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U.S. Air Force Joins Russian Air Show
EFLZHUKOVSKY, Russia (AP) - A Russian Sukhoi fighter wowed the audience Tuesday with its acrobatic rolls and dives. But when the American F-15 made its debut at the Moscow International Air Show, roaring high over this once-secret Soviet air base, even President Vladimir Putin leaned out of his seat for a better view. For the first time, the U.S. Air Force brought combat jets to the show at Zhukovsky airfield, where the Soviet Union once tested its military aircraft under the tightest security. An F-15 and F-16 - rarities to Russian eyes - were parked directly opposite their former Cold War foes, the MiG-29s - the jetsâ sleek noses pointed at each other. A B-52 bomber was scheduled to arrive Wednesday. "It has always been my dream to visit Moscow, but to actually arrive here in an F-16 - I never thought Iâd see that day," said F-16 pilot Capt. Jessica Rhyne, based in Germany. Putin, arriving by helicopter, was the opening dayâs star guest. As police and soldiers kept onlookers away, Putin peered into the cockpits of fighter jets and strolled past menacing helicopter gunships. The Moscow event has always been as much about giving a publicity boost to the countryâs suffering aviation industry as it has about closing multimillion dollar deals. Most Russian aircraft makers found themselves struggling for survival when generous government orders dried up after the 1991 Soviet collapse. In the decade that followed, the Russian air force received just a handful of new aircraft and its pilots logged only a minimal number of flying hours, while Russian airlines spurned domestic aircraft makers for Boeing and Airbus. Recently, Russian companies have been chasing joint projects with Western firms, and the Russian government has also pledged to make it more attractive for Russian airlines to lease Russian-made aircraft. Ilya Klebanov, minister for Industry, Science and Technologies, said Tuesday the Russian airline Transaero reached a $200 million agreement to lease 10 Tu-204 airplanes, in one of the air showâs first announced deals. But even while the number of commercial exhibitors has grown - bucking a trend at the more established Paris Air Show, which saw the number of participants drop this year - it is still the powerful and world-renowned Russian military jets that steal the limelight. The Sukhoi company has been the most successful - and it was its SU-30MKI that stole the show Tuesday, causing the VIP grandstand to erupt in applause. Earlier this month, Malaysia sealed a $900 million deal to buy 18 Su-30 fighters. Yemen, Indonesia and Brazil have also come shopping, and Russia has sold large batches to India and China. Gennady Zyuganov, a lawmaker and leader of the Communist Party, suggested, however, that the Kremlin should be ashamed. "All this technology around us is from the Soviet era. Democratic Russia hasnât done anything," he said. "Ah, the good old days when men were men, vodka was vodka, and dissidents were shot!" U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Edward LaFountaine said he was proud to see U.S. military aircraft parked alongside their Russian counterparts. "For us, this is a very important opportunity to show the cooperation and ever-developing ties between our two nations," he said. Robert Myers, a weapons system operator on the F-15E, said it was an entirely new - though pleasant - experience to be standing in front of his plane on a Russian airfield, about 15 miles southeast of Moscow. "This airplane was designed to do things in Russia other than come to air shows," he said. Posted by: Steve White 2003-08-21 |
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