Russia opens largest post-Soviet air show

Chill in U.S.-Russia relations
The show follows recent moves to reassert Russia’s military strength, including last week’s joint military exercises with China — the first ever on Russian soil — and Putin’s announcement that long-range bombers had resumed patrols over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.

The resumption of these patrols, which had been discontinued after the fall of the USSR, comes amid a growing chill in U.S.-Russian relations. Moscow has bristled over Washington’s criticism of Russia’s democracy record, objected to U.S. missile defense plans and opposed the war in Iraq.

Felgenhauer called the patrols “a return to the Cold War” and said the “poor state of Russian bombers” presented a risk of a serious accident.

Although there was concern about Russia’s increasingly aggressive posture, one U.S. State Department official scoffed at the decision.

“If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that’s their decision,” spokesman Sean McCormack said.

New business
Russian officials said last Wednesday they planned to spend about $250 billion to build about 4,500 civilian aircraft by 2025 as part of a program to revive the industry.

The investment comes at a crucial time for the civilian airline industry. Russia’s passenger airlines own about 2,500 aircraft — just 100 of them Western-made models. But those 100 planes, accounting for just 4 percent of the fleet, carry nearly one-third of all passengers.

On Tuesday, the industry received good news: Indonesia signed a contract with Russia for six Su-30 fighter jets worth a total of about $350 million, the news agency Interfax reported.

U.S. giant Boeing Co. and Russia’s OAO VSMPO-Avisma signed an agreement to create a joint venture to make titanium forgings for use in production of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, Russian news agencies reported.

Specialists with Russia’s space agency and the European Space Agency are slated for talks next month on creating a piloted spacecraft for missions to the international space station, as well as possibly the moon and Mars, reports said.

Alyona Gorobova, 24, a nurse with an ambulance at the show, watched with pride as jets screamed overhead.

“I don’t doubt that our planes are the best,” she said. “We just have to show it to the rest of the world.”

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