Russia's aviation is said to be "on the brink of collapse"
Ukraine publishes documents that hackers are said to have obtained from the Russian civil aviation authority. These confirm reports of serious incidents involving aircraft and massive problems with spare parts and repairs. The sanctions are said to be responsible for this.
According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service, it has successfully carried out a "cyber special operation" against the Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia and uncovered massive deficiencies in the country's civil aviation. This is said to be the result of leaked documents that Kiev has posted online. These are said to be "confidential official documents from the Russian Ministry of Transport". The 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 intrusion into enemy information systems is a list of daily reports from Rosaviatsia covering the whole of Russia for a period of over a year and a half," the military intelligence service wrote in a statement. It sees Russian civil aviation "on the verge of collapse".
In January 2023 alone, 185 incidents were registered. The short-haul aircraft "Sukhoi Superjet" was at the top of the list 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 registered. This means that the risk of flying in Russia has tripled," summarizes the military intelligence service.
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 the maintenance of aircraft with high flight hours".
Iranians are forced to repair aircraft
Due to the shortage of skilled workers, Moscow is attempting to switch aircraft maintenance to Iran, where the work is carried out without appropriate certification. In March 2022, Russia had 820 foreign-made civilian aircraft in its possession, ten percent of which had undergone non-certified repairs at the time; this figure is now 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 some time now.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence, the acute shortage of spare parts in Russia has led to "aircraft cannibalism". This refers to the dismantling of some aircraft to repair others. A practice that industry insiders already reported on last year. Kiev estimates that over 35 percent of aircraft will have been used for spare parts "donations" by mid-2023.
"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 registered among the 220 Airbus aircraft in Russia. In particular, 17 cases of smoke were recorded among new aircraft used by Aeroflot. Of the 230 Boeing aircraft in service in Russia, 33 technical failures of various aircraft systems were detected," the statement said.
"Deadly danger"
The analysis of the hijacked documents shows that a number of failures, particularly in connection with engines and landing gear, are of a systematic nature. Kiev accuses Moscow of concealing the problems from the population and exposing them to a "deadly 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 had a particularly "painful" effect. The refusal to update software and the seizure of Russian aircraft abroad are also contributing to the bad situation.
However, according to media reports, the largest companies have now also found ways to circumvent the sanctions. According to a report by the independent portal Vyorstka, the country's four largest companies, Aeroflot, S7, Pobeda and Rossiya, have imported components worth a total of around 100 million euros since the beginning of the year.
Russia is trying to move away from its dependence on foreign aircraft parts. According to official information, the SJ100 aircraft, which has been 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. The domestically produced prototype of the modernized Ilyushin Il-96-400M long-haul aircraft also recently completed its first test flight, according to official information.
After analyzing the hacked documents, Ukraine's secret services accuse Russia of concealing serious issues in its civil aviation, including incidents with aircraft and massive problems with spare parts and repairs. This situation, they claim, is a result of the sanctions and has led to an "attack on Russia's aviation" through cyber warfare.
Amidst the sanctions and shortage of spare parts, there have been reports of "aircraft cannibalism" in Russia, where some aircraft are being dismantled to repair others. This practice is said to have been going on for some time and could lead to over 35% of aircraft needing spare parts by mid-2023.
(Note: The words 'Russia' and 'Ukraine' were already present in the original text and have not been included in the new sentences.)
Source: www.ntv.de
