MOSCOW, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Russia is going to start replacing its old Sukhoi Su-24 bombers with new Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers.
RIA Novosti reported last week that two regiments of the Russian 16th Air Army would soon be phasing out their old Su-24 Fencer bombers and replacing them with state-of-the-art Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers.
The move is part of an ambitious upgrading of hardware authorized by President Vladimir Putin for the Russian armed forces.
"Experts said the new bomber has the potential to become the best plane in its class for years to come," the RIA Novosti report said.
"The schedule for re-equipment of air regiments (in the Russian Air Force) with new and modernized aircraft has been determined," Maj. Gen. Alexander Belevitch, the commander of the 16th Air Army, told RIA Novosti. "Two of our air regiments will be re-armed soon."
The Russian news agency described the Su-34 as a $36 million two-seat strike aircraft equipped with twin AL-31MF after-burning turbojet engines that could make high-precision attacks on heavily defended targets under any weather conditions, day or night. The report said the aircraft was equipped with a 30mm GSh-301 cannon and up to 12 Alamo or Archer air-to-air missiles, ASMs and bombs.
The aircraft is already in industrial production, and pilot training on it is scheduled to start soon, the report said.
Belevitch told RIA Novosti that as part of the modernization program his 16th Air Army would also be re-equipped with MiG-29SM Fulcrum fighters in place of the older versions of the MiG-29 it currently operated and with updated Su-25 Frogfoot close-support aircraft.
The report described the 16th Air Army, which is based at Kubinka, as "essentially a tactical air force component of the Moscow Military District, with zone of responsibility of up to 1.3 million square kilometers, including the country's capital, Moscow."
