Why Russia So Desperately Needs To Export Aircraft To Maintain Its Fighter Jet Industry

Russia is a country continuing to coast on the Soviet Union’s glory years from 1940 to around 1980 (the 1980s were a period of stagnation and decline). But it is not the USSRit is not even a diminished USSR. Russia’s prewar military budget was comparable to that of the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and France and only a small fraction of the size of China’s budget. Russia needs to export fighter jets to sustain its aviation industry (which is why the US choked off Russian fighter jet exports through its CAASTA act in 2016).