Anyone who likes the A-10 Warthog will know that the Su-25 Rook is one of the most resilient flying tanks, but the Republic of Georgia will re-tool and roll the plane for takers!
Reports reveal that Georgia is about to begin and power up a factory capable of building the Su-25 in numbers for anyone willing to arm up their wings with these rugged anti-tank busters, reported by Forbes.
There will not be a flood of Rooks to glut the warplane industry because the small country with a total number of 3.7 million people may not have the money to get the Su-25. Another is whether nations are willing to spend on the outdated plane too.
According to the Georgian minister of defence Irakli Gharibashvili, their nation has all the resources to build the plane, restore, and make more Su-25s for customers.
Compared to supersonic jets, the slower plane that comes as simple and survivable used to be on the frontlines of several air forces. About 485 of them are maintained in 24 nations air wings and is the 3% of piloted and with a fixed-wing, ground combat specialist.
It is a flying tank with thick armour with a straight wing for slow flying, and maximized for a low-level ground attack on light ground infantry.
Su-25-aged airframe still in service
Soviet Russia enters the Su-25 with the Soviet air force in 1981, soon after the A-10 was fielded as a ground attack and tank killer, both planes came into service during the US-Russian cold war. They were made to deal with tank forces on each side, flying iron tubs, according to Popular Mechanics.
Americans upgraded, the Soviets downgraded
In the start, both were roughly equivalent but the A-10 got modernized with a new electronics suite. It was also toplined with a counter-measures and laser guides ordnance like the Hellfire missiles. Compared to this, the Su-25 used obsolete systems, poor ECM or no countermeasures, no laser guide weapons in the 80s and 90s. Pound for pound, the A-10 just outclassed the Rooks which were easy to shoot down, even by infantry.
The Su-25s were made by the Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing that was located in a factory based in the Georgian capital during the Soviet era. About 800 rooks rolled out starting in 1978.
The Soviet Union ceased to be in 1991, Georgia got the factory used to build the Rooks was left untouched. Siberia became the new factory to make rooks and upgrade them, though they were upgrading their Su-25s on their own.
Only a few Rooks were assembled to add more planes to their air force. They offer to update 300 of Russia's Su-25s at their plant.
But in 2008, the two nations had hostilities with the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia. Georgia sent 10 Rooks up against Russian but retreated due to Russian air superiority, noted in CBS News.
Georgia troops were attacked by the plane they help make, but three enemy Su-25s were shot down too, confirmed by Eurasia Net.
The outdated Georgian missiles were not detected by the updated Rooks, causing ECM failure and they were shot down.
Russia Rooks were not updated enough for the modern battlefield and very disadvantaged as the Georgian Rooks.
Despite Irakli Gharibashvili come-ons to get Georgian Su-25 Rook Ground Attack Planes, many of them are lying around with more facilities to update them as well.
But don't expect Georgian Su-25s to suddenly become a hot item on the domestic or export markets. There are hundreds of old Su-25s lying around in warehouses, bunkers and factories. Several facilities possess the expertise to upgrade them.
Related article: Russia Getting New Su-34 Fighter Bombers to Replace Su-24 After Turks Shot It Down
