ABSTRACT
The sophisticated Russian aircraft such as the MiG-29 and the Sukhoi-27 suffered from the long Soviet and Russian reputation for poor maintenance and a shortage of spare parts. The former satellite air forces were beginning to come to the end of the maintainable life of their aircraft such as the MiG-21, though the Israelis were coming forward with an inexpensive upgrade. The fact that the former Eastern Bloc air forces were going to need new aircraft placed the Russian aircraft industry and the former USSR factories in the Ukraine in a bind. The Soviet carriers were either in port or being sold off. And the Air Defense and Air Forces were heading for a merger. The invisible infrastructure upon which the current Russian and Ukrainian air services are based is in turmoil. One consequence of the breakup of the USSR was that Aeroflot lost its monopoly of civil aviation.
