Wow. I didn’t know the radars had been installed. Thanks again, snake65.

To answer rayrubik’s question, work is still a little behind schedule and the Indian inspectors are worried about the deadline. That said corners have already been cut to ensure speedy induction, and some of the outfitting work(for instance, the air defence system) and sea trials likely won’t be done until after it arrives in India. Optimistically we can expect it to be fully operational (as the Navy intends) by 2013 end.

In that case I’m a little dissapointed, because it’s a dated system which has since been supplanted by newer variants of the indigenous UHSUS sonar suite.

What has EADS planned for the future regarding the Eurofighter consortium? Is the Typhoon their last attempt at a manned fighter, or is there any chance of seeing a European stealth fighter?

Many months ago I posted an excerpt about the F/A-22’s sensor suite that revealed a little about the extent its engineers went through for LO construction. All the little antennas that normally poke out of a fighter(RWR, mini-SIGINT, communications/datalink) were concealed inside cavities in the slightly extra-thick wings, body and tail which were then sealed with radar-absorbent materials.

Is this level of concealment planned for the T-50? I can see a few antennas jutting out of these prototypes in the usual places, like a Flanker or Fulcrum.

Currently the export proposition is MGK-400EM-03. Just a foreign sonar – IMHO, you’ll have to go for foreign CMS as well in that case, it’s highly improbable, that Litiy BIUS is compatible with foreign sonars.

Is that what was offered for the rumoured S800/1000 designs with Navantia for the Indian Navy in the past?

A question regarding the Lada/Amur class submarine to snake65 and anyone else in the know:

Given the problems with the sonar suite of the Lada(which, last I heard, still haven’t been resolved) what solution is being offered for export? The Rubin design bureau website mentions that they are open to integrating Western equipment in the Amur class. Will the Amur variant offered to India have a Western sonar system?

Some doom and gloom

So, is the Project 20380 really canceled? Will they only build the units they currently have under construction, and then start all over again with a new design? Is the design a “failure”?

Same question with the Project 677 – the author appears to assume that the Project 636 is being procured for the Black Sea Fleet due to Project 677’s technical problems branding it an irredeemable “failure”.

If true, what does this say about Russia’s shipbuilding industry, where the new designs they’ve introduced are, so far – (allegedly) rubbish?

I believe the main problem with the likes of the Lada, Graney, 22080 and 22350 lies in the fact that they are full of new systems under development for which the technological base in Russia hasn’t matured enough. Like TR1 said, many Russian design bureaus suffer from a paucity of funding. So developing and testing new systems like these can take years.

The Talwars have had a successful production run because they mainly use sensors and weapons developed in the 80s or 90s. The only wholly new system was the Puma fire control radar for the A-190 gun system, and that itself led to delays in commissioning the first three.

The Stereguschy, for instance, uses new technologies never before seen on Russian ships, like an AESA radar and a composite superstructure. Unsurprisingly these seem to be the main hurdles in mass-producing them. I expect the 22350 frigates will also have a rocky construction program with their AEGIS-type radars and SAM systems.