In a sad effort to snatch back some of the glory Ukraine’s Air Force has enjoyed with its fleet of cast-off former Soviet Mig-29s, Russia is even sending the old fighters out to conduct a tawdry “Z” pattern fly-by. This year, Russia is deploying an incredible 16 Mig-29s-the ‘70’s war horse will represent more than 25 percent of the fixed-wing aircraft Russia plans to fly over Red Square on May 9. After relegating the “Fulcrum” to the back benches in prior parades-only 4 Mig-29s passed over Red Square in the last two Victory Day celebrations-Russia is highlighting the old Soviet-era jet in a big way. Instead, the Victory Parade overflight seems set to celebrate Russia’s lost military glory, represented by a creaky fleet of Mikoyan Mig-29 fighter jets. After loosing more than 10 modern Sukhoi Su-30 and Su-34 fighter aircraft on the battlefield, none are showing up for the parade. Russia’s fixed-wing aircraft are also facing serious losses over Ukraine. The message sent by Russia’s planned military fly-over is even worse.Īfter losing at least 39 helicopters in Ukraine, Russia can only muster 15 helicopters for parade duty, down from 23 in 2021. Russia’s Parade Celebrates Ukrainian Achievement If Russia’s military parades are any guide, the Russian Army’s modernization is little more than an overhyped mirage.īeyond simply emphasizing the strain Ukraine is placing on Russia’s army, the 2022 Victory Parade suggests that Russia’s armored vehicle production capabilities are crumbling. Another example from the 2015 parade, the VPK-7829 Bumerang armored car, is stuck with an unchanging inventory of 3 parade-ready platforms. First shown in the 2015 Victory Parade, production seems to have frozen. Next week, Russia is set to display only three copies of the Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicle. Along with the T-14 Armatas, there’s no evidence Russia has been able to build up other critical components of their next-generation armored vehicle fleet. Other new systems-armored vehicles that might not be quite ready for battle but certainly should, at this point in their development, be available in sufficient numbers for parade duty-just haven’t grown. And, despite all the ambitious talk about how the new tank was out “in the field” and working through production kinks in Syria, Russia somehow only has three examples ready to show in the Red Square parade-the three-tank parade fleet has remained steady for three years now.
Russia’s new main battle tank, the T-14 Armata, made a Victory Parade debut in 2015. After revealing a number of new-and much hyped-armored vehicles in 2015, Russia’s arms factories have evidently been unable to build parade-ground ready demonstrators. Tank transporters have never gotten such recognition in prior parades.Įven more interesting is that Russia seems unable to grow the number of advanced weapon systems. In a sorry effort to boost the number of systems on parade, the Russians are even highlighting the lowly tank transporters employed to carry Russia’s poor-performing unmanned ground system, the Uran 9. Artillery and multiple rocket launch systems have mostly disappeared, represented by a single class of 152 mm self-propelled howitzer and an “updated” version of the old 122mm Grad multiple rocket launcher-a battlefield system that was cutting edge back in the 1960’s. Only 3 BMP-3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles will parade through Red Square. The number of Russian Infantry Fighting Vehicles participating in the parade was cut by 50%.
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