Russia's Tu‑214: Bridging civilian aviation and arms funding
Russia conceals the sources of funding for its arms industry, notes the think tank RUSI in its report. Activities formally conducted by the civilian sector, such as the Tu-214 passenger aircraft program, actually serve to finance the arms industry covertly.
The new report by the think tank RUSI compares the economies of Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in the context of armaments and war efforts. RUSI highlights Russia's specificity, which, thanks to strong centralization, effectively utilizes wartime mobilization of the economy.
At the same time, as highlighted by the Ukrainian service Defence Express, Russians hide part of the expenditures allocated for armaments. This is possible because the same companies undertake tasks related to both weapon production and programs that are theoretically civilian.
An example of this is the Tu-214 passenger aircraft. Its production is problematic—by December 2023, only one unit left the production line. The previous one was in 2021, and the production plan for 2023 was only fulfilled at 10%.
The situation is even worse in the overall civilian aviation sector, which, faced with difficulties maintaining Western machines, may need as many as 550 domestically produced aircraft, yet annually produces only a few units.
Tu-214 aids in developing the military sector
Defence Express points out that the work associated with the development and production of the Tu-214 is one of the methods of covertly funding the arms sector. The scale of this practice is estimated at nearly $40 billion annually and covers issues such as space activities and the development of an innovative economy or the modernization of the aviation industry.
The Tu-214, whose development allows Moscow to direct additional resources to the arms sector, was supposed to be the future of Russian civilian aviation. It is a machine developed at the end of the 20th century, based on the slightly older Tu-204, with a length of 46 metres and a wingspan of 41 metres, featuring two new Aviadvigatel PS-90 engines.
Instead of modernizing civilian aviation, which has received only a handful of Tu-214 units over almost a decade (some of which were used for various services), Russia plans to build, based on the new aircraft, a reconnaissance machine Tu-214R and a maritime aircraft designed to detect and combat submarines.
