9 x 12 208 pgs 500 color photos 10 color full-page 3-view artworks, 25+ side-view color profiles 15 large cutaways hundreds of technical & line drawings There is no comparable work. The material presented is the latest available and has been researched and written by one of the foremost authors in the field of Russian military aviation. Russia's aircraft and air forces remain the hottest topics within the field of contemporary military aviation. This book is an incredible value at $29.95.
This interesting survey looks at Russian military aviation in the post-Soviet era. While difficulties with funding means that the large new aircraft programs of the Cold War era are likely to remain things of the past, military aviation in Russia is not standing still. Upgrades to existing programs and reorganization of current resources are two of the ways in which combat capability is being not just maintained but enhanced. This volume looks at programs like the new Mi-8MTKO and Mi-24PN night-capable helicopters from Mil. The latest Sukhoi upgrades such as the Su-24M2, Su-25SM, and Su-27SM are also explored, along with the programs designed to extend the capabilties of the Tu-95MS and Tu-160 bombers by allowing for the carriage of new and more capable missiles. The revamping of the Russian Air Force's training fleet with the Yakovlev's Yak-130 is also considered, contrasting the differences between the first ones built and production-standard aircraft.
This comprehensive new book describes the current state of Russia's military air assets the Air Force/Air Defense Force, the Naval Aviation, the air arms of the Border Guards, the Federal Security Service, and the Ministry of Interior (the police). The book details the Russian Air Force's current order of battle, starting with the top command (the Air Force Chief of Staff) and down to the operational regiments and squadrons. It also includes descriptions and specifications of the Russian Air Force's and the Russian Navy's main fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft combat aircraft, transports, and special-mission aircraft (reconnaissance, electronic warfare, etc.).
Presents a variety of Soviet and Russian built civilian aircraft which were supplied to the export market. This book explores both those aircraft built before the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as those that have come to dominate Russian sales overseas. It includes photographic content, and detailed captions.
The first recipient of Soviet military hardware in the Americas was Cuba in 1959. Since then the Cuban Air Force has operated the MiG-15 to the MiG-29, An-26 and Il-76MD transports and more. Cuban combat aircraft have seen action against the ships and aircraft used by the CIA in its subversive activities against Cuba. Other Latin American nations have also ordered Russian military aircraft - based on common sense and economic expediency rather than political affiliations. These include Mexico; Brazil; neighboring Colombia; the Argentina Air Force and Bolivia which is among the latest customers for the Mi-17, with plans to use for drug-busting operations. Another major customer for Soviet aircraft was Peru, which ordered An-26 and An-32 transports, MiG-29 fighters, Su-20/Su-22 fighter-bombers and Su-25 attack aircraft. Peruvian Su-22s have been involved in the border conflict with neighboring Ecuador and Soviet aircraft (notably Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters) have been actively used by the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua against the US-backed Contras insurgents during the civil war. More recently, Venezuela, another country noted for its anti-US stance, purchased a large batch of Su-30MKV multi-role fighters, as well as Mi-17 and Mi-26 helicopters. Written by the acknowledged experts in the field and illustrated throughout with photographs and color artwork, this is the definitive record of Soviet and Russian military aircraft and their combat operations in this region.
In both Soviet and modern Russia a multitude of assorted aircraft have been used for test and research purposes - primarily for verifying new avionics, systems, and weaponry. The use of systems being tested was not limited to aviation as aircraft were also utilized for other purposes including testing components of ballistic missile systems. Soviet and Russian Testbed Aircraft investigates all categories of test and research aircraft: engine testbeds including the Il-76LL and Tu-16LL, radar testbeds such as the SL-18P based on the well-known Il-18 airliner; electronic warfare system testbeds such as the Il-76-11, and those for weapons, aerodynamics, and control configured vehicles like the LMK-2405. In addition testbeds for landing gear, ejection seats such as the An-12M LL and Su-29KS, refueling systems, and helicopters modified as rotor system were created. Civil research aircraft, such as the An-12BPTs 'Tsiklon' weather research aircraft and IMARK geophysical survey aircraft are also given due attention. The MiG-27LL and MiG-29KVP aircraft used for testing conventional take-off and landing technologies during the Soviet CTOL aircraft carrier development program are also examined. Comprehensive details of each aircraft are coupled with information on the test centers from which these testbeds operate including the M. M. Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovskiy, and the Air Force's 929th State Flight Test Centre in Akhtoobinsk. More than 500 photographs, line drawings, close-up views of tell-tale 'bumps and bulges' and color profiles illustrate the aircraft providing a wealth of information for the historian and modeler alike.
Russia's Warplanes is set to become the standard reference work on the subject. Written by an acknowledged expert in the field, this will serve as an exhaustive directory of the latest products of Russia's military aviation industry. As well as outlining aircraft that currently equip the various Russian air arms, the first of two volumes also takes into account aircraft developed for and fielded by foreign states in the post-Soviet era. Piotr Butowski provides authoritative technical descriptions for each military aircraft - and every significant sub-variant - currently available from Russia's aerospace industry, or otherwise in large-scale service. With the level of accuracy and insight familiar to Harpia's regular readers, each aircraft profile also includes specifications, and details of operators, upgrades, avionics and weapons. The first of two volumes on the subject presents in-depth coverage of tactical combat aircraft, trainers, Army Aviation helicopters, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, airborne command posts and relay aircraft. As such, the breadth of this work extends from the latest multi-role fighters developed by Mikoyan and Sukhoi, via successive generations of combat rotorcraft, to airborne early warning and electronic intelligence-gatherers. As well as familiar types such as the Su-30MK family of fighters and Mi-24/35 assault helicopters that have proven so successful on the export market, Russia's Warplanes extends its reach to the various new and upgraded types that are beginning to populate Russia's rejuvenated air arms, including those still under development, including the enigmatic 'fifth-generation' Sukhoi T-50 fighter. Additional assets, including long-range bombers, maritime aircraft, strategic transport and tanker aircraft, theater and special purpose transports, and air-launched weapons will be dealt with in Volume 2. Supplemented by many photographs, some of which from exclusive sources, as well as specially created maps and diagrams, Volume 1 of Russia's Warplanes launches the most comprehensive study of the fixed- and rotary wing aircraft types - manned and unmanned - that can currently be found in Russian service or which are being built or offered for export.
At the time of publication, no single volume in English had ever appeared in the West dealing with this intriguing subject area. Once restrictions relaxed in the former Soviet Union, the records of their elite pilots' deeds - detailed in this book - came to light. Although initially equipped with very poor aircraft, and robbed of effective leadership thanks as much to Stalin's purges in the late 1930s as to the efforts of the Luftwaffe, Soviet fighter pilots soon turned the tables through the use of both lend-lease aircraft like the Hurricane, Spitfire, P-39 and P-40, and home-grown machines like the MiG-3, LaGG-3/5, Lavochkin La-5/7/9 and the Yak-1/3.
Editors Australian Aviation. From the MiG-17 to trainers, helicopters to fighters and special mission aircraft, 280 individual types are featured in full-color.
