Pipavav actually had a partnership with the design bureau to build additional Talwars indigenous if the Navy wanted to order more. But as usual AK Antony the hardcore Socialist(Which in India simply means ‘Communist unaffiliated with the Communist Party’) goes out of his way to ignore Indian private shipyards to protect the PSU yards from any serious competition.

Yes, I know, he grudgingly tossed a few peanuts contracts for OPVs, patrol boats and other small vessels their way. But you think he’s ever going to let them build frigates, submarines, LPDs and anything else that’d put MDL, GRSE and Cochin shipyards’ biggest business at risk? :rolleyes:

Russia Goes Ahead with 5G Submarine Project

(Source: RIA Novosti; published March 18, 2013)

MOSCOW — Work is in progress on the newest fifth-generation nuclear-powered and diesel submarines at Russia’s Rubin Central Design Bureau, Rubin head Igor Vilnit said on Monday.

The Russian Navy currently relies on third-generation submarines with fourth-generation subs of the Yury Dolgoruky (Project 955 Borey) and St. Petersburg (Project 677 Lada) class just beginning to be adopted for service.

In addition to Rubin, Defense Ministry research centers and the Navy Institute, as well as Rubin’s partners and contractors, are currently working to develop a basic design of the fifth-generation submarine.

The new submarine will have a service life of about 50 years, he said.

The fifth generation will be distinguished by its lowered noise, automated control systems, reactor safety, and long-range weapons.

The Defense Ministry previously said Russia is planning to develop its fifth-generation submarine by 2020 under a 2011-2020 arms procurement program, to be armed with both ballistic and cruise missiles.

Russia also plans to build eight fourth-generation strategic nuclear subs by 2020 and arm them with Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

-ends-

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/143565/russia-goes-ahead-with-next_gen-submarine.html

2020? By then Russia will be lucky to have any significant numbers of 4th gen submarines in service. The first Yasen only recently entered service and the Lada is still in development.

2040 may be a more realistic date to see these future subs finish development. That is, unless the Russian Navy doesn’t plan on replacing all their current subs with 4th gen ones, instead inducting only a small number and jumping straight to the 5th generation.

The new Russian destroyer.
Putin himself helped design it, and 20 are to be built before 2020.

Hell of a lot of VLS there!:eek: Anyone have a count?

And is it nuclear-powered as was speculated?

Unfortunately, considering the status of the Gorshkov class, they’ll be lucky to get even 3 commissioned before 2020. Too many newfangled gadgets to test.;)

Nice to see Furke-4 finally on the top, hopefully it will perform better than the smaller sister. As well as slightly modified Puma.
Missing main gun (has not made even to test range yet) and plank-wood Poliment probably will not prevent the ship from sea tests.

So Furke-4 and Poliment are two different radars? Is Furke being used as a stopgap till Poliment-K is ready?

http://rusnavy.com/news/navy/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=16284

Ukraine Resumes Training of Combatant Dolphins

Dolphins for Soviet Navy were trained in Sevastopol since 1973. Specially educated animals were able to find military equipment on the seabed, and attack enemy divers and ships with weapons and explosives fixed on their heads. After the breakup of the Soviet Union and partition of Black Sea Fleet, the dolphin-training military unit fell to Ukraine along with all specialists. Dolphins were used for peaceful purposes like therapy of handicapped children, reports RIA Novosti.

“Today, Ukrainian State Aquarium in Sevastopol trains ten bottlenose dolphins for special tasks of Ukrainian Navy. Servicemen regularly hold drills with dolphins searching objects lying on the seabed”, said the interviewee.

As for him, in 90’s some dolphins were used for medical treatment of handicapped children; that helped to earn money for taking care of the rest animals. “But generally, military training program has been never shut down, although was going on without advertising”, said the source.

Doesn’t the Ukrainian Navy have more urgent uses for its small budget than training dolphins?

I’m not very clear on the IL-78MKI conversion time or its necessisity, but the 78 variant which is probably “not convertible” is the variant with three additional tanks. The normal IL-78 are with two additional tanks in the cargo bay and these are not permanently fixed tanks, but are tanks which are fixed like any other heavy cargo…

You might be able to interpret few things from the below pictures of IL-76 & IL-78 cargo bay.

Thanks for clearing that up. But the fact remains that the Indian IL-78s are not fitted with heavy cargo winching equipment and while they can be retrofitted during conversion it’s not entirely clear if such equipment was purchased by the IAF.

A330MRTT able to carry out double-role of a transport & tanker is a myth created on the basis of ‘experts’ wrongly interpreting the marketing figures from Airbus. Like IL-78, A330MRTT can either be a tanker or a transport but can’t be both at the same time. But the advantage of A330MRTT is its easy conversion – almost as simple as carrying lower internal fuel, where as IL-78 will require removing the fuel tanks and re-equipping up the cargo bay for transport.

No offence, but I’d rather believe some of these experts. The A330MRTT in its simplest configuration is basically just a commercial airliner plumbed for refuelling pods. It can carry passengers and refuel at the same time; it basically just shares its own fuel supply(since the fuel used for refuelling is just that which the plane carries in its own tanks for consumption and not additional tanks in the cargo hold like the IL-78).

Airbus has in fact marketed the A330 as a VIP transport solution for Air Forces. And let’s not make assumptions of the sort of “(Western firm) lies during marketing, only Russia tells the truth!”:D

Also, the range provided by IL-78 is more than enough for the IOR, unless we are planning to invade Australia. 😀

I could care less about that. The IL-78’s fuel capacity is lower than both the KC-767 and the A-330MRTT. This has more of an effect of how many aircraft it can refuel a mission. A modern fighter typically carries over 3 tonnes of fuel, transport and AWACS aircraft may carry much more than that.

The antiskid coating used on the Vikramaditya’s deck seems to be quite different from that used on the Varyag.

http://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/23511/

The composite superstructure for the Soversheny is finally delivered to Komsomolsk.

I’ve always been puzzled by the Stereguschy’s composite superstructure. What material is that made of? It doesn’t resemble either balsa wood or FRP(fiberglass reinforced plastic).

The colour and texture actually remind me of cement, but it can’t be that, can it?:confused: