Russia sets aircraft production record: military aviation at the forefront

October 21 2025 23 702 33

In 2025, Russia will record aircraft production for the entire post-Soviet period. According to Vadim Badekha, CEO of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), production has increased by 50% compared to last year, primarily due to combat aircraft. This means Russian factories have built over 101 aircraft, more than in the record-breaking year of 2014.

The current growth was driven by the Su-35S multirole fighter and Su-34 frontline bomber. However, deliveries of new aircraft, including the Su-57, are often kept under wraps due to security requirements amid the ongoing special military operation.

The record was made possible by large-scale modernization of the enterprises: expansion of workshops, purchase of equipment, and hiring of personnel. Since 2021, the production of combat aircraft has increased severalfold. Experts note that the increase in military production the technique became a priority for state defense procurement, which temporarily limited the development of the civilian sector.

According to international sources, Russia currently ranks second in the world in terms of military aircraft numbers, with 4292. The United States leads with over 13, China is third, and India is fourth.

The growth in defense production is explained not only by demand but also by the military industry's resilience to sanctions. Unlike civilian aviation, combat programs were initially less dependent on foreign components. Civilian projects suffered more severely, but did not completely halt: approximately 160 aircraft and helicopters were built in 2024.

A breakthrough in the civilian sector is also expected as early as 2026, with the start of serial deliveries of the MS-21, Superjet, and Il-114-300. Furthermore, the promising Su-75 light fighter has been spotted undergoing testing, and serial production could begin as early as next year.

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Afinogen

+9

21 October 2025 09: 59

According to foreign sources, Russia currently ranks second in the world in terms of military aircraft numbers, with 4292. The United States leads with over 13, China is third, and India is fourth.

How many flight and technical schools are left in Russia? I know only one flight school, I think... Here we save money, and everyone around us steals billions, from governors to generals.
1. Wandering
  
  -7
  
  21 October 2025 10: 42
  
  I completely agree with you. There's an even more serious problem. Look at what's happening with flu shots. They're not being given. Soon, all the pilots will get sick, and there won't be anyone left to fly.
  1. Irokez
    
    0
    
    22 October 2025 11: 07
    
    I agree with you and your trolling 100%.
    1. Wandering
      
      0
      
      23 October 2025 22: 01
      
      This isn't trolling. Or do you doubt that the flu virus can't wipe out our pilots? Actually, any difficulty can have the same impact on the state of the Russian Armed Forces' aviation...if you really want it to.
2. svoroponov
  
  -3
  
  22 October 2025 13: 08
  
  This is for you, Afinogen, to raise awareness:
  https://ru.wikipedia.org
  1. Afinogen
    
    +1
    
    22 October 2025 16: 47
    
    And this is for you, for returning from heaven.
    https://yuri-ne-gagarin.livejournal.com/27247.html
    https://vk.com/wall168427279_8011
    1. svoroponov
      
      -3
      
      22 October 2025 16: 56
      
      They'll tell you worse things abroad. Google only shows one school. I'm a former pilot and always wondered what the current state of aviation and training is like, so I know a lot about it. And why don't you trust Wikipedia? It's a perfectly reliable read.
      1. Afinogen
        
        +3
        
        22 October 2025 17: 04
        
        Wikipedia is a pro-Western platform. Russia has repeatedly demanded that Wikipedia be inaccurate. And I provided legitimate links. And I heard about the remaining ONE flight school on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio, in the "Military Review" program, featuring Colonels Baranets and Timoshenko. Every weekend at 8:00 AM, people ask questions and they answer.
Real_pots

+6

21 October 2025 12: 21

Honestly, 101 aircraft a year for our vast country is like a cat's poop, and during the SVO period it's a laughing matter. I hope this is disinformation for NATO, but in reality they produce twice as many.
1. svoroponov
  
  -3
  
  22 October 2025 17: 15
  
  Don't write nonsense. It's quite a good result for such complex equipment, especially under such conditions. We've restored all the competencies, built modern production lines and even factories, and even started producing products themselves at a world-class level in complexity, including instrumentation and other equipment, having abandoned foreign supplies. And the quantity is growing year after year. But is it worth mindlessly churning out a lot of one thing? Modifications are underway, and the requirements for equipment are changing rapidly, so we need to quickly move on to something else that's already on the way (Tu-160 production has been restored, the MiG-31 has almost been restored in a modified form, the Su-75 has entered testing, a modification of the Su-57 has begun production, helicopters have started using our engines, and small aircraft are on patrol with them, and there are many other things, including in civil aviation). So this quantity is not bad at all, for now. And then they'll produce as much as they need. It just takes time. The USSR, too, produced the technology it had in more than one year, and it had far more factories than Russia, and there was extensive cooperation both within the country and with Eastern European countries through the Comecon. Then came the collapse, and all of that was destroyed by the collapse. But no matter. We've restored or are completing the construction of the entire aviation industry we need. And now we have our own aviation, and the issue of quantity is only a matter of time.
assault 2019

+8

21 October 2025 12: 49

Today, the Russian Federation ranks second in the world in terms of the number of military aircraft – 4292.

How many of these aircraft can take to the air and carry out combat missions?
How many pilots, engineers and technicians are left who are capable of flying, maintaining and repairing these airplanes and helicopters?
How many aircraft repair plants are ready to perform medium and major repairs of registered aircraft?

If we can count just a thousand "live" planes and helicopters, that will be a great success...

The civilian sector is in dire straits: in five years, the aircraft fleet has halved from 2200 to 1100 units. Meanwhile, there are almost no new aircraft, and existing ones continue to be decommissioned due to service life and a lack of spare parts. Aircraft waiting for repairs are being cannibalized for spare parts to somehow maintain the serviceability of the existing units.

The situation is the same as with tanks in 41: there were over 20 units listed, only half were in working order, and only a quarter made it to the battlefield; some broke down along the way, some ran out of fuel, and some didn't receive ammunition...
1. Real_pots
  
  -1
  
  23 October 2025 06: 35
  
  Over the course of five years, the number of aircraft fleets has halved from 2200 to 1100 units.
  
  You're making something up, sir, but how did you manage to transport 111 million passengers in 24, 5% more than in 23????
Pembo

+3

21 October 2025 13: 48

Not true. There are other figures, also based on foreign sources, that are half as much.

Let's summarize the foreign figures. If we believe them, the total number of aircraft used by the Russian military and security forces in 2025 will be at least 2239 units. We emphasize once again that the accuracy of this information rests with Western authors, and none of this data has been officially confirmed in our country.

Of these, 950 are combat aircraft. Of these, about 400 are more or less modern Su-30, 34, 35, 57.
1. Sergey Mitinsky
  
  -1
  
  22 October 2025 02: 21
  
  If "there are other numbers," it doesn't mean that "not other" numbers are not true.
  But you want it to be untrue so much that it's not worth arguing with you.
  In general, any individual waving figures "according to foreign sources" evokes awe at the "credibility" of their statements among similar individuals, although neither one nor the other has any idea what the actual figures are and what the purpose of these "foreign sources" is in broadcasting such different figures. But it is not customary to discuss these subtleties of such texts among your public.
  You want the numbers you're unhappy with to be untrue. So, to brighten up the overall depressing picture, you embellish it with details about the characteristics of modern Russian aircraft, portraying them as not quite modern, but merely "more or less" modern.
  It can be funny to read such empty chatter and casuistry.
  1. Pembo
    
    +2
    
    22 October 2025 11: 11
    
    I was simply interested in information on combat aircraft production when it was first disclosed. For example, from 2012 to 2020, the Aerospace Forces received 98 Su-35 aircraft, of which two Su-35s were lost by 2020. In 2021, they produced 21 combat aircraft (the lowest annual production), and in 2022, 29 combat aircraft, including four Yak-130 fighters. Then came triumphant reports about a several-fold increase in production, without any specific figures. You believe it, I don't.
    
    Therefore, to add color to the overall depressing picture, you embellish it with such details of the characteristics of modern Russian aircraft as not quite modern, but merely “more or less” modern.
    
    Our air force proved incapable of suppressing Ukraine's Soviet air defenses and ceased flying over Ukraine due to heavy losses, even before the arrival of Patriots and other Western air defense systems. That's a fact. A sizable Israeli air force—300 aircraft—completely destroyed Iran's air defenses and flew freely over Iran, bombing wherever they wanted.
    1. Sergey Mitinsky
      
      0
      
      22 October 2025 11: 30
      
      Firstly, the "considerable Israeli air force" failed to destroy Iranian air defenses and bombed from a respectful distance, not as it pleased or "what it wanted." The area from which Iran was pounding Israel with solid-fuel missiles, backed by swarms of drones, proved too much for Israeli aircraft, so the operation was terminated at Israel's behest, having failed to achieve any of its stated objectives.
      
      At the beginning of the operation, Ukraine's "Soviet" air defense was a tough nut to crack and far stronger than Iran's, despite lacking Patriot missiles, especially those equipped with man-portable air defense systems. It was Russia's frontline aviation that suffered the greatest losses in this scenario. Had Israeli aviation operated in the same way, the result would have been the same, if not worse.
      
      I didn't say that I believe "victorious reports about a several-fold increase in production, without specific figures," I said that you very easily believe figures from "foreign sources," including those that were the subject of your keenest interest and careful study "on the production of combat aircraft when it was opened."
      
      This information is open to the General Staff staff. You are obviously one of them.
      1. Pembo
        
        +1
        
        22 October 2025 11: 44
        
        This information is open to the General Staff staff. You are obviously one of them.
        
        Before the start of the Second Military Operation, information about concluded contracts for the supply of military equipment and their implementation was freely published on the government procurement website. I was too lazy to provide you with the individual details.
        
        In 2021, only 21 new combat and combat-training aircraft (one MiG-35S, one MiG-35UB, four Su-30SM2, six Su-34, five Su-35S, two Su-57, two Yak-130) were delivered in a row for the supply of new combat low-altitude aircraft to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation at the highest level.
        
        In 2022, 29 combat and combat-training aircraft were delivered to the Aerospace Forces: four Su-30SM2, ten Su-34M, seven Su-35S, six Su-57, and two Yak-130.
        
        Sergey Mitinsky
        
        0
        
        22 October 2025 11: 57
        
        All such information that is published "freely" is published for suckers and for foreign analysts whose task is to solve these puzzles with the answers published above.
        Namely Quote:
        
        The record was made possible by large-scale modernization of enterprises: expansion of workshops, purchase of equipment and hiring of personnel
        
        Whether such a record is possible is only known at the General Staff, of which you are obviously an employee and confirm to all of us that it is impossible.
        
        Pembo
        
        +1
        
        22 October 2025 15: 19
        
        Only the General Staff knows whether such a record is possible.
        
        So, you admit that when they announce in October that a record for aircraft production will be set in 2025, that's just a ploy for suckers, and only the General Staff knows the truth? A special propaganda campaign has been developed in the media for aircraft technology to pull the wool over the eyes of people like you.
        
        Sergey Mitinsky
        
        0
        
        22 October 2025 15: 22
        
        They are feeding noodles to people like you so that they can feed them to others like themselves, but I have already given my answer to this question and don’t think it’s necessary to repeat myself.
  2. JD1979
    
    +1
    
    22 October 2025 15: 40
    
    I understand that it's hard for a resident of the land of pink ponies to look at the real world and listen to anything other than the brave reports of the gentlemen of the parables. But unfortunately for you, reality always comes to the pink ponies and hurts them without asking their last names. It's funny to read your attempts to cling to your illusions of well-being, dismissing any truthful information that spoils your pink world. And numbers are what they are; we live in the age of numbers. You may not like them, but if out of the entire fleet of aircraft, which are already several times fewer than NATO, only about 4 are modern, then the outcome is logical, no matter how much you stick your head in the sand playing the furry ostrich.
    1. Sergey Mitinsky
      
      0
      
      22 October 2025 15: 49
      
      And who among us is playing the role of a furry ostrich?
      You, like this "informed" figure and part-time armchair strategist, are probably aware of exactly how many modern aircraft, and how many "more or less" aircraft, the Russian army has at its disposal?
      So, I'll give you a straight answer. Hide your valuable suggestions deep in a safe place (you know which one), where they're unlikely to be looked for.
      1. JD1979
        
        +1
        
        22 October 2025 16: 59
        
        Oh, you're probably no less "informed" than that))) and an armchair analyst, part-time on the payroll of a TV station, and of course you know how many modern aircraft the Aerospace Forces have, and how many are more or less in their possession. But you certainly won't tell anyone))) and official figures aren't binding on you, only your secret armchair-patriotic-pink-pony figures))
        
        Quote: Sergey Mitinsky
        So I'll answer you on the merits.
        
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqJVa0fl01w
        Where?!?! ))) Yours in essence!)))
        
        Quote: Sergey Mitinsky
        Hide your valuable suggestions deep in a safe place (you know which one) where they most likely won’t be looked for.
        
        Likewise, ostrich)) put on your rose-colored glasses and stick your head where it usually is on a patriotic ostrich frightened by reality))
        
        Sergey Mitinsky
        
        0
        
        22 October 2025 17: 38
        
        "Official figures" exist only in your inflamed brain.
        
        JD1979
        
        +1
        
        22 October 2025 18: 06
        
        Yes, yes, the government procurement website and the official UAC resource, the Ministry of Defense resources - we're off to PE))) Seryozha said we're nothing, of course Seryozha is more important and authoritative))
        
        Sergey Mitinsky
        
        -1
        
        22 October 2025 18: 14
        
        "The government procurement website" is just like a multiplication table to polish your unstable gray matter and simultaneously imagine yourself a Stirlitz in the rear of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
        Neither you nor this armchair strategist know anything about the Ministry of Defense's resources, but you can talk about it with briskness.
        
        JD1979
        
        0
        
        24 October 2025 14: 06
        
        Yes, yes, Stirlitz)) Of course, no one knows how many uniforms have been eaten))) But of course, no one sees a thing like an airplane, especially when they're stored openly. You talk so glibly about gray matter without knowing how to use it yourself and think you know all sorts of secrets, but they're secrets only for fairytale Ivanushkas like you)) All this puffing up here to pretend you know something is so ridiculous))
        
        Sergey Mitinsky
        
        0
        
        24 October 2025 17: 23
        
        You can immediately see a high-flying pilot, it reaches like a giraffe
        I would tell you who you are, but I'm afraid the moderators won't understand.
        Go cool off, uncle, and count the plywood airplanes while you're at it.
        
        especially when they are stored openly
        
        This is made of plywood, by the way. For Stirlitz, these planes are made from other materials.
        And you'll end up with a sum that's about four times greater than your and this person's estimates. But that's just my guess.
        And most importantly, after the calculations, don't forget to get lost with your calculations.
        Because secrets are not for Ivanushkas and not for chatterboxes and "accountants" like you and this guy. That's why they are secrets.
Vladimir1155

-4

21 October 2025 15: 46

To spite all the hopeless and Cypsophile Jews who denigrate our Motherland, I'll write... Glory to our aviators, let's further increase aircraft production! Downvote...
Irokez

-3

22 October 2025 11: 12

Quote: vladimir1155
downvote...

Why are you telling these potheads what to do? You should have kept quiet, and they wouldn't have realized it.
Alexey_Kalashnikov

+3

22 October 2025 12: 49
I'd really like to believe the figures cited. However, they're unverifiable. As far as we know, we've already built 2400 Armatas (but where are they?) Civil aircraft manufacturing is in dire straits—that's a fact. A reliable fact. What's really going on with military aircraft is unknown. What if the Ministry of Defense can't even supply Ratnik combat gear, yet it cranks out aircraft like hotcakes?
https://sovross.ru/2024/06/14/samoletostroenie-uskorilo-padenie-v-2024-godu/
1. Wandering
  
  0
  
  23 October 2025 22: 06
  
  As we know, we have already built 2400 Armata units, it seems (but where are they? (C) Please tell me the source from where we know that such a quantity was built.
GR777

0

25 October 2025 12: 28

I wish those "people" who torpedoed the production of the MiG-35 in Lukhovitsy were grabbed by the trunk and fried with a blowtorch.