Russian Air Force to Offer Strategic Bombers to China
By Lyuba ****ina Staff Writer
Itar-Tass
The Air Force intends to show its Tu-22M3, above, and Tu-95 to the Chinese military.
Russia could sell China strategic bombers and plans to tout them during a joint exercise later this year, Air Force commander General Vladimir Mikhailov said Thursday.
"We could sell some Tu-22M3 and Tu-95 bombers [to China]. We will show them to our neighbor. ... If they have the money, let them buy," Mikhailov told reporters at a briefing, referring to the first-ever joint Russian-Chinese military maneuvers announced by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov last month.
Able to carry long-range nuclear cruise missiles, these strategic bombers would significantly boost Chinese nuclear capability, said Konstantin Makiyenko, a defense analyst with the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
Over the past decade, China has been the top customer for Russian arms, stocking up on Sukhoi fighters, destroyers and advanced air-defense systems.
The strategic arm of the Air Force is to get two new Tu-160 bombers this year. Last month, its commander, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, said the Air Force is considering about 10 design proposals for a new generation bomber based on the Tu-160.
The Air Force's 30 percent increase in budget funding this year should help to speed up the modernization of its existing fighter planes and the next generation fighter program, Mikhailov said Thursday.
This year the Air Force will finance the upgrade of 17 more Su-27 jets into the more advanced Su-27SM version fitted with new avionics. Late last year it received seven Su-27SMs from the Sukhoi production plant at Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
Mikhailov said that Sukhoi is continuing work on the fifth-generation fighter, which it hopes to test-fly by 2007. Its future progress would depend on financing, which has been insufficient so far, he said.
In a new development, Mikhailov said that MiG-29 fighters would also be modernized, signaling a shift by the Air Force away from Sukhoi-only upgrade programs.
He said that MiG officials would next Monday begin inspecting the MiG-29s that are to be upgraded. After the refit, some will be returned to the Air Force and some sold abroad.
Mikhailov said he had also discussed with MiG executives the creation of a new light fighter, but he refused to go into details.
"This means that the Air Force will resume a tender for the next generation fighter," said Makiyenko, the defense analyst. "MiG has continued working on this project, despite Sukhoi winning the government tender two years ago."
In a separate comment, Mikhailov said Air Force pilots will fly an average of 60 hours this year, an increase on previous years.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/storie...01/14/011.html
