The aviation of the Russian Navy is in critical condition. A particularly difficult situation is developing in the aviation of the Black Sea Fleet, which may lose most of its aircraft and helicopters in the next 5-6 years. The situation requires an early solution, especially since without a modern aviation component, all supplies of new ships within the framework of the state armament program for 2011-20 will be useless.
Plans for the supply of new equipment for Russian naval aviation remain unknown. At least, public announcements, and even more so official statements, which would have named the numbers and parameters of the procurement of aircraft for the Navy, have not yet sounded, except for the announcement of the purchase of 26 MiG-29 fighters for the Navy's carrier-based aviation.
From unofficial reports and articles of experts, it is known about the modernization of the Il-38 and Tu-142 anti-submarine aircraft, as well as that within the framework of the purchase of 1000 new helicopters for the Armed Forces in 2011-20, naval vehicles will also be purchased.
In the past 20 years, the navy has experienced extremely harsh reductions, and these reductions have affected the naval aviation almost in the first place. So, de facto, the naval missile-carrying aviation ceased to exist, the number of combat-ready anti-submarine aircraft decreased many times, acute problems arose with deck aviation - both with the air wing of the only Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, and with deck helicopters based on cruisers, large anti-submarine ships, watchdogs. Against this background, the position of the Black Sea Fleet turned out to be especially deplorable.
This situation is explained by the fact that of all the fleets of the Soviet Navy, the Black Sea Fleet was the only one that did not have time to re-equip with ships and aircraft of a new generation in the 80s, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a result, the Be-12 seaplanes remained in service with the Black Sea Fleet aviation, which were removed from service in other Russian fleets long ago. The fleet of the Black Sea Fleet helicopters, represented by the Ka-27 and Mi-14, is also quite old. However, these helicopter models are the main ones for the Russian Navy as a whole.
Russia can replace helicopters. The country annually produces up to a hundred vehicles for export and for its own needs, and given the more than impressive plans for the purchase of new helicopters under the state armaments program, it is worth expecting that the naval aviation will receive its share.
More serious is the issue of replacing anti-submarine aircraft. Russia now has no more than 40 long-range aircraft - including about 26-28 Il-38s and 15 Tu-142s in the aviation of the Pacific and Northern fleets.
In the Baltic Fleet there are no anti-submarine aircraft at all, and on the Black Sea, as already mentioned, there are only 4 outdated Be-12 aircraft.
In recent years, land-based anti-submarine aircraft have changed a lot. In most developed countries, with the development of avionics, they began to turn into multipurpose maritime patrol vehicles during modernization. A striking example is the modernized P-3 Orion of the US Navy, peers and classmates of the Russian Il-38.
In the course of evolution over the past 30 years, the Orions have learned to attack surface ships with anti-ship missiles, to work as a long-range radar detection and control aircraft,patrol the exclusive economic zone and territorial waters, looking for smugglers and poachers.
A similar modernization is planned for Russian anti-submarine vehicles. But for the entire spectrum of tasks that the world's longest maritime border, combined with the stable melting of polar ice, poses for Russia, 40 aircraft is clearly not enough - for example, the United States has 130 aircraft of this class. At the same time, this number is also considered by many American experts to be insufficient.
Russia cannot compete with the United States, catching up with them in terms of the number of naval aviation, but there are opportunities for a significant strengthening of naval aviation by purchasing new aircraft.
First of all, we are talking about the A-42 seaplane, which was created on the basis of the A-40 Albatross developed in the 1980s. These vehicles, capable of landing on water, among all other tasks of maritime patrol aircraft, can be used in rescue operations.
The military department has already announced plans to purchase the A-42. In particular, in 2008, it was announced about the intention to purchase 4 such aircraft in a search and rescue version by 2010, and then move on to the procurement of multipurpose vehicles capable of carrying weapons. However, these plans have not yet been implemented. According to the former commander of the Air Force and Air Defense of the Navy, Lieutenant General Valery Uvarov, the Russian Navy would have enough 15-20 new seaplanes in order to cover the needs for search and rescue vehicles and significantly strengthen the fleet of anti-submarine aircraft. It is hardly possible to talk about the complete replacement of old machines with A-42 - taking into account the state of the Taganrog plant, where these machines are manufactured, as well as the smaller Be-200, purchased by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the execution of an order for at least 40 such machines may take about 20 years …
Another option that would make it possible to completely replace the fleet of old aircraft within an acceptable timeframe is the purchase of Tu-204P aircraft. This aircraft, created on the basis of the Tu-204 airliner, roughly corresponds in ideology to the newest American patrol aircraft P-8 Poseidon, created on the basis of the B-737 airliner.
The deployment of serial production of such aircraft by order of the Navy is a more realistic task than launching the A-42 into a large series, and, among other things, this will support the production of Tu-204 aircraft, for which there are practically no commercial orders today. The production of 50-60 such vehicles in 10 years in combination with a small series of A-42, focused primarily on rescue missions, could generally remove the acuteness of the problem and lay the foundation for the further development of the Navy's aviation.
