http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_19753.shtml

Russian Rhapsody
By Prasun K. Sengupta, Yhoo 10/8/05
Aug 18, 2005, 11:07

The 2nd International Naval & Defence Show (IMDS-2005) that was held in St Petersburg, Russia, from June 29 to July 5 provided a deep insight into several capital procurement programmes, both on-going and planned, of the Indian Navy. These include naval aviation aircraft and principal surface combatants, diesel-electric submarine (SSK) upgrades, as well as anti-ship/land-attack cruise missiles.

INS [Indian Navy Ship] Vikramaditya

Extensive refit and upgrade work is now underway in Severodvinsk on converting the Krechyet-class (Type 1143.4) 44,570-tonne aircraft carrier
(the Admiral Gorshkov) into the INS Vikramaditya, whose acquisition contract worth US$860 million was inked on 20 January 2004. Main industrial activity is led by the Sevmash State Production Association, with the others being Nevskoye Design Bureau, Northern Machine Building Enterprise, and Novaya Era JSC. The vessel, which is being reconfigured to primarily undertake offensive maritime strike and land attack operations, will be handed over to the IN by August 2008, by which time it will host a 14.3-degree bow-mounted ski-ramp, twin aircraft restraining stands, a 20-tonne capacity elevator beside the vessel’s island superstructure and an aft lift with 30-tonne lift capacity, and three arresting gears on the aft section of the angled deck to facilitate fixed-short takeoff but arrested recovery (STOBAR) of fixed-wing combat aircraft. The vessel will accommodate 12 MiG-29Ks, four Kamov Ka-31 AEW helicopters, and two Ka-28PL ASW helicopters.

The vessel’s combat/platform management and air situation display systems are being jointly developed by the Meridian Research & Production Enterprise, Granit Central Research Institute, Elektropribor, Salyut State Moscow Plant State Unitary Enterprise and Octagon Systems. The electronic warfare suite will be derived from the TK-25E-5 suite that is on board the IN’s three Project 1135.6 Talwar-class guided-missile frigates (FFG). For close-in and area air defence, INS Vikramaditya will be armed with twin 3M88 Kashtan CADS-N1 modules (each comprising 32 9M311 laser-guided anti-missile missiles and two six-barrelled 30mm GSh-630K gatling guns plus a fire-control radar and optronic director) , as well as the Shtil-1 system developed by the Dolgoprudnenskoye Naucsno-Proizvodstvennoye Predpriyatie JSC, which is part of the Almaz-Antey Air Defence Concern. The Shtil-1 will comprise one MR-700M active phased-array radar and twin vertical-launch modules mounted fore and aft of the island, with each module comprising twin rotary carousels each containing 12 9M317ME surface-to-air missiles (SAM) developed by the Altair Naval Radio Electronics Scientific Institute JSC. A dual-mode solid-propellant rocket motor will provide the SAM with a maximum speed of Mach 4.5. Fire-control and guidance is by a combination of inertial and semi-active radar homing (using four MT-90 Orekh target illuminators). Launch weight of the SAM is 581kg, its range is between 3.5km and 32km, and the missile will contain a 62kg warhead initiated by a dual-mode, active radar proximity fuze. The Shtil-1 has also been chosen for installation on board the IN’s three Project 15A Bangalore-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG) now under construction.

Carrier-Based MiG-29K

Senior officials of Russian Aircraft Corp-MiG confirmed during IMDS-2005 that fabrication of the first MiG-29KUB tandem-seat operational conversion trainer prototype (Project 9-47) and the first MiG-29K multi-role combat aircraft prototype (Project 9-41) began last March, with the former due to make its maiden flight on December 25 this year, and the latter in March
2006. Detailed negotiations for this contract had begun in July 1999. Following extensive flight-testing and airworthiness certification, the first production-series MiG-29K/KUBs will be delivered to the IN by June
2007. The IN has to date ordered 12 MiG-29Ks and four MiG-29KUBs plus related support hardware/software and guided-weapons worth $740 million, and has options on ordering a follow-on batch of 26 MiG-29Ks and four MiG-29KUBs before 2015. The IN has already ordered a full-mission simulator from a joint venture company comprising RAC-MiG and Germany’s Rheinmetall DeTec, and will shortly order a carrier deck-landing simulator from the same entity.

The MiG-29K/KUBs will each feature a digital three-channel fly-by-wire flight control system and a single-channel analogue back-up control system; twin folding outer-wing panels; larger, double-slotted trailing-edge flaps; rectangular leading-edge vortex controllers (LEVCON) fitted to the wing-root extensions; and increased displacement (30-degree) leading-edge flaps. The leading-edge flaps will deploy automatically while the LEVCONs will be deflected only during landing for increasing the aircraft’s lift and stability. Ramenskoye-based RPKB Avionics Design Bureau along with the Moscow-based GosNIIAS Institute is integrating the aircraft’s avionics suite via a MIL-STD-1553B digital databus, as well as developing the on-board mission computer and cockpit instrumentation. The MiG-29K will be equipped with Phazotron-NIIR’s ZHUK-ME multi-mode X-band, monopulse radar that has a range of 120km, can track 20 airborne targets and engage four of them simultaneously, and has a synthetic aperture mode for real-beam terrain mapping. The nose-mounted 13SM infra-red search-and-track system developed by UOMZ will incorporate a laser rangefinder with a 16.2km range, will feature diamond glass to protect the optronics’ lens, and most notably, will be integrated with the TopSight-E helmet-mounted sight/display supplied by THALES of France.

The MiG-29K’s all-glass cockpit will have HOTAS controls, and be devoid of any standby electro-mechanical instrumentation. On-board displays will include the RRKB 1KSh-1MT monochromatic, wide-angle heads-up display, plus three MFI-10 6-inch by 8-inch active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCD). The MiG-29KUB’s rear cockpit will contain four MFI-10s. The GLONASS GPS receiver on board will be integrated with THALES’ Totem ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system. Avionics built by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd such as TACAN, ILS receiver, VOR/DME receiver, VHF/UHF radios, IFF transponder, radar altimeter; and the Tarang Mk3 radar warning receiver made by state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd will also be installed. The electronic countermeasures suite will comprise ELTA of Israel’s EL/L-8222 jamming pod on the starboard outer underwing pylon, plus twin Russian 16-round, 50mm downward-firing flare dispensers located in the rear fuselage outboard of the engine nacelles.

Powerplant for each of the MiG-29K/KUBs will comprise twin Klimov RD -33-10MK turbofans each rated at 19,842lb (88.25kN) thrust with afterburning. The turbofans will also feature smokeless combustion chambers and full-authority digital engine controls. Both aircraft types will be equipped with retractable in-flight refuelling probes, will have an internal fuel capacity of 5.2 tonnes, and will also be able to carry a 2,150-litre fuel pod on the centreline station and two 1,150-litre tanks under the wings, or a total of four of the latter for buddy-buddy refuelling via a Zvezda PAZ-1MK refuelling pod. As the MiG-29Ks’ secondary role will be fleet air defence, they will each be armed with four Vympel-built R-77 beyond visual range and four R-73E within visual range air combat missiles. Primary offensive armament will include twin Zvezda-Strela Research & Production Corp-built 3M-24E1 subsonic anti-ship cruise missiles with on-board GLONASS GPS receiver and a range of 225km (also be to carried by the IN’s to-be-upgraded Ka-28PL and Sea King Mk42B shipborne helicopters), or four Kh-31P Krypton 110km-range supersonic anti-radiation missiles, four KAB-500Kr or KAB-5000D laser/TV-guided bombs, or a single Novator-built
3M-14E land-attack cruise missile, all of which can be carried by the aircraft’s eight underwing stores stations (the four inner stations can each carry twin pylons).

Principal Combatants

Severnoye Design Bureau officials confirmed that the IN’s Project 28 ASW corvette will be derived from the Bureau’s Project 20382 design. The Bureau is closely cooperating with the IN’s Directorate of Naval Design and Weapons Engineering & Electronics Systems Engineering Establishment (WEESEE), and state-owned Garden Reach Shipbuilding & Engineering to produce detailed engineering drawings using TRIBON CAD/CAM software. The six planned Project
28 vessels will each displace 1,800 tonnes, have a length of 94 metres, beamwidth of 13 metres and a draught of 3.5 metres. Its CODAG propulsion system, comprising twin gas turbines, twin diesel engines and twin diesel generators will drive two-shaft, controllable-pitch propellers. The corvette will have a maximum speed of 27 Knots, range of 4,000nm, endurance of 15 days and a crew compliment of 85. The helicopter deck will be able to house either the dipping sonar-equipped Ka-28PL or Naval Dhruv. The armaments package will comprise one eight-cell vertical launcher for Novator-built
3M-54E Klub-N 220km-range supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles (identical to the ones on board the IN’s three Project 1135.6 FFGs), 3R60-UM fire-control system, Garpun Bal-E surface target engagement radar, one OTOBreda 76/62 main gun, twin 12-barrelled RBU-6000 ASW mortar launchers, twin 324mm ILAS triple-tube torpedo launchers for launching Franco-Italian Eurotorp-built MU-90 lightweight torpedoes, and one 16-cell Barak-1 VLS anti-missile defence system with twin EL/M-2221 STGR target illuminators. On-board mission sensors will include the indigenous DRDO/LRDE-developed L-band Central Acquisition Radar, Kelvin Hughes Nucleus-2 6000A navigation radar, an ultra low-frequency active/passive towed array sonar, towed torpedo decoy, and a close-in decoy system with four chaff/flare decoy launchers.

Igor Orlov, Deputy Director-General the Zvezdochka Shipbuilding Plant in Severodvinsk, said that since 1999 the Plant has undertaken the mid-life refits-cum-upgrades (developed by Zvyozdochka Onega Research and Development Technological Bureau) of four of the IN’s 10 in-service Type 877EKM Kilo-class SSKs, with the St Petersburg-based Admiralty Shipyard undertaking similar work on two more SSKs. It takes two years and $80 million to undertake such work, which includes installation of the Morphyspribor-built MGK-400EM sonar suite, Avrora JSC-built Palladij-M integrated platform management system, and KALIBRE-PLE weapon system (including Agat Research & Production Enterprise’s 3R14N-11356 fire-control system) for enabling the SSK to fire from its 533mm (21-inch) tubes up to four 3M-54E Klub-S or
3M-14E cruise missiles, and TEST-71ME-NK torpedoes. The seventh IN Kilo-class SSK (INS Sindhukirti S-61) will be overhauled and upgraded by the Vizag-based, state-owned Hindustan Shipyard Ltd with the help of Zvezdochka under a recently-inked technology transfer agreement. This SSK, like the INS Sindhughosh , will house the Panchendriya integrated sonar suite and its USHUS bow-mounted sonar jointly developed by the DRDO, WEESEE and the IN’s Naval Physical Oceanographic Laboratory.

Meanwhile, the Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering (CDBME) has given a detailed proposal to the IN regarding the supply of type-specific full-mission simulators for both the Type 877EKM SSK and the Amur 1650 SSK. These simulators will be located at Vizag.

MP/ASW Aircraft

Officials from Taganrog Aviation Company (TAVIA) confirmed that the IN’s eight Tupolev Tu-142ME Mod 4 long-range MP/ASW aircraft have been undergoing service life-extensions (for being in service till 2015) at a rate of one per month since September 2004. The officials disclosed that the IN had issued separate, restricted Requests for Information to Russian and Israeli companies in November 2003 for extending the aircraft’s service life and replacing the mission sensor suite at a cost not exceeding $555.5 million. Subsequently, Rosoboronexport State Corp’s offer for the Morskoy Zmei (Sea Dragon) suite was rejected in January 2004 due to performance deficiencies and its price tag of $888.9 million. A month later, an IN proposal calling for ELTA to supply the mission sensor suite, with TAVIA only undertaking structural service life-extension work was rejected by Rosoboronexport. Consequently, the IN decided to proceed only with airframe refurbishment work and retain the Tu-142ME Mod 4’s existing Korshun (Black Kite) sensor suite developed by Leninets Holding Co.

In contrast, the IN’s $205 million service life-extension-cum-upgrade programme for its five IL-38s (including the two attrition replacements that were given free of charge to the IN by Russia following the loss due to a tragic mid-air collision of two IL-38s at Dabolim on October 1, 2002) is proceeding smoothly and is being jointly undertaken by Ilyushin Co’s Khodinka facility, Leninets and NIIS St Petersburg. The first IL-38 arrived in Russia on March 29, 2002 and following its refurbishment and upgrade, made its maiden flight on July 3, 2003. Work included replacing the Berkut
(Golden Eagle) sensor suite with the Novella , which comprises a 2SDI multi-mode I/J-band search radar, chin-mounted SD-5 optronic sensor suite, two-man workstation equipped with large AMLCDs, 92-channel SD-2 acoustic processor, new-generation sonobuoys, new SD-3 magnetic anomaly detector,
2SD9 ELINT/ESM suite (strut-mounted above the forward fuselage), and tactical data links, all integrated by a MIL-STD-1553B digital databus. The remaining four aircraft, which will remain in service till 2020, are now being upgraded at Dabolim to the IL-38SD standard. These aircraft will also be equipped with underwing pylons for launching R-73E air combat missiles, plus a pylon on each fuselage side to fire both MBDA-built Sea Eagle and 3M24E1 subsonic anti-ship cruise missiles.

Guided-Missiles

While the BrahMos supersonic multi-role cruise missile (MRCM) will definitely be installed on board each of the IN’s three Project 15A Bangalore-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG) on order in a 16-cell (710mm diameter each) vertical-launch silo, and on the five Project 61A Kashin II-class DDGs (in twin inclined quad launchers and in an eight-cell vertical launch silo that replaces the aft below-deck helicopter hangar), efforts are now underway to tailor the eight-cell vertical launch silo module for the IN’s three Project 17 guided-missile frigates, all of which have already been launched and are now being fitted out by Mazagon Docks Ltd. In addition, BrahMos Aerospace, along with CDBME, has modified the Amur 1650 SSK’s design that now enables the vessel to accommodate both an 8-cell vertical launcher for the BrahMos, as well as an air-independent propulsion system.

In the article rising from the sea (July 2005 issue) by our contributor Prasun K. Sengupta, we have carried a photograph of Sea King Mk 42B provided by the author. Mr B. Harry who contributes to ACIC.org website claims the photograph is his. Even as we are investigating and looking to resolve this matter, we apologise to Mr Harry for causing him inadvertent hurt.
:diablo:

Source:Ocnus.net 2004

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its news to me the Kashin class will get 16 brahmos tubes replacing the solitary helicopter as well. looks like their ASW role is deleted and will concentrate 100% on ASuW only.

his info on rotary carousel for Shtil-1 is obviously wrong. Shtil-1 has the mk41
style usual arrangement.

you are asking to build the F22 without going through the learning process of building a F15.

because they are deployed in tibet and yunnan, barely 500km away from indian heartland.

what does indian get by nuking lhasa or kunming – zero countervalue. PRC would be most glad to trade these two for delhi and mumbai in a limited exchange. the top30 targets in china are strung out along the coast or near the coast…with some noteable exceptions like xian and chengdu.

for counter value targeting and because PRC has 4X the number of warheads and lots more missiles it is necessary to reliably bring within range all the top30-50 cities for mobile survivable assets like x-country TELs and naval assets.

MAD must be ensured to keep the peace.

unadulterated 101% high grade peshwari opium I am afraid.

a monster 275 ton projectile is totally incapable of mobility which is a must if u are playing the ICBM game. 275 ton is like fitting a MIRV on a PSLV 😀 the Topol-M is around 47 tons…most ICBMs in that range.

secondly a 2km CEP for 200KT small warheads is useless even considered we do counter-value(city) targeting and not counter-force.

the MoD official was taking out his rear end. I am sure India will eventually develop a longer range around 7000km missile but
(a) no official decision yet to target EU and US our biggest eco & tech partners, as of
now all developments are china specific.
(b) it has to be 3 stage but obviously < 40 tons to be road mobile
(c) the prithvi launcher would be heap of crumpled metal if u dropped a 275ton
rock on its back! has to be based on russian MAZ 6×6 or 8×8 TEL technology.

first lets test and get agni-3 into service before talking big.

> Mod is pressing for…

hilarious. these clowns are the biggest saboteurs of any defence plan. only
things they press for is bribes, black label whisky and trips to paris / vegas.

the list of vacationers is very distinguished indeed 😀

Igorr@ BR: Bars-29 radar

http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bars293tk.jpg

yep they had this flawed submarine strategy and very poor ASW focus. So the big air conditioned american subs had a field day massacreing their troop & supply convoys in the west pacific during later half of war. They could have stuck around in Pearl for a couple days more per mitsuo fuchida’s reco for follow-on strikes and completely ripped the place apart.

the british and germans had far more potent ASW focus.