Has any decision been made on the AEWC platform yet? Now that it’s CATOBAR a pair of Hawkeyes would only be logical.

Pantsir S1 is a selfcontained ‘drop in’ unit that can fit a container, shelter, armored vehicle or … ship, without modification. Whether it would cope well with the corrosive environment that naval use entails is another matter.

Beautiful.:D So why hasn’t it been inducted yet? Are the Gorshkov class frigates going to be the launch platform?

More bad news regarding the troubled Mistral deal;

http://rusnavy.com/news/newsofday/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=11996

According to the newspaper, ship configuration unfavorable for Russia was agreed upon in the very beginning of negotiations; delivery of communication aids and control systems is not provided either. Besides, according to the tentative agreement, the contract does not include construction of third and fourth ships in Russia, crew training, and technology transfer.

The only solution for this problem can be found at the summit level, reports Vedomosti. Supposedly, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev would meet with his French counterpart during the G20 Summit to be held in May 2011 in France.

Never thought it’d come to this level.:confused: These negotiations are really looking like the Gorshkov debacle now.

my advise would be not to trust anything regarding the equipment of Russian origin on projects like these from the open media (particularly Indian media) other than the original manufacturers. The reason is that unlike the Western enterprises, Russia info are far more laborious to find and hence what most 3rd rate reporters do is copy from other sources who in the first place would have created it out of their imagination or gossips.

In the case of boilers, there was reports dating back over years from the manufacturer of the KVG that 9 new boilers have been built and that 8 would be installed in the carrier and one would be meant for training purpose. Let me see if I can get that link…

I’ve read the report in question on these forums, but it was ultimately an article by the Russian media, and having read several of these I believe in the ‘repaired/refurbish’ reports more. In any case I consider the information from the shipyard performing the refit(from the above video) to be as accurate as that of the boiler design bureau, and have no reason to doubt it.

my dear. a boiler design as such is cleared only after meeting the safety parameters and in cases like these they keep good factor of safety. A boiler as such is not a deadly bomb as much as a grenade in your pocket is not deadly if it is carried properly! Hope you are understanding my point. It is the way in which we use it that makes it deadly.

There are certain operating and maintenance procedures that are to be carried out and it for these very specific demands that training are imparted to the operating crew. So as to create a “discipline”. In every operation a specific discipline is to be observed, failing which anything can go wrong. That is the 1st and foremost reason for Training – Create DISCIPLINE or in other words the specific operating procedures!

I doubt the crews of the Kiev carriers and the Kuznetsov were any worse trained than the Indian one. The fact is the boiler design itself is problematic. Problems will still arise, even if crews are trained to handle them.

…probably it may be my fault because I searched for $80million as you earlier said. I did come across that specific article…but since it is not from Sevmash I won’t regard it as a 100% trustworthy due to the reason I mentioned above.

And your source is…? I’ve been following Rusnavy for quite a while now and they’re fairly accurate on such matters.

Deltas with their silo humps removed are a very clean sub. What i said wasa to replace those 16 x silos with smaller silo for the Brahmos/Klub/or even missiles and we would be able to carry larger number of them.

I rather doubt it’d be possible to buy SSBNs, even if the Russian Navy was willing to sell them, and in any case the Deltas are old vessels that will be retired in this decade and replaced by the Borei class.

EDIT:

Witcha you are in luck. Check these recent photos:

THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH!:D Why is the hangar empty?

Being greedy, do you have any more?:p

Yes, you are wrong. 😉
The only test module of Kolchan is installed in the aft position of Simferopol, there’s a good photo in the last photosession of Kulakov.
Kolchan was a flop and there will be no upgrades. It would have been timely t10 years ago perhaps, but it offers not enough improvement for 2011. Kulakov and Jaroslav have the last Kinzhals available, presumably from Gorshkov, although I can’t confirm this with serial numbers.

Why can’t they use an upgrade similar to the Tor-M2? If the latter is still being used by the Army, why doesn’t the Navy want an equivalent system?

And again, what about the Klinok version that’s being offered for export? Is it also new?

Witcha- not that I am aware off, production would only be possible to reinstate with large scale order.

Well, advertising videos like this one have shown the Klinok(export version of Kinzhal) as an option for SAMs. From this and the fact that Russia has no other naval SHORAD(9M100 is cancelled) I’d imagine it would still be ready for production.

Also:
http://twower.livejournal.com/520535.html

Some brand new pics of the large surface combatants of the North Fleet. You can see the modernized mast of the Kulakov for example. And the sealed over Kinzhal hatches :(. Should have made jacuzzi pits out of them.

Thank you!:D I thought they’d just be more of the exterior pics I usually see but someone actually too pains to photograph so much of the interior as well.

TR1 and Wanshan, would you by chance have any interior pics of the Admiral Kuznetsov as well? I’ve been looking for that for a long time…

And that’s the problem. Money should be spent on building modern, up to date vessels- not Soviet Era cruisers. If the ship existed today, and all was needed to bring it back was a kap-remont or thorough overhaul, then by all means, but that is not the case. Half the systems are not even in production anymore, it would require total modernization.

There are many ships in the Russian Navy that have systems of similar vintage and there does not seem to be a great problem in getting spares. In any case the sensor suite, at the least, is adequate, if not cutting-edge, for the Russian Navy’s roles. All they’d really need is perhaps an upgrade of the sonar suite and a new battle management system.

Your data is wrong again….the KVG boilers are not refurbished, but entirely new. Boilers are not petrol car engines where you can convert them into LPG mode with carburated conversion kits or still better with dedicated injectors along side your normal injectors….. Boilers are not childs play and they represent one of the most challenging in pressure-vessels designing.

Btw, your offer for searching the $80million gave me these….how did you miss these?

My dear JangBoGo, believe me when I say I’ve read up extensively on the Vikramaditya from both English and Russian sources over the past 5 years. I have read the article you quoted and am aware that there is a discrepancy between ‘new’ and ‘repaired’ boilers in various articles. That said the majority of them only state ‘repaired/refurbished/remanufactured’ and even this relatively recent video from Sevmash states that the Gorshkov’s boilers were removed and ‘sent for repair’ to the boiler factory.

http://www.sevmash.ru/eng/video?task=viewvideo&video_id=3

Conclusion: They were more likely refurbished/remanufactured than brand new.

In any case, the fact remains that the KVG boiler designs have always had a problematic service life over the decades, and despite the modifications made to the Vikramaditya’s some problems are likely to remain.

As for the information about the cost of technical documentation, read this.

http://rusnavy.com/news/navy/index.php?ELEMENT_ID=10298

Purchased from Russia aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov cost India $2.33 bln including $29 mln for services and $85 mln for technical documentation, wrote New Delhi on Sept 15.

India purchased the full package of documentation to provide maintenance of the ship by own capabilities. Thus and so, India intends neither to repair nor to conduct scheduled maintenance of the carrier in Russia like it is done with Project 877EKM submarines.

There is a saying that “donate” only to those who can value it. Seems like that is happening in the Akula case.
As for the cost, a new SSN in international market cost anywhere upward of $2.5billion.

No matter if the cost is high or low, my personal view is that Akula was a bad deal and 2nd hand converted Delta-IIIs would have been much better. Replacing those 16 Silo would have given room for atleast 64 x Klub/Brahmos missile.

The Indian Navy wanted an SSN, not an SSBN, and for some reason decided to go for the quietest Russian nuclear submarine model(besides the Graney). My opinion is they would have been better served buying the three incomplete Oscar-II SSGNs at Sevmash, especially the Belgorod.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060720/51609321.html

“The Defense Ministry does not need the Belgorod nuclear submarine,” Sergei Ivanov said. “Therefore it will not finance its further construction.”