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.
Combat swimmer units of the Russian navy are rearming with a new underwater weapon. The 5.45-mm. assault rifle, dubbed ADS (Avtomat Dvykhsredniy Spetzialniy), an acronym for special amphibious rifle, fires underwater ammunition and the Russian army’s standard 5.54 X 39-mm. rounds. The rifle was publicly demonstrated for the first time during Zapad 2009, the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercise in September. ADS was among the new military equipment shown to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who visited the exercises, which took place in Kaliningrad.
Russia’s rotary industry is revamping its helicopter plans and extending them to the end of the next decade as it pursues government subsidies and grapples with engine supply problems. Russian Helicopters, which consolidated the country’s helicopter manufacturers, is now pursuing a three-stage strategy to sustain the sector throughout the coming decade. The revised plan sits within the government’s civil aircraft and defense procurement program that is scheduled to go into effect in 2011.
The Russian air force is looking to modernize its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fleet. Officials have developed requirements for new UAVs, but a lack of local products that meet these needs is forcing them to turn to foreign suppliers, notably Israel.
