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.
Moscow has finally decided to buy an upgraded variant of the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker, the Su-35/Su-27SM2, as an interim until the fifth-generation fighter enters service. The decision was confirmed by Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, during a visit to Sukhoi assembly facilities in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Putin was shown a Su-35 prototype — as well as the Sukhoi T-50 prototype to meet the air force’s next-generation fighter program, known as PAK FA.
Maxim Pyadushkin (Moscow), Douglas Barrie (London)
Russian defense officials are trying to shield near-term procurement funding from budget cuts driven by the global economic downturn. Even without the ongoing financial travails, however, some air force programs are lagging well behind production targets.
The Russian military has been sparing in its use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), primarily because the models in service were designed in the Soviet era and are obsolete. Although local manufacturers are years behind the U.S. and Israel in UAV developments, some indigenous systems are being tested.
