AirForces Monthly – July 2018

NEWS

26 // JULY 2018 #364 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Russia & CIS

Last operational ex-Soviet Su-17 returns to the air

A TWO-SEAT Su-17UM3, ‘77

Yellow’ (c/n 17532362918,

l/n 62-18, built in early 1981)

has returned to the air at

Zaporizhzhya International

Airport, Ukraine. Operated

by the local Zaporizhzhya

State-owned Aircraft

Repair Plant (ZDARZ)

‘MiGremont’, it is the last

airworthy ex-Soviet Fitter still

operational on the territory

of the former USSR.

It’s used by ZDARZ for

various duties: proficiency

flights for its own pilots,

as a target for Su-27s

overhauled and modernised

at ZDARZ, and as a

test-bed (for the plant’s

Su-17/22 upgrade and

for aircraft components

developed by other

Ukrainian facilities).

After the collapse of the

USSR most ex-Soviet

Su-17s had been retired

from frontline service by

2000 – Ukraine withdrew

its final examples in 2004.

Russia’s Komsomolsk-

on-Amur Aircraft Plant

(KnAAZ) also owned a

pair of two-seat Su-17s

• Su-17UM3 ‘804 Red’
  and export Su-22UM3K
  ‘802 Red’ – but these
  were retired by 2013.
  Vladimir Trendafilovski

Ukraine plans

upgrade for

Su-24MR

UKRAINE HAS revealed

plans to modernise

its Su-24MR Fencer-E

tactical reconnaissance

aircraft. The Odessa

Aircraft Plant (Odeskyy

Aviatsiynyy Zavod, OAZ)

gave a presentation

on the upgrade

programme to defence

attachés on May 25.

Although full details

remained classified,

OAZ has developed two

separate modernisation

packages with different

internal role-specific

equipment and these

have yet to be accepted

by the Povitryani Syly

(PS, Ukrainian Air

Force). Nevertheless,

both variants would be

based around modern

Ukrainian-made avionics

• including an A-511
  version 30 ICAO-
  compatible transponder,
  BUR-4 flight data
  recorder, Kurs-93M-V
  combined VOR/ILS
  navigation system and
  SN-3307 GLONASS/
  GPS-compatible satellite
  navigation system.
  All remaining operational
  Ukrainian Su-24MRs –
  believed to be seven – are
  with the reconnaissance
  squadron of the 7 brihada
  taktichnoyi aviatsiyi (brTA,
  tactical aviation brigade)
  at Starokostyantyniv
  air base. Vladimir
  Trendafilovski

Above: Su-17UM3 ‘77 Yellow’ in the ZDARZ compound at Zaporizhzhya International Airport –

note the ZDARZ emblem on the tail. The aircraft returned to the air in late April. Chris Lofting

Kazakhstan

signs for more

Su-30SMs

THE UNITED Aircraft

Corporation (UAC) has

received a contract to

supply an undisclosed

number of Su-30SMs

to the Kazakhstan Air

Defence Force (KADF),

according to a May

24 announcement

from the company.

The deal was signed

by the Kazakh defence

ministry’s Kazspetsexport

agency and the Irkut

Corporation during the

KADEX 2018 international

exhibition that took place

in Astana, Kazakhstan,

from May 23 to 26.

Kazakh plans to acquire

additional Su-30SMs

had been revealed in

a March 6 report from

Russian news agency

TASS. Although numbers

weren’t mentioned, other

earlier reports suggest

the country aims to

acquire 36 Su-30SMs,

with deliveries expected

to extend until 2020.

To date, eight Su-30SMs

have been delivered to

the 604th Air Base at

Taldykorgan, where the

two most recent examples

arrived last December.

New Kazakhstan

Mi-35 order

KAZAKHSTAN HAS placed

an order for an additional

four Mi-35M helicopters.

The contract was confirmed

by Vladimir Drozhzhov, the

Deputy Head of Russia’s

Federal Service for Military-

Technical Cooperation,

when speaking to

TASS on May 29.

He said the deal had been

signed this year but did not

reveal a delivery schedule.

Kazakhstan received

an initial four Mi-35Ms

in December 2016 (see

Kazakhstan takes delivery of

new combat aircraft, March

2017, p24) and on January

11 last year Russian

Helicopters announced that

the country had ordered

four more. The latter are

due for delivery later this

year. The type is operated

from the 602nd Air Base at

Shymkent. Dave Allport

Refurbished Tu-142MK delivered to Russian Navy

Above: Tu-142MK ‘54 Black’ (RF-34061) departs Taganrog after refurbishment and repaint. Beriev

AN ADDITIONAL

refurbished Tu-142MK

has been returned to the

Voyenno-Morskoy Flot

Rossiyskoy Federatsii

( V M F, Russian Navy). The

Bear-F, ‘54 Black’ (RF-

34061), has now been

named Vladimir Dubinsky in

honour of Colonel Vladimir

Ivanovich Dubinsk y, the

first commander of the

76th Independent Anti-

Submarine Aviation

Regiment of the Naval Air

Force of the Northern Fleet.

After completing tests,

it was handed back to

the VMF’s Red Banner

Northern Fleet on May 3

and returned to the 7050th

Naval Aviation Base/2

Aviagruppa at Kipelovo-

Feditovo. The aircraft’s

overhaul was carried out at

TANTK Beriev’s facilities in

Taganrog. Dave Allport

Azerbaijan displays Hermes 900

Above: One of Azerbaijan’s Hermes 900s on display at the Türkan shipyard on April 30.

Azerbaijan Office of the President

AZERBAIJAN HAS

displayed its Elbit Systems

Hermes 900 UAV in public

for the first time. Two

images posted on the

Government’s Office of

the President website

on April 30 showed one

of the UAVs, serial 2 2 7,

on display at the State

Border Service Coast

Guard Shipbuilding and

Reconstruction Centre in

Türkan during an inspection

visit by the country’s

president, Ilham Aliyev.

Local media reported

last August that the

type had been acquired

under a contract signed

in 2016, covering up

to 15 air vehicles.

Only one Hermes 900

was shown in the images

and it is unclear how

many of those on order

have been delivered. In

2008 Azerbaijan acquired

a dozen of the smaller

Elbit Hermes 450 UAVs.

Other UAV types it has

bought from Israel include

the Aeronautics Defense

Systems Aerostar and

Orbiter 2M, along with the

IAI Heron I. Dave Allport