The Swifts and Russian Knights aerobatic teams will receive new fighters, according to Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, head of the Russian Aerospace Forces, while speaking with journalists.
The commander noted that the Swifts and Russian Knights aerobatic teams will celebrate their 25th anniversary this year. "The aircraft resources used at the Center for the Display of Aircraft Technology in Kubinka are coming to an end, and we need to take steps to soon provide them with new aircraft,” Bondarev said, as quoted by TASS.
Russian Knights is currently the only aerobatic team in the world flying heavy Su-27 combat fighters. The Swifts carry out their aerobatics show in light MiG-29 fighters. The high performance characteristics of the aircraft are enabled by avionics systems produced by KRET.
Viktor Bondarev said that the pilots have already been retrained for different types of new aircraft, but what specifically they will receive is still unknown.
The pilots of the aerobatic teams have entertained audiences at airshows with virtuoso performances for almost a quarter of a century. Russian Knights premiered on April 5, 1991, and the Swifts were formed on May 6 of the same year. Since 2003, the two aerobatic teams have conducted joint flights.
At the opening of the new International Festival of Aerobatic Teams in Zhukovsky in 2004, the Swifts and Russian Knights for the first time in public and in the presence of numerous foreign delegations carried out their famous “Cuban diamond” formation.
This unique flight formation makes the shape of a large diamond out of nine different aircraft: four light MiG-29 fighters and five heavy Su-27 fighters. Notably, to this day foreign pilots have still not been able to perform certain stunts in the form of this “big diamond.” Last year, on May 9, this famous nine-aircraft formation flew over Red Square during the aerial part of the parade in honor of the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II.
