Air force's future up in the air

Q. How would you characterize the situation in the Russian air force today? What do you have to do? What is being done?

A. We have to build a different kind of air force. It must have a better command and control system, more balanced personnel policy and, certainly, cutting-edge technology. We'll be faced with tasks different from the ones that confronted us before. At the same time we have certain problems with financing.

We are paying special attention to the air defense of Russian borders, to air patrolling and defense from a possible missile attack. We have been working on a next-generation unified command and control system. And then there is always training of our pilots, of course.

What our typical tasks are today? Transportation of Russian peacekeepers to Kosovo is one, for example.

Next year we will concentrate mainly on re-equipping fighter planes with new medium and long-range missiles and with laser-guided air-to-surface missiles. We will modernize on-board radar guidance systems. We will work on substantially raising the precision of bombing with unguided bombs and missiles, on carrying out bombing runs without entering the zone of close air defense, and on lengthening our bombers' combat range and flight time. We will install orbital satellite navigation systems on our attack planes.

As for new air defense systems, I expect tests of the S-400 antiaircraft gun to start as early as next year.

Q. There has been talk of further reduction of the Russian Armed Forces. Do you expect any new cuts in the air force?

A. I have not heard anything about any new cutbacks. We can't go lower than our present strength if the Russian air force is to preserve its combat value. Any further reductions will mean that we will cease to be a fighting force, and-given the current financing-the process will become irreversible.

We have reorganized the air force. The number of combat troops first went over 50 percent of the total personnel and now approaches 60 percent. We expect this ratio to allow us to carry out any tasks that may be presented to us.

Any cutbacks in the air force would be a recipe for disaster. The role of the air force and air defense in modern warfare grows, as illustrated in Yugoslavia. This is not just my opinion; it is the position of the Defense Ministry.

Q. Anything on the bright side?

A. Russia has already received one Soviet-era strategic bomber from Ukraine earlier this month, the first of 11 planes left behind after the Soviet collapse that now are being traded by Ukraine for forgiveness of part of its natural gas debts to Moscow. In addition to the bombers, we are also getting over 500 cruise missiles to be carried by the aircraft.

Aviation has always been the smallest leg in Russia's land-sea-air triad of nuclear forces, and the additional planes will bolster our long-range forces. However, the additional planes can carry only a limited number of nuclear warheads compared to those stationed on submarines and on land.

For example, if fully operational, the three Tu-95 bombers can carry 16 missiles each, and the eight Tu-160s can carry 12 each, for a total additional capacity of 144 warheads.

Russia's current strategic nuclear arsenal is about 5,620 warheads, but it is shrinking because of arms control agreements as well as obsolescence.

However, the bombers and missiles may also carry conventional warheads and some of the Ukrainian planes may be also useful for spare parts. Russia also has some unfinished Tu-160s at the factory where they were manufactured in the Tatarstan region.