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)
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.
The August war with Georgia over South Ossetia has led Russian lawmakers to substantially increase defense expenditures. The federal budget for 2009-11, adopted by the Duma at the end of October, shows a 60-billion-ruble (about $2.2-billion) increase in defense spending for 2009 compared to the draft version. The total expenditure on national defense for 2009 now amounts to 1.34 trillion rubles, or about $49 billion, a 31.5% increase over 2008.
