The most significant event in January was the discussed contract for the purchase by Myanmar of 6 multifunctional Su-30SME fighters. It is reported that an additional impetus to this deal was given by the visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Myanmar. Also in January, India approved the purchase from Russia of a batch of 240 corrected aerial bombs - KAB-1500L, this aerial bomb is one of the most powerful in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces.
January itself ended with more news about US sanctions against companies in the Russian defense industry. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert noted that the United States does not yet see the need to impose new sanctions on the Russian defense industry. According to her, the already existing restrictive measures against enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex have demonstrated their effectiveness.
Since the adoption of the sanctions and their implementation under the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions) law, foreign governments have already abandoned planned or announced purchases of Russian weapons worth several billion dollars. The State Department also stressed that if the United States begins to apply a new package of sanctions against Russia, then the restrictions will primarily apply to foreign companies and enterprises doing business with the Russian defense industry or Russian intelligence services. It should be noted that at present no information has appeared in the media about any deals or contracts for the supply of Russian weapons and armaments that have suffered from the sanctions policy pursued by the United States.
Myanmar will buy six Su-30SME fighters
Russia and Myanmar will conclude a contract for the supply of six new multifunctional Su-30SME fighters, the corresponding agreement was reached during the visit of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu to Myanmar. According to the journalists of the Kommersant newspaper, in the near future the Russian negotiators are to discuss with the Myanmar military the financial aspects of this deal, the cost of which, according to experts, is about $ 400 million. If the contract is successfully signed, Myanmar will be able to receive fighters as early as 2019, the aircraft received will be able to help the country's troops in the fight against opposition groups. If the deal does take place, Myanmar will become the first foreign recipient of the Su-30SME multifunctional fighters, an export version of the Russian Su-30SM fighter.
On Monday, January 22, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin told reporters about the agreements between Moscow and Naypyidaw on the delivery of six modern multifunctional fighters of the Su-30SM type. According to him, the visit of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Myanmar gave an additional impetus to military-technical cooperation between the two countries. According to Fomin, the Su-30SME fighters purchased in Russia will become the main combat aircraft of the Myanmar Air Force and will be used to protect the territorial integrity of the state and repel terrorist threats. At the same time, the Federal MTC Service and Rosoboronexport refrained from official comments on this deal.
Negotiations on this contract with Myanmar have been going on for several years, they constantly faced financial and political difficulties. According to Kommersant, it was with the expectation of purchasing Su-30SM fighters in Russia in 2015 that Myanmar signed a contract for the supply of Yak-130 combat training aircraft (6 aircraft have already been received, the estimated volume of deliveries is up to 16 aircraft), but before signing a firm contract never came to fruition. At present, the situation is changing for the better, according to the military-diplomatic sources of Kommersant. There has been an intensification of contacts at almost all levels, but it is definitely not worth waiting for quick changes. According to the source, the representatives of Rosoboronexport will need to agree on the financial parameters of the future deal (experts estimate the cost of 6 Su-30SM fighters together with the means of aviation destruction at about $ 400 million), as well as decide on the need to issue a loan to Myanmar for the purchase of aircraft.
At the same time, according to the source of the newspaper, as part of the preliminary agreement, the Myanmar military did not mention the need to allocate borrowed funds. If a firm contract is signed for the supply of aircraft in 2018, the first Su-30SM fighters may be handed over to Myanmar as early as 2019, the top manager of the aviation industry is convinced: "The capacities of the Irkutsk aircraft building plant allow this." The interlocutor of Kommersant stressed that this deal is important in many ways. Firstly, the Russian Federation will be able to strengthen its position in the South Asian market, which has slightly dipped in terms of supplies of aviation equipment over the past few years. Secondly, even a relatively small order will allow loading the production capacities of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant until the launch of serial production of MC-21 medium-range passenger aircraft.
According to Andrey Frolov, who is the editor-in-chief of the Arms Export magazine, the purchase of 6 Su-30SM fighters will put Myanmar in terms of air force equipment at a level higher than the air forces of neighboring Bangladesh and Thailand, even though they will acquire only half of the squadron.
India acquires 240 KAB-1500L guided bombs from Russia
According to the Ministry of Defense of India, the Minister of Defense of the country, Nirmala Sithamaran, on January 2, 2018, approved the purchase of 240 guided aerial bombs for the Indian Air Force from the Russian JSC Rosoboronexport. The purchase price will be $ 197.4 million. According to a source in the Indian Air Force, we are talking about KAB-1500L corrected air bombs of 1500 kg caliber with a laser guidance system. India buys these bombs to equip its Su-30MKI fighters with them.
KAB-1500L is the most powerful Russian-made guided aircraft bomb. KAB-1500 can be equipped with a laser or television homing system, with a penetrating warhead, it is capable of penetrating 3 meters of reinforced concrete floors or 20 meters of ground. These bombs are usually used to destroy specially fortified targets - objects in the mountains, buried command posts, underground bunkers, weapons depots, reinforced concrete shelters. Bombs of this family were occasionally used, first by Soviet and then Russian troops in Afghanistan and Chechnya, to engage targets of special importance and security.
It is known that the KAB-1500L bombs were used by the Russian Aerospace Forces during the military operation in Syria. So on October 31, 2015, front-line bombers Su-34 of the Russian Aerospace Forces used two KAB-1500 bombs with a laser guidance system against buried targets. These bombs were used by them in the future. On April 11, 2017, a Su-34 bomber destroyed a militant bunker in the city of Sarmin near Idlib with a KAB-1500L bomb. It is possible that India has decided to purchase these aviation ammunition, taking into account the experience of their use by the Russian Air Force in Syria.
KAB-1500 corrected bombs have front and rear cruciform empennage. For placement in the internal compartments of bombers, this plumage was made foldable. Behind the rear tail of the bomb there are biplane rudders, with the help of which the flight of the bomb is controlled. There are three main variants of the laser homing bomb:
KAB-1500L-PR - with a penetrating warhead. This bomb is designed to destroy underground and fortification targets. A sub-caliber high-explosive-penetrating warhead capsule can penetrate through 20 meters of soil or pierce 3 meters of reinforced concrete floors.
KAB-1500L-F - with a high-explosive warhead. This bomb can be used to destroy ground targets of particular importance: strongholds, bridges, military-industrial facilities and enemy ships. When a bomb explodes, a crater with a diameter of up to 20 meters is formed.
KAB-1500L-OD - with a volume-detonating warhead. This bomb is designed to destroy the same targets as the KAB-1500L-F, but the volume-detonating ammunition provides the bomb with a greater impact of the shock wave and a lower high-explosive effect.
Azerbaijan received another batch of BTR-82A from Russia
According to the Azerbaijani media, which refer to the message of the country's Ministry of Defense, on January 19, 2018, another batch of Russian-made military equipment and ammunition intended for the armed forces of Azerbaijan arrived in Baku from Russia. Photo and video materials distributed on the network demonstrated the process of unloading the next large batch of BTR-82A armored personnel carriers from the board of a transport vessel.
According to the bmpd blog, the matter concerns the continuation of supplies of military equipment, weapons and ammunition to Azerbaijan within the framework of a large package of contracts, which was signed by Rosoboronexport back in 2010-11. According to available information, within the framework of this package, the Azerbaijani armed forces should receive 230 armored personnel carriers BTR-82A (they are produced by the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant JSC). The deliveries of these armored vehicles were started back in 2013, most of them have already been delivered to the customer. In early 2016, due to problems with payment from the Azerbaijani side, supplies under a package of contracts were suspended by Russia and resumed only in 2017, when the issue was settled. The previous batch of BTR-82A armored personnel carriers was delivered to Azerbaijan in April 2017.
In this regard, it is curious to note that on January 28, 2018 in Gyumri (Armenia) in honor of Army Day, among other weapons, the Russian anti-tank missile system (ATGM) 9K129 "Kornet-E" of Russian production was demonstrated for the first time. Apparently, these complexes were supplied to Armenia from Russia, among other weapons supplied by the Russian side within the framework of a state export credit worth up to $ 200 million for the purchase of Russian weapons and military equipment, which was concluded on June 26, 2015.
Production of the Russian large-caliber sniper rifle OSV-96 begins in Vietnam
According to the Vietnamese Internet resource Soha.vn, the licensed production of the Russian large-caliber sniper rifle OSV-96 "Cracker" has begun at the local arms factory Z111 in Thanh Hoa, owned by the country's Ministry of Defense. Earlier in 2014, this enterprise launched a modern production line for the production of Israeli automatic rifles Galil ACE 31 (shortened model), as well as Galil ACE 32. Both models are produced in Vietnam under the license of the Israeli private company Israel Weapon Industries (IWI). Both samples are produced under the Soviet cartridge of 7, 62x39 mm caliber. These models of automatic weapons are designed to replace Kalashnikov assault rifles of the same caliber in the Vietnamese People's Army.
OSV-96 "Cracker" is a 12.7-mm large-caliber self-loading sniper rifle developed by KBP (Instrument Engineering Design Bureau) specialists in Tula. The rifle is powered from 5-round box magazines. The prototype of this B-94 Volga sniper rifle was developed in Tula in the early 1990s; this rifle was first publicly presented to the public in 1994. From 1996 to 2000, the rifle was modernized, which led to the emergence of the OSV-96 model, adopted in 2000 by the units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.
The OSV-96 "Vzlomshchik" large-caliber sniper rifle is designed to engage unarmored and lightly armored targets at a distance of up to 1800 meters, as well as enemy personnel wearing personal protective equipment and behind shelters at a distance of up to 1000 meters. When firing sniper cartridges at a distance of 100 meters with a series of 4-5 shots, the dispersion diameter is 150 mm. In addition to the SPTs-12, 7 sniper cartridge, other standard ammunition of 12, 7x108 mm caliber - the armor-piercing incendiary B-32, as well as the BST and BS, can be used with the rifle.
Currently, this self-loading large-caliber sniper rifle is actively promoted for export. She is already in service with the army and special units: Azerbaijan, Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria.
