museum of the Pokryshkin regiment. Everything is leased to firms and shops, - ed.)
* * *
...That's all. Sailed. Flew away. Arctic fox kitten, roughly speaking. That in the sweetest dreams could not be seen as Goering - it happened. Destroyed psishkinsky regiment, destroyed - "dumped in a heap" - the very memory of the legendary hero. And - we repeat - not by some external enemy (such as the stars and stripes of "Uncle Sam"), but by our own generals and admirals, who have so much been naked in recent times that ominous parallels have arisen with the forty-first year of the last century. Then, albeit for other reasons, border fortifications were also dismantled, military equipment was cut, personnel officers were "reduced." And then the war, lost by the then generals, was won on the bones of the people.
Do we want to repeat? We believe in "peace-friendship-chewing gum" with those who consider it their duty to totally "spread democracy"? Look at photos of shtatovskih warriors (there are plenty of them on the Internet): all thirty-two stare at them, they are being shot against the background of tortured, tortured Iraqi prisoners of war ... and somehow they are not much different from blond Nazis who were shot against the background of hanging Russian partisans or shot civilians. Is it really not clear that the world respects the strong? And without modern aviation - and experienced pilots - we are not a world power, not an independent state ... just a territory.
But ... what are we talking about? All these matters are for us mere mortals. And the generals "made in Russia" think in different categories by themselves. Others "felt" them. (Although ... if the collapse of the Skinsky regiment has only an economic background, it is not so bad. Worse if the airfield in Nivensky is vacated ... for NATO pilots.)
...And further. Did it not seem strange to you that a combat officer, a regiment commander, gave an interview to a strictly civilian private newspaper? Yes, the same one, whose founder is I. Rudnikov, Deputy Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative A. Stepanov, accuses the center of his denunciations of "separatism" ... The fact is that first Colonel Shekurov turned into a military "Red Star". But they said that they would not write about the liquidation of the Skinsky regiment. Because the "Red Star" is subordinate to the Chief of the General Staff.
... Well, we are not at all indifferent to what will happen to OUR land and those who protect it. Therefore, we are waiting for the official response to this material - although we have no doubt that we will wait only for accusations of encroachment on military secrets. And all sorts of different punitive-terrifying sanctions. But ... there are times when not taking the risk is betraying. And this is exactly the case.
Article 2004 of the year.
- Yu. Sergeeva
- http://www.rudnikov.com"rel =" nofollow ">http://www.rudnikov.com
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