UNI, Moscow: Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Mikhailov has said the new Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber has shown good results during its flight tests.
''We have developed the Su-34 fighter-bomber, which was previously known as the Su-27-IB, General Mikhailov told reporters. ''This warplane is here for everyone to see and it is performing very well during tests,'' he said.
Gen Mikhailov said experts first conducted all the ground tests, before the flight tests. During the ground tests one engine was destroyed, he pointed out.
''There are plans to resume tests of the Antonov An-70 military-transport aircraft. We have now eliminated all of the D-27 power-plant's drawbacks,'' the General said.
Yet another An-70 would have faced problems mid-air, if we allowed flight tests, before completing ground tests and exposing all drawbacks in the R-27 power-plant, he said.
Referring to the immediate task of the Russian Air Force, Gen Mikhailov said that it gave priority to upgrading the available air-defence weaponry.
''As far as air-defence weapons are concerned, we focussed on the modernisation of operational systems, also moving to develop the S-300 Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) complex,'' he said.
