1.   Russian firefighting aircraft were sent to Armenia.

2.   A Western military official said that the situation would have little effect on the situation in Chechnya, where Russian military aircraft fly at will.

3.   But if Russian aircraft manufacturers have an edge selling on their home turf, they may not be able to exploit it given their threadbare finances.

4.   But the Russian aircraft manufacturers are quickly adapting to competitive pressures.

5.   By Saturday, Russian aircraft were bombing entire residential neighborhoods of Grozny in an all-out bid to take the capital.

6.   CHILE - Sent a military delegation last year to visit a Russian aircraft test base to check out combat and transport helicopters.

7.   China is reportedly interested in buying four to eight more of the systems and placing them aboard Russian aircraft.

8.   Furthermore, at the upper altitudes snow will being falling in six weeks or less, limiting visibility for Russian aircraft and artillery and obstructing mountain passes.

9.   Golod, whose day job is director of a factory that makes weather gauges for Russian military aircraft, is not alone in his theory.

10.   However, cheaper Russian aircraft, which were designed to be self-sufficient in remote areas of Siberia and Central Asia, are now appearing across the continent.