Top Ten Special Operations Forces in the World

Countries throughout the world train special operation forces within their military, so coming up with a list of top special operations forces in the world is difficult at best.  All special ops forces train their military men to be the best of the best, to take the impossible task and make it possible.  In that respect, all Special Operations units are top.  While the list below may not be everyone’s top ten, some of those listed would certainly be a part of any top ten lists.

10.  Russian Spetsnaz – What sets the Russian Spetsnaz apart from other specially trained special ops units around the world is their daily

exposure to physical punishment.  The purpose for this portion of their training is to teach them to endure physical pain and to work the mind to “enjoy” it since it is impossible to ignore it.  They are permitted to leave the training anytime they desire.  Their missions generally involve reconnaissance and close quarter combat.   Many of the bodyguards chosen for the high-tanking political figures of Russia are chosen from the Spetsnaz.

9.  Pakistan Special Service Group – This Pakistan Special Service Group (SSG) is also known as “Black Storks” a name derived from their unique headgear the “Maroon Beret”.  The SSG has ten specific missions for which they are trained:

• Asymmetric Warfare
  
• Special Operations
• Counter-Proliferation
• Unconventional Warfare
• Foreign Internal Defense
• Special Reconnaissance
• Direct Action
• Hostage Rescue
• Counter-Terrorist
• Personnel Recovery

This elite group from Pakistan is somewhat similar to the US Army’s Green Berets and the British Army’s SAS.  They often conduct exercise missions with Special Forces from other countries such as China and the UK.

8.  Austria Eko Cobra – This special ops tactical unit is involved mainly in counter-terrorism.  The group retains a low

 profile, despite their high-speed involvement in the war on terror.  In Europe, they are known for their competitive edge over other countries at S.W.A.T. and other competitions throughout Europe.  Though their covert missions are carried without with little or no media, they are still considered by many as one of the best trained counter-terrorist units in the world.

7.  French Army Special Forces Brigade – This French Special Ops group has one of the most rigorous qualification training programs in the world.  This group is subdivided into three specially trained

 areas:

• 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d’Infanterie de Marin which is based in Bayonne.
• 13e Régiment de Dragons Parachutistes based in Martignas-sur-Jalle.
• 4e Régiment d’Hélicoptères des Forces Spéciales, the unit based in Pau.

Sukhoi Delivers Su-34 Front-Line Bombers to the Russian Air Force

The transfer ceremony of another batch of the serial Su-34 front-line bombers to the Russian Air Force was held today at the Novosibirsk branch of the Sukhoi Company — V.P. Chkalov Novosibirsk aircraft plant (NAZ).

The aircraft took off and headed to the place of their deployment. Several Su-34s of the 2013 State Defense Order have already been transferred to the military in May and July this year and are already in service.

Implementation of the 2013 State Defense Order at the Novosibirsk aircraft plant is in full swing. The company’s management noted a high degree of readiness of aircraft, which is the guarantee of a full and timely implementation of the Order.

The government contracts signed with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2008 and 2010 for the supply of Su-34 have created the conditions for a stable work load of the plant and its partner enterprises in the long run. Those were the largest contracts for the combat aircraft supplies under the State Armaments Program for the years 2011 — 2020.

Implementation of those contracts will facilitate in the nearest future a largely replacement of the Su-24 frontline bombers currently in service.

The Su-34 aircraft have been successfully operated in the armed forces demonstrating high performance, according to the military.

Turkish military claims interception of Russian spy plane

Two Turkish fighter jets have been recently scrambled to intercept a Russian military plane in international airspace over the Black Sea in a rare air incident between the two countries, the Turkish military said, according to RIA Novosti.

The General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement on Wednesday that two F-16 jets were scrambled on Tuesday afternoon to prevent a potential violation of Turkish airspace after a Russian Ilyushin II-20 plane was detected flying in parallel to Turkish coast.

The Turkish aircraft monitored the Russian plane until it left the area heading to the Bulgarian border, the statement added.

It is not clear why the Russian plane approached the Turkish airspace as the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the incident.

The Ilyushin Il-20 (NATO designation Coot-A) is a Soviet-era reconnaissance aircraft designed to carry out a variety of electronic and communications intelligence missions.

Around 20 Il-20’s were reportedly built between 1969 and 1976, but their remaining number in service with the Russian Air Force is unknown.

Japan and Sweden reported in the past similar interceptions of Il-20 planes flying close to their airspace.

In a dig at rampant Chinese copying, Russian Putin Urges Better Protection of Russian Arms Copyright

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday called for increased protection for Russian weapons manufacturers’ intellectual property rights on the global arms market.

“The world arms market is rife with examples of illegal copying of others’ designs, and we have encountered these problems on past occasions,” Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Commission for Military-Technological Cooperation with Foreign States.

“Our task is to ensure a high level of protection for our science-intensive goods and intellectual property, and defend the rights of Russian producers, companies and inventions’ creators,” Putin said.

The president also urged that the protection of intellectual property rights is strengthened in the manufacturing of Russian armaments in foreign countries under licenses in line with international laws.

Putin stressed that this “concerns not only the goods manufactured on the basis of contracts signed during the Soviet period,” particularly regarding Eastern Europe, but also the “legal protection of our latest arms models.”

Experts estimate that exports of illegally produced Russian arms cost the country up to $6 billion a year and also damage Russia's image.

The most notorious example is the illegal production of the famed Kalashnikov assault rifles in at least 15 countries, which is a particular problem in Eastern Europe.

Iran And Russia Military Cooperation

 The head of Russia’s air force, Gen. Viktor Bondarev, met his Iranian counterparts in Tehran to discuss boosting military cooperation between the countries, local media reported Monday.

Talks centerd on “electronic listening systems, radar and missiles,” Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili, head of Khatam-ol-Anbia Air Defence Base, said in comments quoted by daily Sharq.

Esmaili also said that Bondarev had discussed the delivery of Russian-built S-300 ballistic missiles with Iranian air force chiefs.

Russia signed a contract in 2007 to deliver five of the advanced ground to-air missiles — which can take out aircraft or guided missiles — to Iran at a cost of $800 million (€590 million).

In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev canceled the contract because of UN sanctions and strong US and Israeli pressure over concerns for Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambition.

Iran lodged a $4 billion lawsuit at an international court in Geneva against Russia.

But Esmaili said “we can get S-300 missiles or other similar systems when the disputes are resolved,” Sharq reported.

Bondarev also met Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air division. Hajizadeh offered him a “Yasseer” drone, a copy of US ScanEagle unmanned aircraft, as a gift.

In September, Iran’s army unveiled the Yasseer drone, which can fly for eight hours with a range of 200 kilometers (124 miles) and reach an altitude of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).

It resembles the US ScanEagle, a surveillance drone that Iran claimed to have captured in late 2012.

Hajizadeh also gave Bondarev surveillance footage of “foreign forces in the Persian Gulf,” Sepahnews, the official site of the elite Revolutionary Guards, reported.

Over the last 20 years, Iran and Russia have developed a close military cooperation, with Moscow supplying bomber jets and other hardware.

Russian Helicopters Delivers Mi-171E to Kazakhstan

Russian Helicopters, a subsidiary of Oboronprom, part of Rostec State Corporation, has delivered a Mi-171E built at the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant to the Kazakhstan Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry uses Mi-8/17s for routine patrolling and search-and-rescue missions, and for transporting personnel and cargo.

The Mi-171E has a number of features that give it an edge in Kazakhstan’s extremes of climate – temperatures can range from plus 50 to minus 58 degrees Celsius – and geography, marked by extensive steppe and tall mountain ranges. The helicopter can operate across localities from steppe to foothills to mountains, and can withstand temperatures from plus to minus 50. The Mi-171E can operate in all weathers and difficult navigation conditions.

PAK - FA beautiful wallpapers

PAK - FA beautiful wallpapers of Russian Air Force and Indian Air force

Russian AF to Get First T-50 Fighters

The Russian Air Force will receive the first batch of prototypes of its fifth-generation T-50 fighter for performance testing in 2013, Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Thursday.

The T-50, developed under the PAK FA program (Future Aviation System for Tactical Air Force) at the Sukhoi experimental design bureau, is Russia's first new major warplane designed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

“The work on the fifth-generation fighter is going according to schedule,” Zelin, a former Air Force commander, told a news conference in Voronezh (central Russia). “The third prototype has joined the testing program and the fourth is being built.”

The T-50 made its maiden flight in January 2010 and three prototypes have since been undergoing flight tests.

Zelin earlier said that the number of T-50 aircraft involved in testing would be increased to 14 by 2015.

The fighter was first shown to the public in August 2011, in Zhukovsky near Moscow, at the MAKS-2011 air show.

Russian next generation strategic bomber

The PAK DA (or PAK-DA), is a next generation strategic bomber which is being developed by Kazan Aircraft Production Association for Russia. It stands for Perspektivnyi Aviatsionnyi Kompleks Dalney Aviatsyi (Перспективный авиационный комплекс дальней авиации in Russian) which means Prospective Air Complex for Long Range Aviation. The PAK DA will be a new, stealthy, strategic bomber and is expected to enter service in the 2025–30 timeframe

Comparison of J-20 Chinese Stealth Fighter

Comparisons of J-20 J-XX Chinese Stealth Fighter:

More Pictures :

Russia to Deliver 12 More Su-30 Fighter Jets to Vietnam

Russia will deliver another batch of 12 Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighter aircraft to Vietnam under a recent contract worth about $450 million, a defense industry source said. The contract was reportedly signed last week, and the Su-30s are expected to be delivered to Vietnam in 2014-2015. 

“A similar modification, priced at $35-37 million per plane, had been earlier sold to China,” the source said.

Russia has delivered a total of 20 Su-30 fighter jets under two previous contracts signed in 2009 and 2010.

Su-30MK2 is an advanced two-seat version of the Su-27 Flanker multirole fighter with upgraded electronics and capability to launch anti-ship missiles.

Combat aircraft remain the core of the Russian arms exports. Sukhoi Su-27/30 Flanker and Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter jets, Mil Mi-24/35 helicopter gunships, Mi-17 combat transport helicopters and Kamov Ka-28/31 naval helicopters are among the best-selling items in the aviation segment of arms exports.

Russia and Vietnam have a long history of cooperation. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Soviet Union supplied its Communist ally with vital aid and arms.

Vietnam officially remains one of the world’s last communist countries, but it has embraced a market economy along with Asian and Western investment over the past two decades.

In recent years Russian influence in Vietnam has begun to grow again but remains far below that of Soviet times.

Russia to start delivering Uran-E (KH-35E - SS-N-25 'Switchblade') missiles to Azerbaijan

Russia will start delivering Uran-E missile complexes ordered by Azerbaijan from next year, APA reports quoting military sources. Azerbaijan made $75 mln-order to Russian Tactical Rocket Arms corporation in 2010. Realization of the order will start from the end of the current year. These naval missiles will be used in arming of naval forces of Azerbaijan.

Only Russian and Turkmen warships have been armed with these complexes. Along with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan also made $79.8 mln and $30 mln orders to Russia for naval missiles in 2010. The first part of Turkmenistan’s order was delivered in 2011-2012. Ashgabad made additional $40 mln order. The range of these missiles makes 130-260 km.

The Uran subsonic anti-ship missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defense batteries. It has a range of up to 250 kilometers (135 nautical miles) and carries a 145-kilogram high explosive warhead.

KH-35E Uran (SS-N-25 Switchblade) antiship missile on display during IMDS 2013

Russian defense minister due in Brazil for talks

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will meet with Brazilian officials Wednesday following Brasilia’s decision to buy surface-to-air missile batteries from Moscow, the two sides said Tuesday.

The visit, a day after Shoigu was to hold top level meetings in nearby Peru, comes as Moscow has raised its profile throughout Latin America in recent years with strengthened military and trade ties.

Shoigu’s stop in Brazil also comes as President Dilma Rousseff is pressing for the release of a Brazilian biologist detained in Russia alo
g with 29 other Greenpeace activists after protesting Arctic oil drilling.

Korean Defense Ties Deepen with Minesweeper Purchase

The Pondicherry-class minesweeper Kozhikode was built for the Indian Navy by Russia. India plans to buy eight mine countermeasures vessels from South Korea to replace its aging ships. 

NEW DELHI — India’s Defence Ministry has decided to award a US $1.2 billion contract to Kangnam Corp. for eight mine-countermeasure vessels in India’s first big-ticket defense program with South Korea.

The deal has been cleared ahead of Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony’s planned visit to Seoul later this year, and will help boost defense ties with South Korea, an Indian MoD official said.

The finalization of the contract was delayed after Italy’s Intermarine, which was competing for the contract, approached India’s anti-fraud agency, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), with issues related to the transparency of the procurement. The CVC cleared the purchase last year, but the MoD has since dragged its feet in deciding to award the contract, the source said.

India is reaching out to friendly nations in the region, including Japan and South Korea, as part of its Look East policy in a bid to contain the rising influence of China, said defense analyst Mahindra Singh.

The Indian Navy is likely to give additional orders to the South Korean company for the countermine ships, since the service has a requirement for more than 24 minesweepers, an MoD source said. The Indian Navy operates 12 aging Pondicherry and Karwar-class minesweepers.

The purchase of the new countermine ships is part of a long-term plan to acquire vessels for littoral warfare, including large landing platform decks, fast attack craft and advanced offshore patrol vessels.

In 2008, India sent bids for the countermine ships to Kangnam, Intermarine, Northrop Grumman, Izhar of Spain and DCN International of France.

The Navy has wanted new minesweepers for more than 13 years, but delays in procurement due to bureaucratic red tape have been holding back the order.

According to the deal, the first two minesweepers will be constructed at Pusan, South Korea, and the remaining six will be built at the Goa Shipyard through technology transfers.

South Korea has become a big-ticket supplier of weapons to India — along with Russia, Israel, the United States and France — and is aggressively tapping India’s $100 billion weapons market.

Samsung has jointly developed a howitzer gun with Indian private-sector company Larsen & Toubro, and it is likely to put up a tough fight against Russia’s Rosoboronoexport in the quest to supply 155mm/52-caliber tracked guns.

The Larsen & Toubro-Samsung team is competing with Rosoboronexport, and with state-owned Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML), which has partnered with Slovakian company Konstrukha.

The Indian Army wants to buy 100 tracked guns valued at more than $750 million. The tender, issued in 2011, was a rebid of a 2007 tender, which went to India’s Tata Power SED, Larsen & Toubro, BEML and Rosoboronexport.

South Korean firm Doosan has also been given a tender this year for the purchase of 104 self-propelled gun missile systems to replace aging Russian Kvadrat systems.

Indo-South Korean defense ties began in 2005, when the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on defense logistics and supplies.

In 2007, the defense ministers of the two countries met to hash out a defense cooperation plan, which was followed in 2010 by the signing of a declaration of strategic partnership

.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu will meet with Brazilian officials Wednesday. 

BRASILIA, BRAZIL — Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will meet with Brazilian officials Wednesday following Brasilia’s decision to buy surface-to-air missile batteries from Moscow, the two sides said Tuesday.

The visit, a day after Shoigu was to hold top level meetings in nearby Peru, comes as Moscow has raised its profile throughout Latin America in recent years with strengthened military and trade ties.

Shoigu’s stop in Brazil also comes as President Dilma Rousseff is pressing for the release of a Brazilian biologist detained in Russia along with 29 other Greenpeace activists after protesting Arctic oil drilling.

Last February, Brazil agreed to open talks with Moscow on buying surface-to-air missile batteries during a visit in the Latin American country by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Last December, Brasilia also bought 12 Russian helicopters.

Meanwhile Rousseff last week directed her foreign minister to make high-level contact with Moscow to find a solution for Brazilian Greenpeace activist Ana Paula Maciel.

Maciel was one of 30 activists from 18 countries arrested by Russia in late September and charged with piracy after authorities said they had found “narcotic substances” on the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise, used in their protest.

Greenpeace has denied the allegation as a “smear,” and the arrests have raised international protests.

Putin has said that the activists “of course are not pirates,” but his spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said the Kremlin strongman had expressed his personal opinion.

Brazil and Russia are both members of the BRICS group of emerging powers along with China, India and South Africa.

The BRICs five are to hold their next summit in Brazil next March.

In Peru Tuesday, Shoigu was to meet with President Ollanta Humala, as well as with his counterpart Pedro Cateriano, and to sign agreements on military and education cooperation at the army headquarters.

Russian Air Force To Receive Up To 100 Sukhoi Fighter Jets

The Russian Air Force will receive up to 100 Sukhoi fighter jets by 2015, the Defense Ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

Three state contracts with the Sukhoi design bureau on the supply of the jets have been already signed, Vladimir Drik said.

Fifty advanced Su-35 Flanker-E multirole fighters, billed as “4++ generation using fifth-generation technology,” more than ten advanced Su-27SM Flanker multirole jets and five Su-30M2 Flanker-C multirole fighters are among the aircraft to be supplied.

The Russian Air Force will also receive twenty-five new Su-34 Fullback fighter-bombers in the next few years, the spokesman said.

Wealthy Benefactor To Fuel Greek Parade Tanks

Greek Cypriot National Guard Russian-made T-82 tanks roll during the annual

 Cyprus Independence Day parade in 2003 in Nicosia. Joint Greek and Greek 

Cypriot war 

games will take place as planned in 2003. (STR / AFP)

ATHENS — A private sponsor will supply the necessary fuel to enable 

Greek tanks to join an Oct. 28 military parade for the first time in 

three years, the defense minister said Monday.

“Military parades will be carried out with glory and honor ... 

not wretchedness,” Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos 

told reporters, according to the state-run Athens News Agency.

military parade is held annually in Thessaloniki on Oct. 28 to 

commemorate Greece’s resistance to the Axis Powers during 

World War II.

ANA identified Motor Oil Hellas, a leading refiner owned by the Vardinogiannis family, one of the country’s wealthiest, as the 

benefactor, saying it would provide the fuel free of charge.

The move has sparked friction in Greece’s two-party ruling 

coalition between the conservatives and the socialists, who 

had scaled down military parades to save costs when they 

were in government in 2010.

The cuts were announced by then-Defence Minister Evangelos

 Venizelos — who is now deputy prime minister — to save

 around €2 million (US $2.7 million) in operational costs.

Each warplane overflight costs €35,000, a defense ministry 

source had said at the time.

On Monday, Avramopoulos said that only units stationed near 

Thessaloniki would be included in the parade, and that the 

extra cost would be just €35,000.

And the conservative New Democracy party said a single 

exhibition plane would overfly the parade “as a token 

contribution from the air force.”

Formerly one of Europe’s biggest weapons purchasers, 

Greece nearly went bankrupt in 2010, and its economy 

has been sustained by EU and IMF bailout packages ever since.

It has been forced to make drastic spending cuts on wages 

and pensions over the past four years.

RAE 2013: KBP adopts bullpup design, subsonic rounds for VKS rifle

Russia's KBP Instrument Design Bureau unveiled a new suppressed, compact, anti-materiel rifle at the Russian Arms Expo 2013 exhibition in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, in late September.

The VKS is a 12.7 mm weapon that has been designed with a very large integral suppressor, which, a company engineer toldIHS Jane's , reduces the noise and flash signatures to almost zero.

The weapon incorporates a number of unusual design characteristics for an anti-materiel rifle, including a 'bullpup' configuration and the use of subsonic ammunition.

According to the engineer, the VKS is optimised for use in urban and confined spaces, and as well as its anti-materiel role can be used as a traditional sniper rifle.

Russia pushes airdrop anti-tank gun

The Volgograd Machine Building Joint Stock Company is hoping to export its unique 2S25 125 mm self-propelled anti-tank gun (SPATG) originally developed for Russian air assault units under a new sales push.

Close-up of the turret of the 2S25 125 mm self-propelled anti-tank gun clearly showing the banks of 81 mm grenade-launchers and the ejection hatch for the 125 mm 

stub cartridge cases in the turret rear. (Christopher F Foss)

The 2S25 - also referred to as the SPRUT-SD - has the firepower of the Russian T-72, T-80, and T-90 series main battle tanks (MBTs), but with a combat weight of only 18 tonnes it has greater strategic mobility and can be deployed in terrain inaccessible to heavier armoured fighting vehicles.

In essence, the vehicle uses automotive components from the BMD-3 airborne assault vehicle (AAV), which was also designed and built in Volgograd, following on from the BMD-1 and BMD-2 AAVs. Volgograd also developed the BMD-4, but quantity production of the BMD-4M was shifted to Kurgan (using parts from the BMP-3).

Future production of the 2S25 would be undertaken at the Volgograd facility, which retains all of the jigs and tools required from the production for the Russian Army.

The Russian Army 2S25 self-propelled anti-tank gun is uniquely air-droppable, air-deployable, and amphibious. (Christopher F Foss)

The 2S25 features an all-welded hull and turret, which provides protection from small arms and shell splinters all round, but with thicker armour over the front arc. The vehicle is rear-engined, with the driver seated at the front and a two-man turret in the middle of the hull.

As noted, its main armament is the 125 mm 2A75 smoothbore gun developed at Artillery Plant No 9.

A total of 40 rounds (projectiles and charges) are carried, 22 of which are held in the automatic loader, with the remainder to manually replenish the loader from a locker. The mix typically consists of 20 high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG), 14 armour-piercing, fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS), and six high-explosive, anti-tank (HEAT) projectiles. It can also fire a laser-guided projectile - usually carrying a total of six - fitted with a tandem HEAT warhead.

A 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun is mounted co-axially with the main gun, fed by a store of 2,000 rounds, while two banks of three 81 mm grenade-launchers are mounted on the back of the turret.

The 2S25 also features an adjustable hydropneumatic suspension system that enables the driver to alter the ground clearance from 100 mm to 500 mm.

As well as being airportable and air-droppable, the 2S25 is fully amphibious with very little preparation and, according to the prime contractor, can also be used during amphibious operations.

It is propelled in the water by two waterjets low on the hull rear, giving a maximum speed of at least 9 km/h powered by the 2V06-2S diesel, which develops 510 hp, sufficient for a maximum road speed of up to 70 km/h.

Russia To Develop 5th Generation Stealth Helicopters

A Russian helicopter company is planning to develop the world's first fifth-generation combat helicopter, which experts say would be able to attack fighter jets and be invisible for radars, the Gazeta daily said on Thursday.

"We are working on the concept of the fifth-generation combat helicopter," the paper quoted the company's CEO, Andrei Shibitov, as saying at a news conference in Moscow.

Shibitov did not specify the characteristics of the helicopter, but said the company was going to spend some $1 billion on the project, with more investment expected to be allocated from the state budget.

The official said the Mil design bureau had been working on a classical rotor model, which features a large main rotor and a smaller auxiliary rotor, while the Kamov design bureau had been developing a coaxial rotor model.

 Military experts believe that the coaxial rotor model is more stable and easy to fly while the classical model is more reliable and has a higher degree of survivability on the battlefield.

First deputy head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues, Konstantin Sivkov, told the paper that fifth-generation combat helicopters have never been built before, although the United States has recently begun working on a similar project.

He said a fifth-generation combat helicopter must have a low radar signature, a high noise reduction, an extended flying range, be equipped with a computerized arms control system, be able to combat fighter jets (existing helicopters are generally only intended to hit ground-based targets) and reach a speed of up to 500-600 km/h (310-370 mph).

The project cannot proceed, however, unless it is backed by the government.

"If the government does not sign a contract, the idea will die on the vine," head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues Leonid Ivashov told Gazeta.

Ivashov said that with sufficient investment and good organization the new helicopter could be built within five years. Otherwise, the project may drag on for 20-30 years.

But he was somewhat skeptical about the chances of carrying out the project.

"We have been trying to tackle everything - fifth-generation planes, fifth-generation helicopters, but nothing of this have so far been supplied to the army - today the army still uses helicopters produced in 1970s," Ivashov said.

Russia's main combat helicopter, the Mi-24 Hind, is a third-generation helicopter, and a few Mi-28 Havoc, Ka-50 and Ka-52 Hokum, which have just started to arrive in the Russian army, are fourth-generation helicopters.