Will the Georgian Su-25 take off?

On Monday, May 8, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that his country intends to produce not only grenade launchers, grenades and missiles, but also planes in accordance with NATO standards. “Today we have absolutely all resources, technical, intellectual and human, to repair, rebuild, manufacture and sell the Su-25 on our own, by our own efforts. There are many conflicts in the world, and countries express high interest in this type of aircraft for defense. Besides the fact that our country can use this opportunity for defense purposes, it can also become a commercial project,” he said in an interview with PalitraNews.

Garibashvili’s plans, of course, are serious. However, the question is - how realizable are they? Especially, if it concerns the creation of such a complex sphere as the military aircraft industry, requiring the presence of high-class specialists and high-tech production in a number of industries.

It is worth noting that strike attack aircraft are specific vehicles (and this is not a defensive weapon at all, as Garibashvili thinks, but an offensive one, as they are intended to directly support the ground forces over the battlefield, as well as destroy objects), and not everyone can afford them army of the world. Today they are in service only in Russia (Su-25), USA (A-10) and Ukraine (Su-25). However, Ukraine does not count, since the "drying" went to her by inheritance from the USSR.

The Su-25, the nickname “Grach (Rook)” (a T-8 product, according to NATO codification: Frogfoot - “Frog's Paw”), first took off on February 22, 1975, and aircraft of this type have been in operation since 1981. Now the Su-25 and its modifications are gradually being replaced by the Su-34.

Its American  analogue A-10 Thunderbolt ("Stormbreaker" -  American pilots called it “Warthog”), perhaps even older - first flight  was made on May 10, 1972, and  was modified as  the A-10A since 1977 , and in the modification of A-10C - since 2007. However, this car is completely satisfied with the Pentagon.

Therefore, it is completely incomprehensible why it is necessary to bring the Su-25 - this old car in accordance with NATO standards, if the alliance has its own, quite reliable aircraft.

According to experts, TAP (Tbilisi Aviation Plant), which employs approximately 200 people (at the end of the 1980s there were 14.000 employees, and  the enterprise was the site for the final  assembly of the Su-25. Spare parts were received from other republics of the USSR); today one workshop of the former seven is still capable of repairing and modernizing the MiG-21 and Su-25 aircraft, as well as the Mi-8, Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters.

However, the production of Su-25 aircraft in a TAP with authentic quality and with the mass of components that only Russia has is impossible for a number of reasons. Moscow imposed an embargo on arms supplies to Georgia; it refuses to sell spare parts not only for production, but also for servicing nine such machines remaining in Georgia.

It should also be noted that Georgia has no experience in the development of aircraft, aircraft engines and their components. In this connection, even talking about the creation of aviation products is difficult, and the organization from scratch of an entire aviation industry.

In recent years TAP has been repairing and modernizing airplanes and helicopters, produces spare parts for aircraft. It is involved  in the development of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and light civil aircraft in collaboration with Israeli - Elbit Systems Ltd. and Elgad Industries (both Israeli companies); Ascend AIR - Aircraft Investor Resources (USA), Kelowna Flightcraft (Canada) GML - Growth Management Limited (Great Britain.) It can hardly serve as a sufficient basis for the formation of a design school for the military-industrial complex (MIC.) Such a school has been formed for decades. No less time is required for the training of highly qualified engineers and technical personnel of the military-industrial complex.

Such a school has been formed for decades. Training of highly qualified engineers and technical personnel of the military-industrial complex also requires much time. Therefore, TAP today is a place of assembly of aircraft from parts, assemblies and other components produced at various plants (electronics in China, optics in Israel, engines in the USA or Europe, etc. By the way, production of armored capsules has not yet been resolved.) In principle, he is still able to produce a “screwdriver assembly” of the Su-25, Su-25T, Su-25BM, but in much smaller quantities.  The technological base of the plant is unlikely to provide modern and authentic quality of products of Sukhoi Company PJSC, even with the support of the Israeli company Elbit Systems Ltd.

However, this is only part of the problem. Another, no less important part of it is that not all leading European countries have a complete production cycle of aviation equipment (including a training system for specialists). What then to say about Georgia? It will not be able to establish even a quarter of such a cycle. Russia, as already mentioned, refuses to supply it with parts and components for the production of an attack aircraft.

Therefore, in order to restore production in the TAP, Tbilisi decided to use their foreign counterparts instead of Russian components. For this purpose, a program of deep modernization of the Su-25 was adopted. Initially, Israel showed interest in this program and a joint version of Israeli and Georgian engineers developed a modernized version of the Su-25 KM (Scorpio). The first prototype took off in April 2001; it had a much more advanced Avionics and was compatible with NATO aviation munitions.

However, launching the production of Scorpion is apparently not destined - one thing when it comes to modernizing electronic equipment, and another when it comes to replacing almost all systems in an airplane. Here, even the support of Israel was not enough and things did not go further than prototypes.

At the same time, Scorpio has not been agreed upon (and is unlikely to be ever agreed upon) with the Su-25 developer, “Sukhoi Company” PJSC. Therefore, this entire line of machines, if it was put into production, would be counterfeit products. As a rule, such planes can be sold at half price exclusively in the gray zone, to the countries of the “third world.”