What, No Russians?
As startling as the absence of current airliners from the Boeing stable was the gaping void created by the lack of any of Russia’s fearsome fighters in the

As startling as the absence of current airliners from the Boeing stable was the gaping void created by the lack of any of Russia’s fearsome fighters in the flying display. Many observers felt that the show was the poorer for the lack of the thrust-vectoring wonders of Mikoyan and Sukhoi.

Russian state arms export agency Rosoboronexport had planned to display both the Su-30 and the latest version of the MiG-29 multi-role combat aircraft but was forced to keep them away for fear of the humiliation of having them repossessed at the show by a Swiss trading company called Noga. This was the latest installment in a long-running feud that has seen Noga try to extract its pound of flesh from the Russian government over claimed debts of $60 million for an oil-for-food deal that went sour more than a decade ago.

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