Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

That's precisely the X-51ski I'm talking about, everyone came to the same logical conclusion as you and deduced that Tsirkon must be identical. And it's a sound assumption, in that Brahmos II and Tsirkon are indeed likely to be variants of the same basic design, much like Brahmos/Oniks. Except nobody stopped to wonder whether the model of the terrestrial/naval Brahmos II (which is to all intents and purposes the same as the *air-launched* X-51) was in fact accurate, or merely a generic "hypersonic missile". Colour me skeptical - I'm not aware of a single independent clue indicating that it does look like that, by which I mean corroborating evidence that isn't itself liable to have been founded on extrapolation from that model.

There's a risk of circular logic here, the argument is based on a premise that has yet to be proven IMHO. X-51 was not designed either to fit VLS cells or (giving claims to that effect about Tsirkon the benefit of the doubt) to attain speeds up to Mach 8, so why should such a missile look anything like X-51?

Tirdent said:

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First real footage of Tsirkon? Not that it is terribly revealing if true, and it's possible that Oniks is shown at least in the launch close-up.

However, I would caution that the X-51ski configuration commonly associated with Tsirkon in the press may well be speculative, so the fact that it doesn't look like that doesn't necessarily indicate we're seeing something else. Further, an intake cover with tip-over thrusters makes sense in a VLS-launched hypersonic airbreather for all the same reasons why it is present on Oniks - doesn't mean it's actually an Oniks.

Notably, the missile does not tilt over through 90° after launch like Oniks typically does - this makes sense for a missile claimed to have traveled at Mach 8 out to 450km (you're not going to do either, let alone in combination, in sea-level air). Then again, Oniks obviously can fly high-altitude profiles as well... this is shaping up to be a bit of a 53T6 tease story Hope it doesn't take 30 years before we get clear close-up photos!

Another report additionally gives an altitude of 28km and a flight time of 4.5 minutes. That works out to an average of 1.67km/s or Mach 5.7 at that height on a cold day - the peak speed would obviously be greater than this, so something approaching Mach 8 is at least within the realm of credibility.

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The X-51 fist flown in 2010, the Zircon was at that point of time the final factory acceptance tests stage.

So the Russian equivalent of X-51 flown in 90s most likely.


The shape of missile most likely the result of the computational / simulation complexity of hypersonic airflow.

The whole shape of missile is like a two dimensional flow channel pulled out across the Z axis .

Finally, the Onix has variable air intake, so it can fly with full power an all altitude, the Zircon (due to the flow complexity ) most likely has single intake geometry, and vary the flow by changing the altitude.

So, the highest speed achieved at the highest altitude, around 30 km.

Rogozin complains Gateway Station is too Americentric. Then says...

He also highlighted the trusting nature of Roscosmos’ relations with China, the Chinese National Space Administration and its head Zhang Kejian. “And we see this as our great prospects,” concluded the head of Roscosmos.

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This is ... sorta Russian military related and sorta not. Sorta Chinese space program related. Mostly not.

anzha said:

Rogozin complains Gateway Station is too Americentric

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Not hard to see why.
The same goes for Artemis accords.

Kind of not so recent news but still significant and not here.

Russian Defense Ministry to receive new serial Ilyushin Il-112V aircraft from 2023
5 Oct, 18:50

VORONEZH, October 5. /TASS/. Two prototype Ilyushin Il-112V airplanes will be handed over to the Russian Defense Ministry by 2021 year-end and the ministry will start receiving serially produced aircraft since 2023, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters on Monday.

"We should additionally transfer two prototype aircraft to the Defense Ministry for subsequent state trials by 2021 year-end and upon completion we expect to supply first serially made aircraft to the Defense Ministry since 2023," the minister said.
"We have modern aircraft, with the good export potential in place. Therefore, we will work in parallel not merely for the primary customer, which is the base one, and under export orders too," Manturov noted. The Voronezh Aircraft Plant is ready to produce up to 15 airplanes annually, considering the replacement plans for a large number of aircraft by 2030, he added.

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They managed to shave 800 kg off from the early prototype. But the aircraft should still be a bit overweight.

Russia develops "unified" Engine for Mi-38 helicopter, IL-112, IL-114 Aircraft
October 19, 2020

Russia's United Engine Corporation (UEC) has announced the development of a new engine- a single power plant that will power the MI-38 medium heavy lift helicopter besides the IL-112 and the IL-114 cargo and passenger aircraft is currently under development.
According to the chief designer of UEC-Klimov JSC Vsevolod Eliseev, the engine is used on the Mi-38 helicopter and its modifications, as well as on the Il-112 and Il-114 aircraft.
"The degree of unification of the engine is about 70%," he was quoted as saying by the Russian MOD's TV channel.
The Mi-38 will occupy the niche between the Mi-8 and Mi-26 helicopters - the niche of a medium multi-purpose helicopter.
Mi-38 is a transport helicopter designed by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and being developed by Kazan Helicopters in 2003. It can carry internal payload of 5000kg or external payload of 6000kg.
The Ilyushin Il-112 is a high-wing light military transport aircraft being developed by Ilyushin Aviation Complex (JSC IL) for air landing and airdrop of military air cargoes, equipment and personnel. The maximum takeoff weight of this aircraft is 21,000kg
In another development, the design bureau is working on the development of the next generation engine. It is designed to revolutionize its design with a partial lack of lubricating oil.
“It uses technology like dry engine - oil-free engine mounts. This is a kind of revolutionary step in the future of aircraft and engine building, “explained Eliseev.

Russia’s top brass rejects proposal on 10% military personnel cuts
As of today, the numerical strength and the structure of the Armed Forces have been defined by the supreme commander-in-chief, taking into account "the entire range of tasks for effectively ensuring the state’s security," the Defence ministry said

MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Russia’s Defense Ministry rejected the Finance Ministry’s proposal on 10% military personnel cuts as unacceptable and sent its reasoning to the country’s Security Council, according to the ministry’s statement posted on the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Tuesday.

"The Defense Ministry of Russia thoroughly analyzed the substance of the proposals prepared by Russia’s Finance Ministry on cutting the size of the Armed Forces and changing some provisions of the system of social guarantees for servicemen. It sent its reasoning on the unacceptable nature of these proposals and the absence of their support from the leadership of the Defense Ministry to the Security Council of the Russian Federation," the statement says.
As of today, the numerical strength and the structure of the Armed Forces have been defined by the supreme commander-in-chief, taking into account "the entire range of tasks for effectively ensuring the state’s security," the ministry said.
In the ministry’s opinion, the Russian Armed Forces have a stable manning system balanced by the number of positions filled by military servicemen and civilian personnel.

"The Finance Ministry’s proposals on cutting the positions will yield a zero economic effect as the funds for paying money allowance to servicemen are allocated for the real numbers," the statement says.
The experience of transferring the positions of servicemen in logistics structures to civil service in 2007-2012 proved to be ineffective and prompted numerous problems affecting the combat potential of the Russian Armed Forces, the Defense Ministry said.
"In the course of combat operations, drills and maneuvers conducted by the armed forces, the need for servicemen’s maintenance is clearly confirmed," it said.

Retirement provision
The legal norms of the retirement provision are sealed in the existing legislation and serve as the basis for measures of social support for servicemen and members of their families, the Defense Ministry said.
"The Finance Ministry’s proposal to establish the maximum size of money allowance taken into account in calculating military retirement pay at no more than 80% speaks about a lack of understanding on the procedure of defining military pensions," the statement says.
The size of military retirement pay depends on the length of service and ranges from 50% of money allowance for 20 years of military service to 85% for serving 32 and more years, the Defense Ministry said.
"Considering the five-year increase in the maximum length of military service implemented by the Defense Ministry for various categories of servicemen, the Defense Ministry of Russia jointly with other federal bodies of executive and state power earlier considered in detail the possible increase in the minimum length of service entitling for retirement from 20 to 25 years on condition of providing compensatory norms and mechanisms to increase the general level of social protection for servicemen and military retirees," the statement says.
However, the Finance Ministry of Russia did not support this initiative, the Defense Ministry stressed.
"Therefore, discussing the issue of increasing the length of service for servicemen’s retirement without compensation measures is senseless," it pointed out.

Military mortgage
As Russia’s Defense Ministry pointed out, "the proposal to increase by five years the period for the emergence of grounds for including officers, soldiers and sergeants in the accumulative mortgage system of housing provision has not been worked out thoroughly and is not supported."
The Defense Ministry’s calculations show that this proposal, if implemented, will only push up long-term expenditures on providing servicemen with housing and paying them compensations, the statement says.
"The implementation of the proposals by the Finance Ministry of Russia won’t yield any economic effect but will considerably deteriorate the financial position and the social status of servicemen," the statement stresses.
Military service is a special type of civil service related to the state’s defense and security whose nature suggests that servicemen accomplish tasks associated with a threat to their life and health and with other specific conditions of their career, the Defense Ministry stressed.
"The leadership of the Defense Ministry of Russia has rejected the measures proposed by the Finance Ministry. At the same time, the Defense Ministry will continue comprehensive work aimed at expanding effective social protection measures for servicemen and members of their families," the statement says.
Finance Ministry’s proposals
The daily Izvestia earlier reported that the Finance Ministry had come up with a proposal to consider cutting the size of the country’s military personnel by 10%
The Finance Ministry proposed downsizing the Armed Forces by cutting free vacancies and transferring medics, lecturers, HR specialists, financiers, lawyers and logistics personnel to civil service. The other proposals envisage raising the retirement age in the Army, increasing the length of military service, including for obtaining military mortgage loans, and saving funds on military rations.

Your new drogue-chute operator.


All paws on deck.


Kitty SQUAD.

2 Nov, 09:02
Russia to complete rearming Strategic Missile Force with advanced Yars ICBMs by 2024
Six missile divisions have been rearmed with Yars mobile ICBMs in Russia by now
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS
MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/. Russia will complete rearming its Strategic Missile Force with Yars silo-based and mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) by 2024, Chief Designer of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (the Yars developer) Yuri Solomonov told TASS on Monday.
Solomonov who is also an Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences will mark his 75th birthday on November 3.
"I believe everything is moving towards the situation that the old grouping will be fully rearmed with Yars missile systems by 2024," the chief designer said.

The first regiment armed with Yars road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles assumed combat duty at the Teikovo missile division in central Russia in March 2011. According to open sources, six missile divisions have been rearmed with Yars mobile ICBMs in Russia by now. In particular, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced in September that the Strategic Missile Force’s missile division stationed in Irkutsk in Siberia had been reamed with Yars ICBMs.

Russia also continues installing silo-based Yars ICBMs. In particular, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the ministry’s conference call on October 13 that two Yars missiles had been placed in silo launchers in the Kaluga Region in central Russia.
The RS-24 Yars is a Russian strategic missile system comprising a mobile or silo-based solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile with MIRVed (multiple independently targetable vehicle) warheads. The ICBM has been developed by the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology under the supervision of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Solomonov. The Yars is a modification of the Topol-M missile system.
Russia’s Strategic Missile Force currently operates eight types of missile systems. They include five silo-based types: Voyevoda, Stiletto, Topol-M, Yars and Avangard. The mobile grouping comprises road-mobile Topol, Topol-M and Yars ICBMs. Russia plans to gradually rearm all of its missile formations with the latest Yars, Avangard and Sarmat missile systems.

3 Nov, 17:32
Russia’s upgraded Tu-160M strategic bomber performs debut flight with new engines
The flight proceeded at an altitude of 6 kilometers and lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes, according to the United Aircraft Corporation

MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. A heavily upgraded Tu-160M strategic missile-carrying bomber performed its debut flight with new engines, the press office of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced on Tuesday.

"At the aerodrome of the Kazan Aircraft Factory, a subsidiary of the Tupolev Company (part of the UAC within the state tech corporation Rostec), a heavily upgraded Tu-160M missile-carrying bomber with new serial-produced NK-32-02 engines performed its debut flight. The aircraft was piloted by the crew under the supervision of Anri Naskidyants. The flight proceeded at an altitude of 6,000 meters and lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes," the UAC said in a statement.
During the flight, all the bomber’s renewed aircraft systems and avionics installed in the course of its upgrade were checked and the operation of the new NK-32-02 engines was evaluated.
"According to the crew’s data, the flight proceeded in the normal mode and all the systems and equipment operated without a hitch," the UAC said.

The Tu-160 is a multimode supersonic strategic missile-carrying bomber with a variable sweep wing. Russia’s top brass announced its decision in 2015 to restart the production of the Tu-160 strategic bomber in its upgraded Tu-160M version at the Kazan Aircraft Enterprise.
On February 2, the first heavily upgraded Tu-160M prototype derived from an operational Tu-160 bomber took to the skies for the first time. The upgraded bomber features advanced flight and navigation equipment, communications, a new radar and electronic countermeasures system. The bomber is capable of carrying up to 12 strategic cruise missiles on two multi-position rotating launchers inside the fuselage.