Firsthand. Interview with a pilot of the air group of the Russian Air Force about the problems and prospects of the young replenishment of the Air Force

Due to the imperfection of the system of monetary allowance, the Russian Air Force began to lose young personnel. As a source in the Air Force told Izvestia, out of 80 young pilots who entered the Air Force combat units last year, almost 60 have already begun the dismissal procedure, having not served in the army for even a year. If the situation does not change, by 2015 the army will lose almost 70% of combat pilots.

The pilots themselves explain that they were deceived with money and deprived of the opportunity to fly.

Last year, when we were graduating, we were promised that from January 1, 2012 we would receive 100,000 rubles each. In reality, they received about 60 thousand rubles. And now they’ve also changed the flight rate: now, if we don’t fly 100 hours, we’ll get 37 thousand on our hands. I’d better go to Aeroflot, ”the Su-25 pilot, who is now undergoing an air flight commission before dismissal.

He explained that 70% of the salary of a combatant pilot is an allowance "for special conditions service" and the award "for the conscientious and effective performance official duties". They are charged only to those who have fulfilled the established norm of flight hours per year. And from January 1, 2012, this norm was 100 hours per year for front-line aviation pilots. This is exactly how much you need to spend in the air for everyone who flies on combat "dryers" and "MiGs" - Su-27, MiG-29, MiG-31, etc.

At the same time, if it is not difficult for transport aircraft pilots who spend 2–3 hours in one flight to meet the norm (for Il-76, Tu-154 and other transport aircraft, the norm is 140–150 hours, this is 50–60 flights), then pilots -fighters that spend only 20–30 minutes in the air per flight need to make 200 sorties in order to fly 100 hours.

The commander of one of the squadrons of long-range bombers explained to Izvestiya that it had become customary to keep young people at the helm in the Air Force since the difficult 1990s, when there was not enough fuel and serviceable machines (often there were no more than 2-3 serviceable aircraft in the air regiment). Now aces are earning at the expense of the underdevelopment of the young.

Due to the released hours, senior pilots receive an additional flight time, pass the qualification requirements "pilot-sniper", "pilot-instructor", etc. and, accordingly, their monetary allowance is growing significantly, - explained the interlocutor of Izvestia.

According to him, in February 2012, on the only Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the flight hours allotted for young ship pilots were transferred to the commanders of the 279th separate air regiment. Because of this, young people did not receive admission to solo flights and, upon returning to the port, were transferred from naval aviation.

And this happens everywhere, - said the interlocutor of Izvestia.

Not only were we canceled free travel to the place of vacation (with the exception of remote regions) and reduced medical care for family members, since the end of last year they stopped issuing flight uniforms - overalls, jackets, boots. You have to buy with your own money. All this can be put up with only if the allowance is high, - the squadron commander explained.

At the same time, in civil airlines, pilots are waiting for 240 thousand rubles a month (for the assistant commander of the ship, who has just started flying), free medical care, free flights to any point, including abroad, preferential mortgage lending and other bonuses.

The only way for young pilots to leave the army is to become unfit for health. In this case, they should be transferred to ground work, and the pilot has the right to refuse it. Now only in one of the branches of the Third Central Military Clinical Hospital named after Vishnevsky, 28 young lieutenants have not passed the air-flight commissions (VLK).

In total, since the beginning of the year, about 300 military pilots, navigators and other members of aircraft crews have not passed through the country. Of these, about 60 military personnel are pilots of 2010-2011 years of release. For comparison: last year, 75 people did not pass the VLK, of which there were only seven young lieutenants.

In addition, due to age and health conditions, about 15 experienced pilots are decommissioned every year. In 2015, about 350 pilots will have to leave the helm due to reaching the service life limit of 25 years.

At the same time, flight schools until 2003 produced only 100 pilots, and since 2003 they have produced an average of about 270 specialists, of which only 80 take the helm. The rest are appointed to the positions of navigators, on-board operators, etc. It will take about two years of additional training to teach them how to fly a plane on their own.

Civil and military pilots (pilots) take to the skies almost every day, and in some cases, their sorties can be carried out several times a day. Obviously, it is worth emphasizing that the profession of a pilot, regardless of whether the pilot is the commander of a civil or military aircraft, is dangerous, and, therefore, the pilot's salary will certainly be high.

Indeed, today qualified pilots are highly valued, because thanks to the actions of experienced aviators, even a plane that is out of control can be landed without unnecessary casualties. And, here, it should be emphasized that the more experience a pilot has, the higher the pilot's salary will be.

Specific pilot salary figures can vary from minimum to maximum, depending on which airline the aircraft commander works for, as well as on what tasks are assigned to him. If we take the UK, then the minimum salary for a pilot here is about 32 thousand dollars a year, while the maximum may exceed 120 thousand dollars. As for the highest salary for a pilot, it is fixed in China, where the pilot of a Boeing 747-400 cargo plane receives over 250 thousand dollars a year, which naturally makes such a profession very promising.

Quite often, a pilot's salary depends on what type of aircraft he flies. If this is a small light aircraft, then most likely the pilot will have to rely on a relatively small salary, but if it is a giant like the Airbus A380, then the pilot’s salary will probably be close to the maximum, since the management of this complex air machine requires maximum qualifications.

As for the salary of a pilot in Russia, here it is not as high as we would like, which often leads to a leak of the flight crew. For example, civil aviation pilots working for Aeroflot receive about 72 thousand dollars a year. Nevertheless, qualified specialists are really needed by domestic aviation, and therefore, a number of air carriers specifically stimulate the work of experienced pilots by offering them wages in the amount of 100-120 thousand dollars a year.

As for military pilots (pilots), on average they earn 110 thousand rubles per month. L a lieutenant who served 1 year earns an average 40 thousand rubles per month. Officers who have served from 5 years can be content with a salary 70-90 thousand rubles per month. But let's not forget that the State obliged all military pilots provide housing.

Be that as it may, the main thing for the pilot of any aircraft is not money, but a unique opportunity to rise into the sky again and again, towards the endless horizon.

During World War II simple collective farmers gave heroes personalized tanks and planes

Victory in the Great Patriotic War was forged not only at the front, but also in the rear. “Days and nights at the open-hearth furnaces our Motherland did not close its eyes,” these words from the song reflect the true picture of those days. But there was another source of resources for the front - the personal contributions of citizens to the Defense Fund for the purchase military equipment for the Red Army.

The newspaper Pravda of December 18, 1942 published a message from F. P. Golovaty to I. V. Stalin:

Quote:
Moscow, Kremlin, Comrade Stalin
Dear Joseph Vissarionovich!
Seeing off my two sons to the front, I gave them a father's order - to mercilessly beat the German invaders, and for my part I promised my children to help them with selfless work in the rear.
Having learned about your congratulatory telegram to the Saratov collective farmers and collective farmers and wishing to help the heroic Red Army to quickly destroy the Nazi bands, I decided to give all my savings to the construction of combat aircraft.
The Soviet government made me a prosperous collective farmer, and now, when the Motherland is in danger, I decided to help her with everything I can. Everything that I have earned with my honest work on the collective farm, I give it to the fund of the Red Army. On December 15, I contributed 100 thousand rubles to the State Bank and ordered a combat aircraft as a gift to the defenders of the Motherland. Let my war machine smash the German invaders, let it bring death to those who mock our brothers, innocent Soviet people. Hundreds of squadrons of combat aircraft, built with the personal savings of collective farmers, will help our Red Army clear our sacred land of German invaders more quickly.
Collective farmer of the Stakhanovets collective farm of the Novo-Pokrovsky district of the Saratov region Ferapont Golovaty

Newspaper "Pravda", December 18, 1942:
Quote:
Collective farm "Stakhanovets" of the Novo-Pokrovsky district of the Saratov region
Ferapont Petrovich HOLOVATOY
Thank you, Ferapont Petrovich, for your concern for the Red Army and its air force. The Red Army will not forget that you gave all your savings to build a combat aircraft.
Please accept my regards.
I. STALIN

"Gift to my son" - a step towards immortality
Ilya Andreevich and Maria Filippovna Shirmanov from the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic donated all their savings to the construction of a tank for their only son Andrei, who served in the 162nd tank brigade.

The tank with the inscription "Gift to my son", built at the Ural plant, was handed over to the crew in early June 1943. The fighter's parents attended the rally on the occasion of the transfer of the car. They were photographed together on the armor. The photograph shows the overworked hands of Ilya Andreevich.
Unfortunately, parental love did not save Andrei. Senior sergeant, gunner, Andrey Shirmanov bravely fought on a nominal tank for almost a year, and died heroically along with the crew in a battle near Chernivtsi.

Everything is for the Victory
During the war years, the Defense Fund received from the citizens of the USSR over 16 billion rubles, 13 kg of platinum, 131 kg of gold, 9519 kg of silver, 1.8 billion rubles of jewelry, more than 0.5 billion rubles of deposits in savings banks (in 1941 prices), in the amount of more than 4.5 billion rubles of government bonds. These funds were used to build 2.5 thousand combat aircraft, more than 30 thousand tanks and self-propelled guns, 8 submarines, 16 military boats and many other military equipment.
The Yak-7 “For Victory!” fought for their homeland. Wolf Messing, tank "Russian Song" of the Voronezh Russian Folk Choir, heavy tank IS-2 "Vladimir Mayakovsky", acquired by the artist Yakhontov, KV "Merciless", built for the Stalin Prize of the famous Kukryniksy, T-34 "Grozny", built for the State Prize of Alexei Tolstoy... The tanks "Baikal fisherman" and "Yeisk collective farmer", "Verkhovsky railway worker" and "Verkhoyansk hunter", "Makeyevsky schoolboy" and "Komsomolets Nordvik", "Malyutka" and "Tanya" smashed the enemy. The enemy was beaten by the crews of military vehicles "Amur Avenger", "For Radianska Ukraine", "Mariupol - takes revenge", "Kramarev Erast Fedorovich", "Andreev's Personal Tank", "Kolyma", "Kolkhoznik", "Mothers - to their sons" ..

"From Lenochka for dad"
At the beginning of 1943, a new Il-2 aircraft arrived at the 237th assault aviation regiment. It differed from other attack aircraft by an unusual inscription on board "From Lenochka for dad." This car already had a history that began with a letter to Stalin. “Dear Joseph Vissarionovich. My father, Azarenkov Anatoly Vasilyevich, commander of an attack aviation squadron, died at the front, defending our Motherland, which I love very much. My mother died in Kyiv, I live with my grandmother. She is a pensioner, a disabled person of the 2nd group. When she receives her pension, she gives me toys. I saved up money for the Christmas tree and saved up 110 rubles, which I ask you to accept to build an attack aircraft, and transfer it to regiment 237, in which my dad served, so that my dad's comrades could take revenge on the nasty Germans for the death of dad, for my grandmother, she cries so much and for me."

The author of the appeal was Lena Azarenkova, a student of grade 1-B of Moscow school No. 612. The letter was published in the Ogonyok magazine No. 4 for 1943, and the children of the whole country began to donate their "Christmas tree" and "candy" money for the construction of the aircraft. Together, their small contributions added up to significant sums. From schoolchildren of the Ivanovo region - a million rubles, from students Stavropol Territory- 100 thousand. Lena's wish came true. Having received the plane bought with children's money, the pilots of the 237th attack air regiment wrote to the girl: “Dear Lenochka! We have received into combat formation a plane built with the money collected at your initiative. We assure you that we, your father's fighting friends, will take revenge on the German bandits for his death. We wrote your name on a combat attack aircraft and handed it to your dad's best friend.

“I am Ada Zanegina. I am 6 years old. I write in print. Hitler drove me out of the city of Sychevka Smolensk region. I want to go home. I collected 122 rubles 25 kopecks for the doll. And now I give them to the tank. Dear Uncle Editor! Write to all the children so that they also give their money to the tank. Let's call him "Baby". When our tank defeats Hitler, we'll go home."

And the kids responded.

Adik Solodov, 6 years old: “I want to return to Kyiv. I contribute the money collected for boots - 135 rubles 56 kopecks - to the construction of the Malyutka tank.

Tamara Loskutova: “Mom wanted to buy me a new coat and saved up 150 rubles. I'm wearing an old coat."

Tanya Chistyakova: “Dear unfamiliar girl Ada! I am only five years old, and I have been living without my mother for a year. I really want to go home, and therefore I am happy to give money for the construction of our tank. If only our tank had defeated the enemy.”

Shura Khomenko from Ishim: “They told me about the letter from Ada Zanegina and I deposited all my savings - 100 rubles and handed over 400 rubles of bonds for the construction of the Malyutka tank. My friend Vitya Tynyanov contributes 20 rubles. Let our dads smash the Nazis with tanks built with our savings.”

And the children who did not have savings tried to earn money, as they would say now, through charitable actions. For example, the children of the kindergarten of the Novo-Uralsky state farm prepared a concert and transferred 20 rubles to a special account in the Omsk branch of the State Bank.

So, the whole children's world collected a far from childish amount, which the Omsk authorities transferred to the Defense Fund.

Quote:
Please convey to the preschoolers of the city of Omsk, who collected 160,886 rubles for the construction of the Malyutka tank, my warm greetings and gratitude to the Red Army.

Supreme Commander-in-Chief Marshal of the Soviet Union I. Stalin.

"Baby" looked exactly like this

Ekaterina Petlyuk, one of the 19 Soviet women tankers, became his driver. She herself was short, which served in part as a source of constant jokes. However, she fought heroically, which was marked by the Orders of the Red Star and Patriotic War.

Tank "Malyutka" fought near Stalingrad, witnessed the surrender of Field Marshal Paulus. Before the Kursk Bulge, his military service ended, and, like the rest of the retired armored vehicles, he was sent to be melted down. Ekaterina kept a tank clock as a memento (they are now on display at the Stalingrad Defense Museum) and moved to a more advanced, albeit also a small, T-70.

Driver mechanic Art. s-t Ekaterina Petlyuk

On the Kursk Bulge, as it turned out later, Catherine fought somewhere near Ada's father. But, alas, for the tanker Alexander Zanegin, the battles near Kursk turned out to be the last.

Ada Zanegina before the war

The history of the "children's" tank was unearthed in 1975 by the Omsk "Red Pathfinders", and on May 9, 1975, in Omsk, an employee of one of the Odessa registry offices, Ekaterina Alekseevna Petlyuk, first met Ada Zanegina - by that time Adela Alexandrovna Voronets, an ophthalmologist from Elektrostal near Moscow.

By the way, the search engines of the Volgograd region celebrated May Day of this year with a rare success: they raised the T-60 tank - after restoration it will become the sixth surviving in the world and the third in Russia (this is out of six thousand vehicles produced).
_________________
And one warrior in the field, if he is tailored in Russian!

One of the most actively discussed topics of recent times is the situation with the Russian Air Force. Analytical reviews on the conditions of service of young pilots, as well as experienced pilots of military units in various military districts of the country, almost regularly appear in periodicals. But often these reviews are based either on strict official statistics or on data received from respondents who are quite far from direct service in the ranks of the Air Force.

There is a dynamic discussion of issues related to the extent to which the promises of the authorities regarding the technical, financial and social support of the military personnel of the Air Force fit in with the situation that takes place in reality. At the same time, to be honest, you can talk about the designated topic as much as you like, refer to official statistics, publish interviews with high-ranking military personnel, but this is unlikely to form a picture of understanding what kind of problems Russian pilots are worried about today, especially those who are still recently started the service, having received a diploma of graduation from a flying university.


That is why " Military review"decided to give its readers the opportunity to learn about the situation in the Air Force of the country, as they say, firsthand. To solve this problem, an interview was taken from a regular soldier of one of the aviation groups. Note that the pilot agreed to a conversation with VO journalists subject to a certain degree of anonymity. And this requirement is understandable, because any information related to military service and the activities of military units, told to journalists, can cause a negative attitude towards the respondent pilot from certain forces (the Lipetsk precedent is a clear confirmation of this).

A fertile, let's say, ground for a conversation with a representative of the flight crew was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Air Force, during which representatives of various aviation military units gathered at one of the airfields in the Voronezh region to participate in holiday events with a demonstration of both modernized and new models of aviation equipment, as well as their own flying skills.

The military personnel with whom the journalist of the Military Review managed to talk is Senior Lieutenant Vladimir D., an officer in one of the air groups of the Southern Military District, a bomber pilot.

Vladimir, firstly, let me congratulate you on a great aviation holiday - the 100th anniversary of the Air Force, and secondly, thank you for taking the time to talk with the Voyennoye Obozreniye correspondent, despite your very busy schedule. If you don't mind, we can start our conversation.

Thanks for the compliments. The 100th anniversary of the Air Force is a really big date, which indicates that Russian aviation as a glorious past, so, of course, a promising future. Ready to answer your questions.

Vladimir, if you don't mind, let's start our conversation with your first steps in aviation. In what year did you graduate from the flight school, and how did you end up in the air group that you represent today?

I graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute in 2007. Despite the name "Krasnodar", by that time the university had already united several branches located on the territory of other cities at once: Armavir ( Krasnodar region), Balashov ( Saratov region) and Borisoglebsk (Voronezh region). Today, by the way, KVAI is the only military university in our country that trains military pilots to fly aircraft. On the one hand, this may seem to someone a fact, rather a sad one. There were, as they say, “empty enrollments”, there were enrollments of 15 people each (from among Russian citizens), but today, as far as I know, the university is afloat - the enrollment of young cadets has been resumed in full. I do not have an exact figure, but I would like to believe that the transition period is over.

If we talk about me personally, then in my current air group I ended up in the most usual way - through the distribution of personnel. Even during the last year of study, each of the cadets (including myself) had a conversation, during which a certain choice of a possible place of future service was offered. I was very glad when I saw the option of one of the Rostov military units in the list of proposals, since I myself come from the same region. Therefore, the issue for me personally was decided very well.

Vladimir, did you manage to start a family by the time you graduated from college?

Yes, I found a life partner as a cadet of the 4th year of the institute, and by the time the service began directly in the military unit, our family was expecting a child.

If it doesn’t bother you, then tell us about what conditions you personally and your family expected in a new place? How were things with a place to stay and monetary allowance? Can we say that your expectations were justified?

The fact is that in terms of starting a career as a pilot, I am hardly an exception to the rule. When my family and I arrived at the place of service, we were faced with what the vast majority of military personnel expects today, namely: problems with housing. For those lieutenants who did not have time to start a family, places were provided in the hostel (namely, places - not rooms). For families, you understand, this option is not considered, so we rented an apartment in the city, for which we received a monthly monetary compensation in the amount of 3600 rubles (2007, - approx. "Military Review"). For a provincial town, a few kilometers from which our unit was located, the amount of 3,600 rubles was, in principle, acceptable, unless you suddenly decided to rent an apartment, of course ... As far as I know, for rural areas this amount was about half as much, and here for major cities- 2.5 times higher. Certainly for big city(I'm not talking about Moscow) - not enough, but all the young pilots knew at the military university what they were going for, so it's impossible to say that it was "like a lump on the head".

Today, there is no such compensation; as they say, it has been monetized. And how much this monetization corresponds to the cost of renting housing for a pilot (and any other military personnel) is a question that is different for everyone.
By the way, at the beginning of my flying career, I received about 23-25 ​​thousand rubles, which was twice the average salary in the region (this seems to be according to official statistics). It cannot be said that our family was completely delighted with such a level of monetary allowance, but no one said that it was pennies. It was enough, but like any normal person, I wanted more. More came, but with time ... Therefore, to say that my expectations were not justified ... No, I probably won’t say so ... Especially since no one promised us any “golden mountains” ...

What did your monetary allowance consist of at first, and what does it consist of now?

I will say this: before the change in the options for paying monetary allowance, everything looked something like this: a) salary according to rank, b) payments for seniority, c) allowance for complexity and tension. At the same time, as far as I know, according to the law, this allowance should not exceed 100% of the basic salary. We, young pilots, were met by the command of the air group and paid the maximum maximum - exactly 100% of the salary. There are still some local and personal coefficients, but the young replenishment of aviation units should not pay attention to them.

Today's monetary allowance of the pilot, in fact, is formed according to the same principles. The only significant change is that all the benefits that the pilots previously enjoyed have now been converted into a cash equivalent, as well as the introduction (and recently extended) Order No. 400 of the Ministry of Defense, according to which officers receive bonus funding.

Vladimir, I'm sorry to have to interrupt you. Today, both among the pilots and in the press, a serious discussion has flared up precisely about this bonus financing. You should be aware of what happened in one of the Lipetsk aviation units, when a junior officer openly accused the commanders of embezzling additional payments. By the way, not so long ago I managed to have a little talk with a representative of the aviation of the Eastern Military District, who said that a certain kind of "financial bullying" is taking place. In this regard, if possible, clarify the situation with additional funding in your military unit.

Yes, of course, I know the Lipetsk case, as well as the fact that it is far from the only one in our country. This, unfortunately ... I know that there are extortions in certain aviation units of Russia - I have comrades who say that bonus funding is distributed, to put it mildly, not proportionally. But at the same time, is it worth talking about some kind of trend in the military environment? I can give a lot of examples from other areas where fraud is pretty rampant. You don't have to look far for examples: my wife works in education. As far as I know, teachers are also entitled to payments from ... it seems to be an “over-tariff fund” - I won’t say the exact term. And this over-tariff fund, the most interesting thing, is distributed by the authorities. You yourself understand that the amount of bonus payments in this case also depends on how close this or that teacher is ideologically close to the leadership. And if the teacher decides to notify the "tops" about this, then he is unlikely to be able to prove anything ... that's how everything is arranged with us. Therefore, I believe that the army is not an exception here.

If we are talking about my military unit, then I can state with all responsibility, believe it or not, all bonus funding, at least the one that I know about, is divided strictly equally among all personnel. To be honest, I don’t understand why bonuses should be paid exclusively to me, as a pilot, if a whole group of people is taking training for my flights: from a technician and a navigator to a military unit commander. Therefore, I consider the option that is practiced in our air group the most acceptable. But, again, I am not a representative of the financial department, so I cannot tell you exactly what amounts the state allocates as these bonus funds and on what basis the Ministry of Defense sees this distribution in general. The system in which it is necessary to identify those who are better and those who are worse in our country, it seems to me, will not work very soon. Therefore, I consider the option of equal distribution of additional funding to be quite normal in the conditions in which we work today. Let someone not like my words ...

Vladimir, do you think that the increase in the salaries of pilots (as well as other military personnel) by the state did not compensate for those benefits that were taken away from the military?

You know, here we need to talk about who had what kind of benefits before this monetization, and who received what kind of bonus as a result. Yes, of course, before any officer could go on vacation with the whole family, and the cost of tickets was compensated for him. You could even ride in a luxurious carriage or fly to the place in a special class in a liner, then providing tickets to the financial unit for payment. Today there is no such thing. But the salary that most military pilots receive today may well be enough for recreation in Baikal, and in Sochi, and in the Maldives, many go ... Therefore, perhaps, 100% monetization cannot be called here, but an increase in monetary contentment for the scanty, too, the tongue does not turn. Yes, and "real money" is still better than benefits that could not always be used. By the way, you are aware that some benefits remain: for example, a preferential queue for housing, the opportunity to enroll a child in a kindergarten...

I cannot ignore the problem that worries many young pilots: the new figure for the required flight time (100 hours per year). According to a certain percentage of both the pilots themselves and other interested parties, young lieutenants objective reasons they cannot master 100 hours a year in the sky at the controls of a combat aircraft, and therefore their pay is seriously affected. Because of this, many young cadres, as reported by a number of media outlets, are trying to leave the Air Force, using a variety of opportunities for this, including the medical flight commission. How can you comment on the situation with the tight hourly limit for the pilot and the layoffs of young pilots from the Air Force. Is it possible to call the dismissal of young people from the Air Force a trend?

If you want to hear my opinion, then it is this: these 100 hours is a figure that should not look so exaggerated. Although it all depends on the level of equipment of the military unit. For example, in the air group in which I serve, young pilots today find it quite difficult to gain the required hours in the sky. This is not at all connected with the fact that we are not given the opportunity to fly, but with the fact that combat training tasks do not always allow such a raid to be carried out. For example, the usual, as we call it, duty flight circle takes about 8-10 minutes, or even less. If we take into account that during the year the pilot will operate only in such a duty version, then he flies, at best, 40 hours. However, today young pilots have the opportunity to participate not only in duty flights, but to take part in training operations, mass exercises integrated with other branches of the military, after all, such events as the one for which several aircraft of our air group arrived in Voronezh region.

Therefore, if a young pilot is able to prove himself well, if, as they say, he is "sick with the sky", then a 100-hour flight time is not at all a transcendental line. After all, even the bar itself of 100 hours is not an incentive for a young pilot to achieve noticeable results? On my own example, I can say that this will have to work, but most of them graduate from a military school in order to fly, no matter what. I know, for example, that my classmate, who serves in the Khabarovsk Territory at one of the air bases of the Pacific Fleet, today makes more than 180 flight hours per year. According to him, the number of flight hours went up sharply after they were told that the pilots of the Pacific Fleet would take part in the air combat protection of the APEC summit facilities. In the south of Russia ahead of the Olympics; there is information that the aviation units of the Rostov, Voronezh, Volgograd regions, Krasnodar Territory and others southern regions will soon begin joint exercises to protect the Olympic venues from the air. I hope that I will also be able to participate in these air maneuvers.

As for the desire of a certain number of young pilots to quit, I can say the following. Those who retired in the last year or two from our flight group (and this, if my memory serves me right, three people) are natives of our capitals. On the one hand, you can understand them - a monetary allowance of 60-65 thousand for a Muscovite may seem low, but on the other hand ... No, I can’t judge them ...

As you said: “is it possible to talk about a trend” in relation to layoffs. This is a difficult question. If we count all the young lieutenants who have recently arrived in our air group (since 2007), then there are 11 of them (together with me). Wrote a report, as I said, three. To call it a fluid or negative trend, I, perhaps, will not undertake. Just don’t forget that I’m talking about my air group, but I simply can’t judge on a national scale - I don’t have such data. And dismissal through the medical flight commission is an option that was used 5, 10, and 20 years ago.

Where are those who wrote the report going to work?

Naturally, I don’t know about all of them, but one, I know for sure, was going to go to civil aviation. Only he hoped that he would be put into the cockpit of a civilian liner right away, and he was told that he needed to take retraining courses. These courses cost about $12,000 (minimum) for those with a military pilot's degree. Therefore, I will say to those who are going to easily move from military aviation in civilian life - save money ... And those who decide to tie up with the sky forever find themselves in business and in other areas. But, sorry, it's not for me to judge their choice ...

Vladimir, how are things going in your air group with the replenishment of the fleet of combat vehicles, with the advanced training of young pilots?

I can't say that we all switched to new aircraft, but the updating of existing models has been happening regularly lately. Aircraft are equipped with new technical means of communication and weapons. Constant modernization just the same dictates the need to improve one's own skills. At the same time, every young lieutenant in our unit has the opportunity to qualify as a “Pilot 3rd Class” within a few months after arriving from a military university.

What is needed for this?

To do this, you need to pass an exam, which consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical. It consists in checking the knowledge of the pilot's regulatory documentation, and the second is the implementation of a practical task directly on the combat vehicle. The whole difficulty for me personally was that, having passed the theoretical part, I could not pass the practice. The problem at the same time was the following: to perform a practical task, of course, certain equipment is needed. My task was bombing in the specified square. But it turned out that either there were no bombs, or the plane was not ready to take off ... And the theoretical part, while waiting for bombs for several weeks and repairing the bomber, “burned out”, I had to take it all over again. But, in the end, the surrender was successful.

Do you get the impression that the lack of bombs you mentioned in the warehouse is just an excuse to keep you as a young pilot from being qualified for as long as possible?

Not at all! After all, experienced pilots also passed to a higher class, and they were in the same conditions as me. Therefore, the whole problem was in the equipment. This problem still exists today, but on a much smaller scale.

The state is in dire need of a strong army. For this reason, contract servicemen are being actively recruited today. They are able to successfully replace conscripts. In order to attract as many new contract servicemen as possible, it is planned to raise salaries for servicemen this year and next.

Russia has a huge amount of weapons of mass and local destruction. Against this background, there is a need for specialists capable of performing proper maintenance.

Approximately 1/3 of the state budget is spent on servicing the military forces. Part is spent on the development of the latest weapons. The second part goes to payments to the military.

The total salary of military personnel consists of:

  1. Salary.
  2. Additional payments.
  3. Premium.

What influences

The salaries of Russian military personnel are affected by the following:

  • seniority;
  • personal merit;
  • time of service;
  • rank.

The military receives a salary depending on the length of service. Persons serving beyond the polar pole receive bonuses.

12 months of service count as 24 months of service.

Personal merits are understood as accomplished feats. It also matters where the soldier served. People who serve in hot spots are paid more.

Pros and cons of contract service. Watch the video.

Other allowances

There are other allowances as well. They link to:

  • knowledge of several languages;
  • the presence of VO;
  • excellent physical preparation.

The extent to which a person is able to make a decision in a critical situation is also taken into account.

Percentage

The amount of monthly allowances from salary in the Russian Federation looks like this:

  • length of service - 11-39%;
  • high qualification - 6-29%;
  • secrecy - 66%;
  • specific conditions - 100%;
  • completion of special tasks - 100%;
  • special achievements - 100%.

Shooter salary

A shooter is a private with two years of service. You can find out how much he earns from the plate.

Squad leader salary

The squad leader is understood as a junior sergeant of the 3rd class, whose length of service varies from 2 to 5 years.

The salary of the squad leader, who is a sergeant of the 2nd class and has a length of service from 5 to 10 years, looks like this:

Salary of the deputy platoon commander

A deputy platoon commander is a senior sergeant of the 1st class with a length of service of 10 to 15 years. The table shows how much he receives:


Platoon commander salary

A platoon commander is a foreman, a foreman, whose length of service is 15-20 years. The table shows how much he earns.

How much a foreman, master with a length of service of 20-25 years earns is shown in the table:

Officers' salaries

This position requires a higher education. With allowances, the salaries of officers look quite impressive. Without them, the salary of military officers with an officer rank looks like this:

  1. Platoon commander - 20.0 thousand rubles.
  2. Deputy company commander - 21.0 thousand rubles.
  3. Company commander - 22.0 thousand rubles.
  4. Deputy battalion commander - 23.0 thousand rubles.
  5. Combat - 24.0 thousand rubles.
  6. Deputy com. shelf - 25.0 thousand rubles.
  7. Command regiment - 26.5 thousand rubles.
  8. Deputy com. brigades - 27.5 thousand rubles.
  9. Brigade commander - 29.0 thousand rubles.
  10. Deputy com. divisions - 29.5 thousand rubles.
  11. Division commander - 30.5 thousand rubles.
  12. Deputy com. housing - 31.0 thousand rubles.
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