Another meeting of both dictators could not pass without another blunder, in particular in the military sphere.
According to Lukashenko, it is possible to launch the production of combat jets at aircraft repair factories in Belarus. At the same time, the Belarusian dictator even named the model of the plane: the MiG-25, and only then specified that it was a close air support jet.
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All things considered, it is unclear whether the Belarusian military-industrial complex will look up the documentation for the MiG-25 fighter, which made its first flight in 1964, and convert it into a close air support aircraft.
Or he is talking about the Su-25. Because it is already a habit for both dictators to get confused in the names of planes.
In particular, both of them in July 2022 could not decide on the Belarusian plane that would be used for nuclear bombing. They were talking either about the Su-35 (which is not in service in Belarus) and then about the Su-25, which is technically capable of this, but only in the role of a disposable unit.
Then there was a theory that it would be a Su-24 front-line bomber. However, most likely they meant the Su-30SM, Belarus has four of them in service.
But talking about the serial production of an attack aircraft in Belarus, then most likely it’s the Su-25, which is being repaired and partially modernized in Belarus at the 558th Aviation Repair Plant in Baranovichi. But there’s a great difference between repairing and manufacturing.
By the way, the production of this aircraft from scratch in the USSR was carried out at the Tbilisi Aviation Plant, and the Su-25UB training and combat version was assembled in small quantities in Ulan-Ude. But since 1992, the plant stopped its production, subsequently releasing only one prototype of the modernized Su-39 and Su-25UBM.
Inconclusive statements about the resumption of production in Ulan-Ude were made in 2010, when it was announced that the assembly of the Su-25UB would be resumed. In 2012, it was reported that serial production of the Su-25 with a new index was about to begin. But no further information could be found. Moreover, in 2017, the russian government announced that the Su-25 will never be mass-produced again.
There was also active talk in russia that the Su-25 will be replaced by the Su-34 front-line bomber, and if something similar is really needed, then they will make an attack version of the Yak-130.
Most likely, there were attempts to resume the production of the Su-25 attack aircraft in russia, but in vain, when the presence of all the design documentation does not mean the possibility of serial production of the aircraft.
The preparation of the serial aircraft plant in Tbilisi for the production of a new aircraft took three years, from 1976 to 1979.
Of course, Lukashenko can propose to set up such a production. Moreover, he can actively lobby for it by extracting money and technology from russia. But even if their ally agrees, it is unlikely that serial Su-25s assembled from scratch will take off in the next few years.
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