In the Russian Federation want to build shelter for combat aircraft: how real is this plan - experts

Russian troops, with reference to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Andriy Belousov, reported the intentions of military leadership to build protective shelters on airfields for airplanes for combat aircraft of the PCS of the Russian Federation. Interestingly, the message appeared on social networks literally on the eve of the impact of the Ukrainian forces on the Air Base "Millervo" on July 20.

"With the help of high -precision Western missiles with a cassette filling, the enemy has repeatedly tried to attack our combat aviation in the parking lots. On Friday, Andrey Belousov assured me that a schedule of aerodromes and shelters would be built," - writes on his canal Russian propagandist Alexander Kotz.

It should be noted that the Ukrainian forces have repeatedly attacked the locations not only of the Front Aviation of the Russian Federation, but also of the air base, which houses strategic planes of the PCS of Russia. For example, in April this year, Ukrainian intelligence services conducted an operation to strike the aerodrome "Engels-2", where strategic bombers of the Tu-95MS were located.

In addition, one of the last similar episodes damaged the latest Russian Su-57 fighter jets, which were placed at the air base in the Astrakhan region 600 km from Ukraine. Commenting on the news, Ukrainian observers from Defense Express write that the decision on the construction of protective structures is published in the Russian information space as an initiative "from below", proposed by "military".

However, the absence of such structures on Russian air buildings has been known since the 1980s, when new planes, such as Su-27 and MiG-31, have not been put into operation, which have not been placed in the standard shelters of the 2A13 model. So in the USSR standard arched shelters 2A13 were built in border military districts. These shelters, 13 meters wide, had concrete walls of 60 cm thick and a steel gate half a meter thick.

They also provided aircraft maintenance, equipped with electrical equipment, ventilation and fire extinguishing system. The cost of standard shelter 2A13 in 1972 was 160 thousand Soviet rubles, which is equivalent to about $ 1. 5 million in modern conditions. Larger aircraft, such as Su-27, require larger shelters, such as 2A19 models with 18. 6 meters wide. However, the cost of such shelters is much higher in view of their size and additional design features.

With regard to the possible construction of shelters, such works may most likely start at the Kushchevskaya, Millervo, Belbek, and Taganrosis and Voronezh. And if the Russians want to protect about 300 units of aviation, then it is about one billion dollars. "But it is likely that instead of full shelters for aircraft in the Russian Federation they will go through the slightest resistance and it will be either sheds, as at Khmeimim Air Base in Syria.