Maksim covers aerospace developments in Central Asia for Aviation Week. He has worked for Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine and was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications after working for the Moscow-based CAST defense think tank.
Maksim has a degree in international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow.
Maxim Pyadushkin (Moscow), Douglas Barrie (London)
Moscow continues to pursue a comparatively aggressive schedule for its fifth-generation fighter, with a pre-production batch of the Sukhoi T-50 planned to enter manufacturing in 2012. The defense ministry, however, appears to be moderating previous claims that the aircraft would enter service in 2015, with senior officials now suggesting delivery of the first operational standard of the aircraft would begin in 2016. It remains to be seen if, even with a year’s slip, the revised schedule can be met.
The Russian military is continuing to juggle its rotary lift requirements with a further extension of the Hind combat support helicopter’s life in Moscow’s inventory. Last month the air force decided to order 22 Mil Mi-35Ms—the latest development of the Mi-24 Hind family—as part of a wider program to begin to overhaul the military’s rotary aircraft inventory.
The Russian air force is unveiling ambitious modernization plans for its transport fleet over the coming decade, including the introduction of the Antonov An-70 into its inventory. Delivery of the new equipment, however, remains an issue. Lt. Gen. Viktor Kachalkin, head of the air force’s military transport aviation command, says the new airlifters are slated to begin arriving in 2012. The intent is to complete the fleet renewal by 2020.
