Russia suffered significant losses in its war against Ukraine. That is an undeniable truth, even if they don’t want to recognize it publicly. They had a solid cushion of stored armoured vehicles that are now being pulled out of long-term storage sites and refurbished for service. However, the situation with combat aircraft is a bit more complicated – these losses need to be compensated with new jets.
Russia is focused on the production of the Su-34. Image credit: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Russia’s military industry is alive and still pushes out aircraft. International sanctions are strangling Russia’s ability to acquire technology, including the means to produce planes. However, they are still making jets and while the rate of production is not great, the numbers are enough to compensate for the losses. Just.
The Defence24 has reported that Russia’s defence industry has managed to produce and deliver 24 combat aircraft to the Russian forces in 2024. It is believed that this production barely covers the losses. In other words, while Russia is pushing for higher rates of production, the current progress doesn’t allow growth – that is good news. On the other hand, they are maintaining the existing capabilities.
Or are they? Russia has lost multiple Kamov Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters since the beginning of the invasion to Ukraine in 2022. The actual number is over 60, although not all were lost because of the actions of the defenders of Ukraine. It is very obvious that Russia was not able to compensate for these losses.
On the other hand, it is reported that in 2024 Russia’s war industry has delivered 10 Sukhoi Su-34Ms. This aircraft is a twin-engine twin-seat fighter-bomber, capable of launching attacks against the Ukrainian positions from a very safe distance. They also made 6 Su-35S jet fighters made for air defence and air superiority and an equal number of stealthy fifth-generation Su-57s. They also managed to produce and deliver a couple of supermaneuverable fighter jets Su-30s. All in all, it was reported that Russia’s defence industry produced and delivered 24 combat aircraft.
These kinds of production numbers are not great, even if they compensate for the losses in Ukraine. The simple truth is that Russia is eyeing larger armed conflicts in the future and they will need more air assets among other things. Also, Russia would like to be a global arms exporter and its struggles in the war in Ukraine are going to damage the reputation of both the Russian weapons as well as Russia’s military industry.
It needs to be said that these numbers are not actually official. Russia keeps a lot of information classified and these numbers were gathered by following some short reports about the deliveries of new aircraft. The Russian military aviation industry is unlikely to be much more productive though.
Written by Povilas M.
Source: Maks_NAFO_FELLA on X
