Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

if it was southern Cal it could have also been under a film Company. there are a number of them that rent out such vehicles for movies, and with the upcoming RED DAWN remake it or any number of Sifi or action, high budgets or Low budgets.

Finn McCool said:

How interesting. Was this out by Ft. Irwin where they have a training unit that operates modified Ruskie vehicles for a "more realistic threat environment?" I know they also have Russian radars out a China Lake.

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Yes, it was out in that general direction. I'll bet a thousand people whizzed right by them without a thought. For me, seeing them was like a moth drawn to a porch light. Had to look.

I am having endless fun Google-Earthing Russian military bases, particularly their naval bases. What a haphazard mess they are. Most have a little graveyard of half sunken vessels somewhere. Ships are tied up any old way, not professional looking at all. Bases are old and dilapidated. Old air fields are also interesting to look at. Most have jumbles of airplanes off in some corner of the grass. Others are abandoned. TU-160's sitting there with no horizontal stabilizers. Groups of T-Tails from Il-76 Candids sitting on the tarmac. Mi-26's missing rotor blades.
The other place I like to Google-Earth military bases is Singapore, if for no other reason than the map of Singapore I bought while on liberty there blatantly omitted so much detail. Google Earth reveals it all.
I think I will sign off here for a little tour of someplace like Israel, see what I can see there.

This could only happen in Russia

Russian fighter jets sold off for $5

Thu Aug 6, 1:56 pm ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian investigators are probing the illegal sale of four fuselages of MiG-31 interceptor fighter jets that were sold off for as little as $5 (2.98 pounds), although worth $3.7 million each, RIA news agency said on Thursday.
Corruption is rife across Russia, with the country's President Dmitry Medvedev repeatedly pledging to launch crackdowns and repeatedly complaining this week about officials who demand bribes.
The sale came to light after an anti-corruption check was carried out to see whether regulations were followed during the sale of items from the Sokol Aircraft Construction plant located in the Russian Volga city of Nizhny Novgorod, RIA reported.
"As a result, long-range supersonic interceptor aircraft that were not for sale were purchased by a dummy firm," prosecutors were quoted as saying by RIA. It did not say where the jet bodies had been found.

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Finn McCool said:

This could only happen in Russia

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They probably found them on satellite imagery sitting at some other nation's military base, LOL.

Pak-fa

The latest news reports to come out of anything resembling a credible source suggest that the PAK-FA prototype will fly in October or November. The Russians reportedly have three prototypes built.

FriedRiceNSpice said:

Ah I kind of suspected that; so this is more of a propaganda weapon used to boost the image of the Russian military than a weapon of any practable use. Using cargo planes to drop on enemy group armies does not seem like an operation with a high rate of sucess.

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Many people still confuse Russia and the USSR,,Russia wants to put forth that it has a military still on pare with the USA. It does not even come close,, the budget of the Russian Military is about 40 billion a year, The USAs budget is more then 500 billion. Russia wants to boost their image to the point that people will think their weapons and weapons research is still on par with the USA,, its not.

Another for the Russian Air Force... 1 dead, 5 injured on the ground.

Pilot killed as 2 Russian fighter jets collide

Updated Sun. Aug. 16 2009 8:20 AM ET

The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- Two Russian air force fighters collided Sunday as they rehearsed for an air show near Moscow, killing a pilot and sending one jet crashing into houses below, a military official said.

The Su-27 fighters were members of the elite Russian Knights flying group preparing to perform at the MAKS-2009 air show. The largest and most important exhibition for Russia's aerospace industry opens Tuesday.

Air force spokesperson Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said the jets collided near Zhukhovsky airfield, east of Moscow, where the air show will be held.

Drik said three pilots ejected from the jets after the collision. He said one was killed, while rescuers found the other two in satisfactory condition.

The RIA-Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported that the dead pilot was the Red Knights' commander.

RIA-Novosti also said a woman was seriously injured when one jet struck a house near the airfield, and up to four other people on the ground may have been injured.

In recent years, Russian air force jets have suffered a series of mishaps, many blamed on the aging condition of Soviet-era planes. Earlier this year, officials grounded the air force's entire fleet of Su-24s after two crashes in three days.

Two crashes of MiG-29 jets in 2008 let to the grounding of that entire model as well. A subsequent investigation demonstrated that a large number had become unsafe to fly and were scrapped.

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Hi, does anyone see the resemblence between the one in the badge and (supposedly) concept art?

Russia is looking outside for a big ticket military item. They haven'n done that in the past. Apparently they really want a modern military ship now that offers persistance and projection capabilities. And that deal would also allow the russian shipbuilding industry to catch up with foreign assistance.
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France Confirms Russian Interest in Mistral Ship

By pierre tran
Published: 3 Sep 2009 08:49

PARIS - Russia has shown interest in buying a helicopter landing ship from France, marking a possible shift in Moscow's defense procurement thinking, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said Sept. 3.

"Russia has expressed official interest in acquiring a Mistral class ship," Laurent Teisseire told journalists at a weekly briefing. Russia's interest was "extremely general," he said.

rance has two Mistral-class command and projection ships in service and ordered a third vessel this summer, as part of a defense stimulus package. A fourth ship is due to be ordered in the next decade.

Russia is a large arms exporter, rather than a buyer of foreign weapons, so the interest showed a potential change in policy, Teisseire said.

French firms have cooperated with Russia on past defense projects, including work on the MiG-AT fast jet trainer, Teisseire said.

Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the Russian General Staff, said Aug. 26 that the Russian military would negotiate with the French Defense Ministry and an unnamed French shipbuilding company to buy a Mistral-class helicopter carrier. Russian shipyards would then produce three or four additional carriers with French help, he said.