Thank you both very much.:)

My other question; what are the black squares on the exhaust of the Stereguschy upgrades in Austin’s pics?

Heat dispersors.

Two modes for Furke are search (longer range) and track (shorter range).

ERS for fighter – 1 sq.m, for AShM – 0.02 sq.m

Victor class only had a single-shaft propulsion.

As for duel-everything, it is complex and require the double work compared to a single-reactor. In the case of silent operation for N-powered subs, they have to worry more about the pumps & turbines rather than the N-reactor as such. Proper mounting & precise configuration of the working machines will eliminate the NVH that can filter out of the hull which helps other subs to listen. Also, out of axis makes much NVH & a resulting breakdown in the long run. So it is one of the main things to be considered when so much of coupling is around. In short it is not impossible to have a decently silent submarine and if I’m not wrong they did achieve higher levels of silence in the later-on series with improvements….

Charlie, Alpha, Sierra, Mike and Akula all were/are single shaft. Less pumps and other noisy machines – the better. If the reliability of the powertrain and other operational requirements allow….

What about the Furke radar? Have they got the problems fixed?

Furke doesn’t have problems as such, it does what’s said in it’s specification. The problem is that it’s unsuitable for it’s role on the second hull of 20380 which has ARH Redut SAM. Furke just isn’t accurate enough to act as target acquisition radar for AR missile, it’s not able to provide guidance data to get 9M96 close enough for the seeker to lock on target. This is not so crucial with Kortik missiles because they have command guidance. The strange thing is that Russians have TWO excellent TAR’s – Positiv M and Fregat MAE-4K. Why the hell did they chose Furke….

Snake65 is there a good chance we might see Lada entering serial production in couple of years or is this project doomed to be a failure ?

I am quite sceptical. Too many unproven and highly advanced things put into single basket. I’m afraid that lada may become submarine counterpart of Pr.12441 Novik.

Snake65 which ship is this and can some one identify the weapon system ?

That’s one of the projects for the recent OAK corvet competition. Done by an amateur.
The weapons are 2×2 57mm (non-existant), milimeter range rotating APAR for FC, short range SAM is Tor, long range is Redut + any othe rmissile which fits in the bigger VL module.

Great picture. Is the the latest?

The picture was made 10 March 2011.

And this is as well.;)