http://www.rosprom.org/inf2.php3?id=3498

they only have around two dozen Mi-24PN's anyway. 6 Mi-24P's were upgraded to PN last year and will now be upgraded to the 35M standard.

SO if I remember correctly you were saying a few years back that Russia had less than 100 night vision helis, around 80 or so including the naval Kamovs. Whats the current status, they must have passed the 100 number by now?

--------------------------------------------

they are still well under 100. There are a dozen Mi-28's and 2-3 dozen Mi-24PN's and around a dozen Ka-50's and 52 (maybe 19-20 operational). On the naval side, none of the kamovs have TI cameras, only radars. There are a few naval Ansats with thermal imagers. Some of the Ka-50's built around 1999 actually probably lack TI's.

It's probably around 50 TI equipped helos maybe 70 since there are probably some Mi-8's as well but you never see or hear about them. There is no need to rush though, in war time 100-200 can be rushed into service virtually overnight.

Russia is producing around 220 military helicopters a year now, most for export, but the capability is to produce around 400 a year.

With Georgia foolish enough to send troops into Abhazia, that few attack hellis that operate at night could really bight the air force in the as-. With the promises made before Putins second term to modernize the heli fleet, I want to see some results. The naval Kamovs might not have TI, but,

"The flights of helicopters Ka-32/Ka-27 are possible in the day and night, both in simple, and in complicated meteorological conditions." http://warfare.ru/?linkid=1630&catid=260

so for their task no TI is required.

BTW there should more than a dozen Havocs, if the news of the 9 were true.

--------------------------------------------

you have to assume that some of the older kamovs and mi-28's are no longer operational since they were used for state acceptance trials and were heavily abused so even with the new deliveries the real number is probably only around 20 operational kamovs and around 12 Mi-28's.

If there is war with Georgia not much is necessary. George only has 10,000 men at arms. On paper they are as impotent as the Chechens. New Western weapons wont change the artillery and air power imbalance. Su-24's and MLRS will render any conventional resistance short lived. We've already fought a war with them once and it was an easier win than Chechnya. Nothing much has changed.

Warfare says there are 10 Ka-52s and 19 Ka-50s, I dont think the Ka-52s were in Chechnya so they should be fine. I trust your logic in the war scenerio, but Im assuming that its considering fighting in the Abhazia region alone with just air raids on the Georgian territory. If the war spreads into the rest of Georgia than youd have only 30 attack helis capable of taken on night missions.

--------------------------------------------

Georgian air defenses are pathetic, but I have not a doubt in my mind that an Osa can down a Mil/Kamov. Their Buk systems should also be of concern, granted most of them probably dont work, but even one rocket is incredibly dangerous to a pakced Mi-26.

--------------------------------------------

Whats the major upgrade in terms of Avionics, Radar and sub systems?

One of these upgraded,



and a new observation-sighting system.

--------------------------------------------