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BRICKS OF COOPERATION
There is a consensus of opinion between experts of world economic development that the countries that will boost global economy in the 21st century are Brazil, Russia, India and China. The LAAD-2009 (Latin America Aero & Defence) exhibition of aviation and defense systems in Rio-de-Janeiro acquires ever-increasing importance for the Russian
industrial production sector.
The organizing party of the Russian exposition in the LAAD-2009 was the ‘Rostekhnologii’ (Russian Technologies) state-owned corporation. Under its guidance, 10 companies and organizations of Russian defense industry presented information on their products at an area of 206 square meters. It is for the first time that the Sukhoi company and MiG Russian Aircraft Construction Corporation, being the core of the future ‘Combat Aviation’ division of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), had a joint showcase in the international exhibition. Officially, the Su-35 super-maneuverable fighters had to withdraw from the FX-2 program tender on the delivery of new aircraft to the Brazilian Air Force as early as in last October, however, the Russian plane makers and politicians are still trying to swing into the train that has already started going, and the LAAD exhibition was to play an important role for that. Moreover, Russian fighters are successfully operated in Venezuela (a full squadron of Su-30MK2) and in Peru (MiG-29), so the other countries of the region have their eyes on our air materiel. A modernization program, also presented at the LAAD, is offered by the
MiG makers for Peruvian MiGs.
The Helicopters of Russia Company presented all the plants that it includes and its full lineup for the first time, too. Just a few months ago the Russian helicopter makers and the Rosoboronexport state-run company celebrated a very important victory in a tender for the delivery of 12 combat helicopters to the Brazilian Air Force. The Mi-35M vehicles, produced by the Rostvertol (Rostov helicopter plant) will start being delivered to the customer in 2011. Fairly good prospects of promotion in the Latin America are attributed to other models as well, both military and civil. The nine enterprises of the Roscosmos group, united under the auspices of the International Association of Space Activity Members, were represented in a respectable showcase covering an area of 180 square meters. The most notable thing there was an energetic promotion of the GLONASS Russian satellite navigational system by specialists of the Russian Scientific Research Institute for the Space Instrument Making. The Information Satellite Systems, OJSC, named after Academician Reshetnev, showed for the first time the fullscale #$*-+ N 2 nanosatellite. The State Space Research and Production Center named after Khrunichev attracted the attention of specialists by models of the advanced family of ‘Angara’ carrier rockets. It was for the first time in Brazil that the Russian Ministry of Emergencies demonstrated its potential. The presentation of the video commercial on the Be-200 amphibious aircraft capabilities gathered a considerable number of viewers every time. In order to insure the consolidated participation of the Russian Federation in the exhibition work, the Federal Service for the Military and Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) has formed a Russian delegation under the guidance of Alexander Fomin, the first deputy director of the Service. The exhibition as a whole occupied an area of 30 thousand square meters and accommodated more than 314 exhibitors from 30 states. 20 countries formed their national expositions (the largest of them being those of Brazil, Israel, Turkey, Spain, France, India, Russia, South African Republic, and Germany). The LAAD-2009 hosted official delegations from more than 50 countries, headed by ministers of defense, commanders-in-chief of armed services, chiefs of the directorates ordering arms deliveries or their deputies. The exhibition organizers covered the transport and hotel accommodation expenditures for all the official military delegations. The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force three-star general Alexander Zelin was expected to arrive; however, neither he nor anyone of his deputies ever came, which is quite a regretful fact indeed. That was by far not a solitary case when the Russian Ministry of Defense and the General Command were not able to coordinate their attendance at international exhibitions and support the efforts of the Rosoboronexport and FSMTC promoting Russian-made armament at world markets. Though such a promotion is the habitual practice of all the producer countries. During the press-conference of Russian participants in the exhibition the head of the delegation Alexander Fomin underscored the following: “The Latin America is our essential partner not only within the framework of the general economic cooperation. The region has been and will continue to be our partner in the field of military and technical cooperation”. According to him, the LAAD-2009 exhibition provided one more chance to show the innovative Russian developments to the region, which becomes one of centers of the multi-pole world. According to Yuri Baluyevskiy, the deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the increasing interest of the world’s leading countries to the market of armament in the Latin America is confirmed by the exhibition entry list. “When competition is there, it is good, it is boosting the progress, and Russia has something to show against such a background”, said Baluyevskiy. The statement issued by the Rosoboronexport’s press-service at the exhibition, said: “The Latin America countries took much interest in Russian aircraft, helicopters, air defense systems, radars, ships, armored vehicles, small arms. As well as technical teaching aids, which help considerably reduce expenditures for the training of military personnel”. Viewed as a separate aspect of development of the military technical cooperation, “the possibilities of starting the licensed or assembly production in a number of countries are being actively discussed”. “A great interest on the part of Latin America countries was aroused by a Rosoboronexport’s offer of alternative payment for deliveries of armament and materiel by counter deliveries of the nationally exported goods or through allowing quotas for resource development”,
reports the press-service.
In order to discuss current and prospective contracts in the field of military and technical cooperation in the course of the LAAD-2009 exhibition, Sergey Svechnikov, the head of delegation of the Rosoboronexport Federal State-owned Unitary Enterprise and chief of department of analysis and long term planning, met high-ranking representatives of the military and political leadership of Brazil and other partner states, as well as some foreign companies.
Brazil is our strategic partner; we regularly participate in the exhibition in Rio-de-Janeiro and are very glad to have such an opportunity. Expanding the scale of military and technical cooperation with Brazil and other countries of Latin America, offering our partners the unique products of Russian defense companies on conditions attractive for them, we fulfill the main mission of progressive development of our relations”, Svechnikov said. At the Rosoboronexport’s showcase one could get acquainted with export versions of armament and materiel: Mi-35M, Mi-171Sh, Ka-52 helicopters, radars, fire control systems, shipboard artillery mounts, mobile coastal missile complexes, Tor-M2E air defense complex and other air defense means, army assault and patrol boats, destroyer of the 21956 project, frigate of 11356 and 11541 projects, T-90S tank possessing very powerful arms, excellent agility and reliable armor, BMP-3 and BMP-3M combat infantry vehicles. Armored personnel carriers (BTR-80, BTR-80A, BTR-90), Vityaz two-section fully-tracked carrier vehicle, GAZ-2330 ‘Tiger’ special police vehicle, 9K58 ‘Smerch’ multiple launch rocket system of 300-mm caliber, Metis-M and Cornet-E antitank missile systems, various types of world-wide know Kalashnikov assault rifle, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, machine guns, flame throwers, ammunition to all the weapons presented, as well as personnel training technical aids were presented to visitors.
Are there still grounds for hope in fx2 tender?
The Su-35 multifunctional fighter was not included to the short-list of participants in the Brazil’s tender for the delivery of more than one hundred combat aircraft, issued in October last year. The list has now the U.S. F/A-18,/F, French Rafale and Swedish Gripen aircraft. “At present we do not take part in the tender, since our offers to the Brazilian party were not sufficiently elaborated, as per the tender terms”, stated at the pressconference Alexander Fomin, the first deputy director of the Federal Service for the Military and Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation. However, he added that at the moment the Russian party was preparing the needed offers. “And if we were lucky enough to have got the positive willing on behalf of the Brazilian party and Brazilian government, and if our new offers meet the detailed requirements of the tender, we’d like to be hopeful that this tender is still not closed for us”, said the first deputy director of the FSMTC. According to him, there has not been yet and could not be at all any answer from the Brazilian government, since Russia had not handed over the relevant offers. “The answer of the Brazilian party can be negative, neutral, and may still be affirmative”, Fomin added. He also noted that it is still unclear whether there is a procedure of returning into the tender. As a bonus annexed to the Russia’s offers, Brazilians were invited to join the program of development of the fifth generation fighter, within the framework of which Russia had already started collaborating with India. “Russia will be ready to collaborate with Brazil in the field of design and development of a combat aircraft of fifth generation, as the defense industry plants are prepared for it”, Fomin stated. “I can bindingly assert that the Russian government will be ready to issue such a license (to Brazil) on condition that the industry should be ready in aspects of technology, personnel, etc.” explained Fomin. In addition he underscored that the fifth generation aircraft “has not been made by anyone in the full scale for the time being”. Some have vehicles of 4+, 4++ generation, as well as does Russia, specified the deputy director of the FSMTC.
He added that those are the transient stages leading to the development of a fifth generation aircraft. It is evident that Alexander Fomin’s opinion as such is different from a fairly concurrent point of view of the majority of international experts, who refer the US Air Force F-22 Raptor, which is already in service, and F-35, which is under test now, to the fifth generation.
The additional motivator for the Brazilians to return to the consideration of Su-35 purchase option could have been the collaboration of our countries in the development of a new medium transport aircraft. The Russian Indian program for the Multi-role Transport Aircraft (MTA) on the basis of IL-214 has been in the pre-implementation phase for about eight years. In the current year the Russian budget is to allocate 2 billion 156 million rubles for it. The aircraft of 19 ton load-lifting capacity is to replace the veteran An-12. Nevertheless, the Russian Indian joint venture for the MTA program, despite repeated affirmations that all the organizational issues are about to be solved, had not been established by the middle of May 2009. As for the Brazilians, they officially celebrated at the LAAD the issuance of the contract of $1 billion dollars by their government for the development of an aircraft of exactly the same type, Embraer &$-390. And it does not matter that the Brazilians are not experienced in creating such planes. Till the present day they have been successful in all the tasks they had set for themselves. Moreover, according to the officially unproved information, in the course of the LAAD the Embraer had talks on collaboration with the delegation of the Ukrainian ANTK (Aviation Research and Technology Complex) named after Antonov, and Kiev is known world-wide for its richest experience in the design of cargo aircraft with a loading ramp. However, the medium cargo aircraft topic deserves a special article, and our magazine is going to deal with it in one
of the nearest issues.
Commenting the results of the Russian participation in the exhibition in Rio-de-Janeiro, the Rosoboronexport press-service published the following statement: “From year to year, the LAAD exhibition becomes the more and more popular ground, where the dedicated experts share their experience and discuss the prospects of military and technical cooperation. In 2009 members of the Russian delegation took part in more than 50 meetings with high-ranking political and military officials of Brazil, as well as with heads of national delegations from Argentine, Guatemala, Columbia, Uruguay, Chili and other countries of the region and the world. The cooperation issues brought up in Rio-de-Janeiro ranged from deliveries under the contracts in force, to prospects of joint development and licensed production of armament and materiel”. “The results of work meetings and talks held in Rio-de-Janeiro confirm the trend of strengthening the relationship between the Russian Federation and Latin America countries in general, as well as in the field of military and technical cooperation”, said Sergey Svechnikov, the head of the Rosoboronexport delegation. According to Mr. Svechnikov, Brazil, being the organizing party for the exhibition, appears for the Rosoboronexport as a “unique partner, the good relation with which is very dear to Russia”. This country has an active influence on the military and technical policies formation in the region, therefore, our participation in the LAAD exhibition proves very useful”, summarized Svechnikov.
Alexander Velovich
