This year, several types of military aircraft will be tested in the Arctic, including Su-34 bombers, Su-35 fighters and Be-200 amphibians.
They will be tested for their readiness to operate in the Arctic and in the area of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This was told to Izvestia by sources in the defense ministry.
Previously, Su-34s were not based in the Arctic. In 2016, the then commander of the Northern Fleet, Vice Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, said that a link of Su-34 and Il-78 refueling aircraft could be placed on the Franz Josef Land archipelago, which would increase the range of aviation.
Arctic conditions will be new for the Be-200 amphibians. The Defense Ministry has ordered six of these machines, which can take off from both land and water. They are planned to be used in search and rescue, and then in anti-submarine operations. The first of them has already entered the training center of Yeysk. The car was transferred from the warm Azov region to the northernmost airfield in Russia — on the Land of Alexandra.
