2023-11-23 11:28:00
Ukraine: “Deadly Danger” Russia’s aviation is said to be “on the verge of collapse.”
November 23, 2023, 12:28 p.m. Listen to article
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Ukraine publishes documents that hackers are said to have obtained from Russia’s civil aviation authority. These confirm reports of serious aircraft incidents and massive problems with spare parts and repairs. The sanctions should be responsible for this.
Ukrainian military intelligence says it has successfully carried out a “special cyber operation” against the Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia, revealing massive deficiencies in the country’s civil aviation. This is said to emerge from leaked papers that Kiev posted online. These are “confidential official documents of the Russian Ministry of Transport”. Ukrainians list numerous incidents and problems with aircraft, spare parts and repairs. The Western sanctions are intended to “accelerate the collapse of aircraft.”
“Among the data obtained through hacking and penetration of enemy information systems is a list of daily reports from Rosaviatsia across Russia for a period of over a year and a half,” military intelligence wrote in a statement. He sees Russian civil aviation “on the verge of collapse”.
In January 2023 alone, 185 incidents were registered. At the top is the short-haul aircraft “Sukhoi Superjet” with 34 problematic cases. “In the first nine months of 2023, 150 cases of aircraft malfunctions were documented in Russia. In the same period of 2022, 50 such incidents were recorded. This means that the risk of flying in Russia has tripled,” summarizes military intelligence.
The most problematic areas of Russian aviation are said to be engines and landing gear as well as hydraulic systems, flaps and software. There are “serious difficulties in maintaining aircraft with high flying hours.”
Iranians are forced to repair aircraft
Due to the lack of skilled workers, Moscow is trying to switch aircraft maintenance to Iran, where the work is carried out without appropriate certification. Russia had 820 civilian aircraft of foreign production in March 2022, ten percent were subjected to non-certified repairs at that time, and now the figure is said to be almost 70 percent.
Moscow is also cooperating with Iran in the field of drones. Cheap Iranian kamikaze drones of the Shahed type have been regularly attacking Ukraine for a long time.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the acute shortage of spare parts in Russia has led to “so-called aircraft cannibalism.” This refers to the dismantling of some aircraft to repair others. A procedure that industry insiders reported on last year. Kiev estimates that by mid-2023, over 35 percent of aircraft will have been used for spare parts “donations.”
“Most Soviet An-2 aircraft are currently unable to take off because their engines were manufactured in Poland, but deliveries have stopped due to sanctions. In January 2023 alone, 19 different failures were recorded among the 220 Airbus aircraft located in Russia. In particular, 17 cases of smoke were detected on new aircraft used by Aeroflot. Of the 230 Boeing aircraft used in Russia, 33 technical failures of various aircraft systems were identified,” the statement said.
“Deadly Danger”
The analysis of the hijacked documents shows that a number of failures, particularly in connection with engines and chassis, are of a systematic nature. Kiev accuses Moscow of hiding the population’s problems and exposing them to “mortal danger.” The whole thing is a “direct consequence of the sanctions”, of which the ban on the delivery of aircraft and their spare parts has a particularly “painful” effect. The refusal to update software and the confiscation of Russian aircraft abroad also contribute to the poor situation.
According to media reports, the largest companies have now found ways to circumvent the sanctions. According to a report by the independent portal Wjorstka, the country’s four largest companies, Aeroflot, S7, Pobeda and Rossija, have imported components worth a total of around 100 million euros since the beginning of the year.
Russia is trying to move away from dependence on foreign aircraft parts. According to official information, the SJ100 aircraft, which was stripped of imported parts, completed its first test flight in the summer. Industry Minister Denis Manturov spoke of a success for the Russian aviation industry. According to official information, the indigenously produced prototype of the modernized Ilyushin Il-96-400M long-range aircraft also recently completed its first test flight.
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