By cutting them down to levels necessary for Russia's strategic aims. Russia isn't the United States, it simply can't gather a coalition and conduct something on the level of Desert Storm nor does it have to. Russia uses its military for prestige and to exert influence in the "near aboard" of the former Warsaw Pact. It doesn't need an expeditionary naval force nor can it afford one.What is the best way russians could have salvaged their airforce and navy after 1991
Any they can. They were desperate for any funding, fighter pilots were offering tourists flights to get flying time.Which weapon systems to sell
How could they have done it better ?
Absolutely not. Russia's nuclear deterrence is its best card and losing the boomers scuppers the deterrence value entirely. That in turn means retaining as many SSNs as they can afford, SSNs being the best defense for those boomers.Navy: A dozen or so Kilo subs for deterrent value-they were by then reliable, some icebreakers, and some costal guard ships. Everything else goes.
I mean, this is mostly what they actually did. The Su-35S and Su-30SM wouldn't exist if it weren't for India paying for development of the Su-30MKI. And IMO tech transfers and licensed production doesn't help the biggest problem the Russian aviation industry faced in the 1990s and 2000s: they weren't building anything. This led to severe industrial decay.Airforce: don't trade for TU-160s for debt reduction, the point is to cut the force as there's nothing more expensive than a second-best air force. Quite frankly it amazes me that large scale reductions took place in 1998-nearly a decade after the USSR went to hell, ape China and cut down on manpower and equipment now to invest in the future-no one is going to invade a nuclear power.
Ape France, find foreign partners to help offset the cost of development. There's still decent niches for someone who wants rugged and cheap aircraft or who isn't on great terms/can't rely on the US (Vietnam, Libya, etc...) and a lot of Warsaw Pact equipment out there that needs modernization and parts.
It maybe a bitter pill to swallow but tech transfers and licensing aerospace tech with the Chinese who are looking to develop their own indigenous capacity and modernize is a definite partner to consider. Actually give the pilots training time and participate in expeditionary war, one undervalued aspect of the air force is the institutional training and experience of the pilots as the VVS is painfully and impotently discovering in Ukraine.
As France shows, 4th gen is just fine unless you're up against the USAF, and if you are surrender or fight a guerilla war. The Russians can't beat NATO stop trying to do so at incredible expense-all Russia got IOTL is a few handcrafted prototypes with no practical use. Modernize or develop a mass-produced 4th gen aircraft for use and export.
In the past several years, appropriations for procurement have fallen so sharply that the VVS cannot hope to obtain its annual requirement of 250–300 new aircraft to replace those slated for retirement over the next ten years.
Realize that global power projection is done for the foreseeable future, so scrap or sell everything bigger than a destroyer. Keep the minimum number of ballistic submarines to maintain the nuclear triad necessary for great power status.What is the best way russians could have salvaged their airforce and navy after 1991
Specifically what platforms to keep operational and how many ?
Which weapon systems to sell
Which ones to retire ?
How could they have done it better ?
I think one of their priorities would not necessary be what type or how modern the aircraft is, just that the 4 big companies have enough orders to keep them afloat until the economy improves. Mikoyan, Sukhoi, Yakovlev and Tupolev. And it should also make sense monetarily, without dozen of different developments for one company and zero for the other, so, MiG 29M (9.15) entering production as the cheapest fighter aircraft that could touch upon the performance of the Su-27? No further Su-27 production until a major improvement is achieved to warrant its introduction? Or focus more on the export market and ride any success from there until the 2000s? YAK 141 is probably a must to keep the company alive. Don't think Tupolev really needs the Tu-160 production going, they already cornered the civilian airliner market, perhaps rather in this case just maintain the other military Tupolev aircrafts until the economy improves. (Don't really see much point in a bomber when the Su-24, Su-25 and Tu-22 are doing the job well enough in large enough numbers, requiring just modernization packages)Snip
My bad, I meant the nuclear ones.Absolutely not. Russia's nuclear deterrence is its best card and losing the boomers scuppers the deterrence value entirely. That in turn means retaining as many SSNs as they can afford, SSNs being the best defense for those boomers.
That's part of it, stop maintaining older stocks, cut the VVS more drastically. They aren't going to win a full-scale war with NATO, build it for the purpose of bullying the CSTO and overseas power projection instead. Scale is necessary for anything, even if its mostly for China.I mean, this is mostly what they actually did. The Su-35S and Su-30SM wouldn't exist if it weren't for India paying for development of the Su-30MKI. And IMO tech transfers and licensed production doesn't help the biggest problem the Russian aviation industry faced in the 1990s and 2000s: they weren't building anything. This led to severe industrial decay.
And large scale reductions did occur shortly after the fall of the USSR - by 1996 the combat strength of the Russian Air Force, as compared to the Soviet-era VVS, declined by half as older MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-27, Su-15, and Su-17 aircraft were retired. I don't think 1998 is any sort of real pivot point in terms of Russian air force numbers - by 2001 that combat strength was down to 2000 from 2500 in 1996, and has continued to decline ever since. What was going on in the late 90s was just a natural rate of attrition to retirement:
Agreed, factories and planes that are actually usable is better than any self-proclaimed "superplane" that "outflies" the best of America.
Ultimately, the 90s are just such a hell of budget pressures that it's hard to find anything to prevent severe decay in all sectors of the air force, from development to training. The one thing I can think of that might actually help is cancelling the Soviet-era fifth-gen programs immediately and plowing what little development money was spent on them before cancellation into the Su-34. They need that plane in production ASAP, just from an industrial perspective.
What countries would be most interested in Soviet equipment in the post Cold War era , especially the big ticket items, fighter planes, naval vessels
Will only refer to countries that would have been very interested in getting russian planes/ships, but didn't due to politics (ie Yeltsin kowtowing to the west), and/or while getting some russian weapons, didn't got everything they might have wanted. Also not listing things like SAMs and army weapons that are not part of the OP though they were definitely interested in those too. Same with helicopters of all kinds. Timewise i'm mostly refering to the 1990s and early 2000s.What countries would be most interested in Soviet equipment in the post Cold War era , especially the big ticket items, fighter planes, naval vessels
But what should they do with almost 600 mig29 and 400 SU 27 in 1991 ?Just focus on the Su-30 and Su-35
I think that’s the key Russia or even USSR IMHO should have recognized by the early 1980s that there is simply no point in competing with NATO and United States and barring their nukes their military power should be a distant 2nd after USAMy bad, I meant the nuclear ones.
That's part of it, stop maintaining older stocks, cut the VVS more drastically. They aren't going to win a full-scale war with NATO, build it for the purpose of bullying the CSTO and overseas power projection instead. Scale is necessary for anything, even if its mostly for China.
Agreed, factories and planes that are actually usable is better than any self-proclaimed "superplane" that "outflies" the best of America.
Nobody was interested. The Russians offered a major upgrade of the MiG-23 in the 90s and there was no interest at all. If they wanted Russian aircraft, they wanted Su-27s or MiG-29s.There are almost 900 relatively recently built mig 23s as well
Ofcourse by 2000s they are hopelessly obsolete however in the 1990s a lot of air forces still had the F16A , F4 , F5Es and mirage III/V in service , the mig23ML/MLD/P for them is a formidable opponent
Also 350 MiG-25PD is by no means an outdated aircraft in 1991 , short of F-15 nothing else can kill it
And in 1991 only Japan Israel and KSA had the F-15
Finland? The country that IOTL couldn't go Western-aligned fast enough?^^^ I’ll add Finland , Indonesia , Algeria , Peru and Sri Lanka to the list