Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
Russia Finally Admits It Needs Help From China On Shipbuilding:
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

That article is speculative like heck. The quote on the speech by Putin mentions nothing about the Navy let alone asking China for help.

He mentions cooperation and in the past, when asked on this topic of cooperation, he mentioned about Russia providing China with assistance in improving their early warning radar network. Another issue where China could use help is with marine nuclear reactors. But I think the Chinese industry has enough experience to work on that by itself to be honest.

The Russians already asked for both Chinese and South Korean help with the shipyards at Zvezda in the East where the largest drydock in modern Russia is located. They also bought marine diesels from China for some of the Buyan class corvettes. But what is this talk about the Kuznetsov? Russia already replaced all the boilers. The ship has topside damage and it likely will need to be in a dry dock. Which is planned to be built near Murmansk. The Kuznetsov is docked close there. If they had to move the ship all over to China, they could as easily move it to the dock at Zvezda, in fact such a long voyage would be dangerous that's why the Russians aren't that keen on doing it. The article makes no sense at all. With regards to marine turbines the Russians today have the M90FR engine which has similar performance to the gas turbine the Chinese use in their destroyers and cruisers. Plus the M70FRU.

If anything with the latest purchases of Steregushchiy-class corvettes and Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates the naval program seems (finally) to be getting on track now, albeit at a sedate pace, now that they have ship designs which are fully tested and have gone on operations. What they need to do is order more Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates at their shipyard in the Baltic at Yantar to increase their production rate and increase the production rate of naval engines and other components to cope. From China I think they will continue to purchase naval equipment to equip their naval yards and might import construction techniques.
 
Last edited:

Gloire_bb

Captain
Registered Member
What they need to do is order more Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates at their shipyard in the Baltic at Yantar to increase their production rate and increase the production rate of naval engines and other components to cope.
Bad thing is, it required far too much time.

Both 20380 and 22350 designs were incredible(in theory at least, my dear 20380) when they were laid down. But it was 15-20 years ago.
Right now, while their equipment is fine(sometimes too fine to make sense), some of their features are dated. On top of that, Russian ships are traditionally tight, making their adaptability suffer.

For ships which may very well serve through 2050 - this is a problem.
 

gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
Well, I wouldn't put much stock into believing we will get a vanilla 20380 with this latest order.
The Russians might have upgraded radars for those ships. It does irk me if they don't go with the UKSK VLS and use Uran launchers though.
I mean it is fine as a missile and it will be limited to near shore operations not power projection. But still. Why not order the 20385?

The Project 22350, I think, with the enlargement to 24x UKSK VLS, as ordered, is a great ship even today.
The enlarged version, aka Super Gorshkov, should be able to replace the Udaloy destroyers.
 

gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
25 Nov, 03:18
Russian Defense Ministry receives last three Su-35S fighters under 5-year contract
The Su-35S is designated to strike air, ground and naval targets and infrastructural facilities shielded by air defense systems and located at a considerable distance from home airfields

MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had received the last three Su-35S fighter jets (NATO reporting name: Flanker-E+) as part of the five-year contract for 50 such aircraft.
"Specialists of the 485th military office of the Russian Defense Ministry accepted three Su-35S multirole fighter jets of the 4++ generation. The planes have been redeployed from the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur [in Russia’s Far East] to permanent bases of the Russian Aerospace Forces," the ministry said.
The ministry said the delivery completes the five-year contract, under which the Russian Aerospace Forces were to receive 50 Su-35S fighter jets in total.
Two fighter jets will be on duty at the Defense Ministry’s training and trials center in the Central Russian city of Lipetsk. The third one will continue its service at an air force regiment in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

...
The Su-35S has been in service with the Russian Army since 2015.

AFAIK this is the first order. There are two subsequent orders. Currently expected to total 128 aircraft once all delivered.
Russia also expects to order Su-30SM2 fighters in the future which will have a similar equipment level (same radar, engines).
Plus there are also plans to upgrade existing Su-30SM fighters to Su-30SM2 standard.
 

gelgoog

Brigadier
Registered Member
This page was machine translated with minor edits. But I think it is quite readable.
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Nov 30, 00:18
The first tests of the gas generator for the PD-8 engine are scheduled for March 2021
As reported by "UEC-Saturn", the company has an export portfolio of orders for the production of several hundred aircraft engines in the next three to four years

RYBINSK, November 30. / TASS /. The first tests of the gas generator demonstrator for the new PD-8 mid-class engine are planned for March 2021. The managing director of UEC-Saturn (part of the United Engine Corporation of the Rostec State Corporation) Viktor Polyakov told TASS about this.
"We are carrying out development work on a promising engine, but we are doing this in cooperation with UEC enterprises. We plan to assemble a demonstrator of the gas generator and conduct the first tests in March 2021," he said.
Earlier, the first deputy head of the Rostec state corporation Vladimir Artyakov in an interview with TASS reported that the promising Russian PD-8 engine for the SSJ 100 aircraft and the Be-200 amphibious aircraft will receive a type certificate in 2023. According to him, the engine base can also be used for helicopters.

Tests of blades for PD-35
The first prototypes of composite blades for the promising PD-35 engine, which is supposed to be installed on wide-body aircraft, were manufactured at the UEC-Saturn; tests of the blades are scheduled for next spring, Polyakov said.

"As of today, we have passed the stage of research work, we are moving on to the stage of development work. Prototypes of blades have already been made. We are not talking about series production yet, because we need to carry out a set of tests, the beginning of which is scheduled for the spring of 2021," he said.
As the managing director of "UEC-Saturn" explained, now specialists at the enterprise are trying to reduce the production time of composite blades and improve their characteristics.
The development of composite blades for the PD-35 engine is carried out in parallel in two technological directions: specialists from the Rybinsk enterprise use 3D weaving (the blade is made on a specialized loom using composite threads), specialists from UEC-Perm Motors use directional layouts.
"The first blades produced by Perm were supplied for a sample engine, they were made in the PD-14's dimensions, for the testing of the technologies. The first results are encouraging," Polyakov said.

Aircraft engines for export
UEC-Saturn has an export order book for the production of several hundred aircraft engines in the next three to four years, Polyakov said.
"Now a contract for the next supply of several hundred engines is being finalized. This is a contract for the next 3-4 years," he said.
The managing director noted that the export portfolio of UEC-Saturn is approximately 35%. The main share of export is made up of engines for IL-76 aircraft of foreign customers.
PJSC "UEC-Saturn" is an engine building company specializing in the development, production, sale and service of gas turbine engines for civil aviation, power generating and gas pumping units, ships and vessels.
 

Mr T

Senior Member
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I found this interesting as I hadn't even considered whether Putin might have such an aircraft, although it makes perfect sense given the need to have command redundancy during a nuclear conflict.

A Russian “doomsday” plane meant to keep President Putin safe in the event of a nuclear attack proved no match for thieves who broke into its cargo hold and stole top-secret equipment.

The Ilyushin-80 plane was targeted while it was undergoing maintenance at an airfield in Taganrog, 700 miles south of Moscow, police said. The interior ministry said thieves had carried off one million roubles (£10,000) worth of unnamed equipment. Ren TV, a pro-Kremlin television channel, said that electronic equipment, including radio boards, had been stolen.

The highly classified plane, one of four such aircraft in Russia, is intended to be used by Mr Putin and other top officials as an airborne command centre during a nuclear war. The planes are almost windowless to protect passengers from being blinded by atomic blasts.

They can fly for up to several days, with mid-air refuelling. Specialised communications equipment, including a long retractable antenna, is designed to keep Mr Putin and other officials in contact with the country’s military, including nuclear-armed submarines.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, described the theft as an “emergency situation” and promised that security would be improved. “Measures will be taken to prevent this from happening again,” he said. Mr Putin said last month that Russia’s mobile command posts were operating at the “highest possible level”. Shoe and fingerprints were reportedly found inside the hold and 12 people have been questioned by police in connection with the theft.

It is unclear when the equipment was stolen, but media reports said it was all in place during the last inspection on November 26.
Defence officials said last year that work was under way to upgrade the planes, which have been in use for at least 25 years.
A new generation of airborne command posts is also in development, state media said. The specially modified Ilyushin Il-96-400M planes will reportedly boast improved protection against electromagnetic pulses released by nuclear blasts. They will also be able to stay in the air for longer. The United States also operates a fleet of doomsday planes called E-4B Nightwatch.

Mr Putin, who has been in power since 1999, said in 2018 that Russia would “annihilate” any country that targeted it with nuclear weapons, but declared that it would never strike first. “We will go to heaven as martyrs, and they will just drop dead. They will not even have time to repent for this,” he said. Russia had previously said that it could deploy nuclear missiles in response to an attack with conventional weapons that “threatens the very existence of the state”.

It appears the aircraft itself is fine, although one has to wonder how the thieves got access to it. Maybe it wasn't a perimeter breach but people who worked on the base? Also hopefully they didn't get away with any classified military parts and just valuable but otherwise civilian material.
 
Top