Economic Statecraft
There’s a Country for Old Planes. Why Cold War Era Fighter Jets Do Not Retire and Are Set to Share the Skies With Drones
© Sputnik/Vitaly Timkiv
The crucial challenge for Russia, which has strong competencies in this area, is to maintain its lead. Those who manage to stay on the podium will be rewarded for their efforts through military- industrial cooperation, will develop their engineering capabilities and aligned scientific areas, and will gain firm guarantees of national security.
January 2022 saw a fairly symbolic event in the recent history of military aviation: Norway became the first country to completely scrap the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet. It replaced its fighters with the F-35 Lightning II. Thus, the main symbol of the world’s most successful fourth-generation fighter jet will pass the baton to a plane that was conceived as its successor. However, it’s not as simple as it seems; reports indicate that assembly lines will be restarted for new export contracts including Turkey’s purchase bid.
January 2022 saw a fairly symbolic event in the recent history of military aviation: Norway became the first country to completely scrap the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet. It replaced its fighters with the F-35 Lightning II. Thus, the main symbol of the world’s most successful fourth-generation fighter jet will pass the baton to a plane that was conceived as its successor. However, it’s not as simple as it seems; reports indicate that assembly lines will be restarted for new export contracts including Turkey’s purchase bid.
The situation is evolving similarly with a number of fourth-generation platforms: Russia manufactures the Su-27’s successors (the Su-30 and Su-35) for export and for the domestic use, the MiG-29 is promoted for export with varied success, while in the US, the latest upgraded F-15 is the most expensive export fighter jet available, and the US Air Force began to purchase them after a 20-year break with plans to procure up to 144 planes.
It appears the platforms designed in the 1970s will be in fleets at least until the 2050s, with some estimates suggesting until the 2070s.
How did this situation come about? How does this compare to the production of fifth-generation fighter planes and the designing of new planes that journalists and marketing executives have begun calling “the sixth generation?”
Design issues, delays and temporarily low demand have led to a situation where fifth-generation fighter jets might become the lost generation as the last planes of the Cold War will pass the baton to their grandchildren rather than children. For Russia, this means that after a period of stagnation it would face the beginning of a new stage in the stormy development and evolution of combat aviation, the likes of which might not have been seen since 1970s-1980s.
The crucial challenge for Russia, which has strong competencies in this area, is to maintain its lead. Those who manage to stay on the podium will be rewarded for their efforts through military- industrial cooperation, will develop their engineering capabilities and aligned scientific areas, and will gain firm guarantees of national security. Although we do not talk about our plans as much as the West might, we can say that work on the Okhotnik UAV and the Su-75 concept are efforts in the right direction.
Design issues, delays and temporarily low demand have led to a situation where fifth-generation fighter jets might become the lost generation as the last planes of the Cold War will pass the baton to their grandchildren rather than children. For Russia, this means that after a period of stagnation it would face the beginning of a new stage in the stormy development and evolution of combat aviation, the likes of which might not have been seen since 1970s-1980s.
The crucial challenge for Russia, which has strong competencies in this area, is to maintain its lead. Those who manage to stay on the podium will be rewarded for their efforts through military- industrial cooperation, will develop their engineering capabilities and aligned scientific areas, and will gain firm guarantees of national security. Although we do not talk about our plans as much as the West might, we can say that work on the Okhotnik UAV and the Su-75 concept are efforts in the right direction.
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