Victory Day This Year Will Have Special Treat - Russia’s Very Own Fifth Gen Fighter Jet
The first joint rehearsal for the Victory Day parade took place at the Alabino Proving Ground today as the Air Force joined infantry and mechanized units. There were several new things in the column this year.
Artyom Potemin reports about what the people will see this year.
The parade's biggest premiere is the fifth-generation Su-57 jet fighter, a product of domestic engineering. These machines, whose characteristics are still classified, will fly over the country's main square on May 9th for the first time. Only the best will participate in the parade, so the pros don't need to learn the details. Each one knows exactly when they must appear "over the center," as servicemembers say. This time, 73 aircrews will participate in the parade.
At the beginning of April, they moved from their permanent bases to operational airfields in the Moscow Region and neighboring regions. The program includes the Tu-160 and Tu-95 MS strategic missile carriers, as well as Il-78 aerial refueling tankers and Mig and Sukhoi jet fighters. Per tradition, the viewers will be greeted by The Russian Vityazi (Knights), and The Strizhi (Swifts) aerobatic teams.
Dmitry Ryzhevolov, the deputy commander of the Strizhi aerobatic team: "Different aircraft from various units rendezvous in the air. Then, they all form up".
The planes will fly at 600 km/h at an altitude of 300-500 meters above Red Square. The helicopters will fly at 150 meters. Among them are K-52s, Mil Mi-28s, and the multifunctional Mi-35s. As a finale, Su-25 strike fighters will form a smoke plume in the sky in the tricolor of the Russian flag. Over 12,000 servicemembers, including officers and soldiers from various units and bases, cadets from military universities, and EMERCOM, will participate in the parade. Some of them, like the students from the Sevastopol branch of the Nakhimov Naval Academy, will participate in the parade for the first time.
The equipment column will be led by one of the symbols of victory: the legendary Soviet T-34 tank. It will be followed by the armored vehicles; BTR-82As, Msta-S self-propelled howitzers, Pantsir S-1 and the Yars surface-to-air missile systems, along with advanced prototypes of the Kurganets, the Bumerang (Boomerang), and, of course, the Armata. There will also be equipment that has only recently entered service, like the BMPT Terminator, the new version of the Tor-M2 missile system, and the Typhoon-K armored vehicle.
While air force, infantry, and mechanized columns train at the Alabino Proving Ground, the military staff and the equipment will be relocated to Moscow on April 30th, where the parade's final rehearsal will take place on May 6th. The pilots are confident that they'll perform flawlessly at the parade, as always, as long as the weather doesn't let them down.
Artyom Potemin, Sergey Soldatov, and Dmitry Maslennikov. Vesti.