Russian aircraft designer warns of problems with military aircraft

Vadim Lukashevich, ex-designer of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, believes that Russian engineers have largely lost the culture of designing military aircraft. He warned that attention should be paid to this, otherwise there would be nothing to fly on.

As the expert noted in an interview with the Telegram channel Radiotochka NSN, there are questions regarding the visibility in the radar range regarding the new Russian Su-57 fighter. At the same time, he stressed that it is necessary to make this development a full-fledged fifth-generation combat aircraft and supply at least 60-70 ordered vehicles to the troops.

Lukashevich also believes that Russia needs to create a new strategic bomber, since “there are more Tu-160s for parades now,” since it does not meet modern requirements.

“We also need new military transport aircraft, because the An-124 Ruslan is already exhausting its flight life,” the specialist emphasized, adding that the Il-76 has also exhausted itself.

“The latest development of the Il-112, which was supposed to replace the An-24 and An-26, has shown that the design culture has been largely lost,” Lukashevich said, explaining that the customer refused this aircraft because it turned out to be very heavy.

According to him, when the An-26 runs out of its entire service life, which may happen in two years, “there will be nothing to fly on.”

In civil aviation, according to the expert, it is necessary to arrange the production of the MS-21 aircraft, calling the situation in this area “worse than in the military”, because there “simply nothing to fly.”

“If we talk about the aviation industry in general and whether we can raise it to a decent level, then I will answer: no,” Lukashevich summed up.