Forbes on Georgia’s plans to produce Su-25: Russians bombed the factory that assembled them

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Georgia is ready to flip a switch and put into operation an old factory that once produced reliable Soviet Su-25 attack aircraft, Forbes magazine reported.

But don’t expect fresh factory Rooks that will flood the military aircraft market. A tiny country with a population of 3,7 million people can not afford to buy a lot of Su-25. And the world market does not require this.



Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili saidthat his country is ready to start its own production and sale of the Su-25, as many countries would like to acquire similar aircraft.

Currently, 485 units of the Su-25 are in service in 24 countries and this aircraft is really popular. It has thick armor and is able to effectively hit ground forces of the enemy.

The Su-25 entered service with the USSR in 1981, a few years after the A-10 attack aircraft appeared in the United States. At the same time, the final assembly of the aircraft was carried out at the Tbilisi Aviation Plant. Since 1978, there have been collected about 800 "Rooks" of components delivered from different parts of the USSR.

After the collapse of the USSR, Georgia was unable to maintain its plant. Russia began to produce and upgrade the Su-25 on its own. Ukraine also launched repairs and modernization at one of its enterprises.

In August 2008, during the South Ossetian conflict, intentionally or accidentally, the Russians bombed a plant in Tbilisi that assembled Su-25. The conflict ended in the defeat of Georgia, and Russia took control of South Ossetia. Tbilisi took several attack aircraft into the air, but the Russian Air Force managed to secure complete superiority in the sky, after which the Georgian Su-25s were forced to flee.

Now Georgia has 10 units of Su-25, modernized with the help of Israel, and it’s difficult imagineso that this country needs more Rooks. So do not expect the Georgian Su-25s to suddenly become hot commodities in the domestic or export markets.
  • Marcus Fülber/wikimedia.org
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7 comments
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  1. alexandrmakedo
    alexandrmakedo
    +7
    11 June 2020 12: 05
    Talented Georgians can put on the stream "Rooks" made in the form of bottles for their Borjomi. In what I advise and bless them.
    It is a pity that the ministerial posts there are not even Don Quixotes. Sancho Pansa. The knightly quandaries of the master are carefully dragging them.
  2. Sergey Latyshev
    Sergey Latyshev
    -4
    11 June 2020 15: 28
    Someone blundered nonsense over the hill, and now this is the 3rd article that it sucks .... (not to write about the price of gasoline).
  3. bear040
    bear040
    +5
    11 June 2020 18: 38
    Georgia will not be able to establish the production of full-fledged Su-25s, it does not have a full production cycle for this aircraft ...
  4. VolDir
    VolDir
    +2
    11 June 2020 19: 22
    In 1978, he completed practical training at the Tbilisi aircraft factory in the summer.
    Then they released the MiG-21 spark and they told us that the plant would soon switch to the production of a new attack aircraft. There were only sparks in the assembly shop.
    Engineers, test pilots, everything is entirely Russian.
    By and large, the Tbilisi plant is an assembly plant, to which components came from all over the Union, mainly from the Russian Federation.
    What they are about to launch now is not clear. Moreover, much of the nomenclature of parts for the Su-25 is now certainly not being produced in Russia.
    1. Sergey Tokarev
      Sergey Tokarev
      +1
      12 June 2020 07: 36
      Mandarin pickers simply do not know how the plane is made)))
  5. Valery Valeriev
    Valery Valeriev
    +2
    12 June 2020 23: 55
    The plant once assembled aircraft. In everyday life, this technology is called - screwdriver. The purpose of the plant was to provide work for the local population. Of course, they learned to do something, sharpened screws, nuts, washers, and even that wasn’t the whole nomenclature. Highly professional work, adjustment, acceptance tests, flight hours, were carried out under the supervision of teams from the production plants. In principle, Israel can also fulfill this function if it sees economic benefits, which I personally doubt. Georgia’s financial opportunities are nil, but does it expect the Papuan indigenous people, or from the Amazon, to stand in line for airplanes that Russia can stamp in any quantity, with decent quality, and at a very reasonable price? Expectations will turn into empty chores.
  6. Dormidontych
    Dormidontych
    0
    14 June 2020 10: 59
    Manufacturers of fecal matter cannot manufacture aircraft. These are too different products ...