Anybody have any news on the progress of the Z8-based AEW helicopter program? Or has it been shelved in favour of the Ka-31 buy?

^Heh. The only way we’ll see those numbers is if they include repaired vessels as ‘new’.:D

Considering Ulyanovsk was 40% complete, you’d assume they already have steam cat technology, just didn’t have a chance to impalement it.

From what I’ve read the USSR only ever got as far as building and testing a simple prototype at the NITKA facility in Ukraine(and even that’s a rumour). Given the Ulyanosk likely would have been expected to be commissioned only in the late 90s I doubt it reached a very advanced stage. And given the loss of talent and the probable neglect since then I’m sceptical that they could just pick up where they left off. Any new steam catapult R & D would have to be done largely from scratch. That’s why terms like ‘powder catapults’ were thrown around when the option of cats was talked about for Vikramaditya.

It has been confirmed that russia wont build a new carrier in at very least 10 years. Probably more much, since russian shipyards dont have any experience in building large warships (kiev, kuznetzov and ulyanovsk classes were built in nikolayev shipyards, ukraine)

They’ve built large civilian ships in the past, and vessels like the Kirov and Vikramaditya show that there is a capability, no matter however rusty. And in any case Nikolayev is now part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation probably for this very purpose(Since that’s the only thing they have to offer that Russian shipyards don’t).

I’d be more interested in seeing what the prospective Chinese (home-built) aircraft carriers will look like.

Either join the MTCR or ditch it, I say.

Anyone speculations on the juicy matter of the prospective Russian Aircraft Carrier? What do you think the design will be? Who will build it? What systems will it have? What aircraft will it carry? How many?

I have a strong hunch the final design will remain STOBAR like the Kuznetsov. A coventional design will require Russian to develop steam catapults from scratch(which would take too much time and money) or import them(which it won’t do). The fact that STOL capability being one of the features touted for the PAK-FA reaffirms my belief.

Tomahawk has been exported only within NATO, & only to a country which already had SLBMs. Hardly proliferation. Some other NATO members have been refused it.

Storm Shadow/Scalp was, again, within NATO, & both countries already had SLBMs & other long-range missiles in service. Also, its payload is lower than the MTCR threshold. That’s probably not accidental, as it was developed after the guidelines were set. Even so, only a range-limited version has been exported outside NATO so far, & Taurus also with a payload just below the limit) has only been exported within NATO. NATO members are bound by agreements regarding nuclear weapons, so the MTCR purpose (avoiding proliferation of nuclear-capable long-range weapons) does not apply.

The USA has sold JASSM to Australia, but again, technically it’s not covered, because of warhead weight. The USA is still restrictive, though, refusing to sell it to Finland, for example. Australia is counted as an ally even closer than most NATO members.

Because of their overall size & weight, the scope to increase the warhead size of Taurus, Storm Shadow & JASSM is limited. Brahmos is twice the size of any of them.

MTCR doesn’t restrict the size of the missile, only the warhead and range. BrahMos has a 200kg warhead. By the above loopholes it could be made 500+km with the explanation that it can only carry a 500kg warhead upto 300km, but that’s not what’s happened, has it?

And India is arguably Russia’s closest international ally. Even so, how did bi-national ties become an excuse for violating multinational treaties?

The impression I’m getting is the MTCR is simply something the US pushes on to countries it isn’t friendly with/wants to restrict technology to. JASSM has also been exported to the Netherlands, and will probably be sold to South Korea without a whiff of protest about the MTCR.

The Indian government should wake up to the farce of following a third-party treaty that its own members ignore at their convenience.

Given what happened to the Nimrods what are the chances that the second carrier will simply be mothballed/scrapped after launch to save on running costs?

I’ve asked this before without any success, but has anyone read performance figures for the sensor suites of the Nimrod and its prospective replacements(say, the P-8)? How does the Searchwater-2000 radar compare with the APY-10?

I’ve been dreaming about this sort of stuff for a long time.:diablo:

Displacement: 9200 tonnes.

Propulsion: IEP(2xRolls-Royce MT-30 + MTU/Wartsila motor-generator sets).

Speed: 18 knots(Cruise), 32 knots(Maximum).

Radar: S-1850S, EL/M-2248 MF-STAR.

Sonar: Integrated suite with Spherical bow sonar(having DIMUS capability), Towed array and mine avoidance sonar.

Main Gun: 1xOTOBreda 127mm Vulcano.

Anti-Surface Armament: 32x3R-14UKSK universal VLS in aft installation with a mix of BrahMos-2 AShM and a 3000+km range LACM.

ASW Armament: 2xRPK-8 ASW mortar, ASROC missiles launched from Mk.41 VLS, 2x533mm 5-tube torpedo launchers concealed in superstructure.

SAM: SM-3/6 in 80-cell Mk.41VLS in bow installation.

CIWS: 2xPantsir-S1 gun-missile system, additional Gibka SAM and 25mm machine gun mounts.

ESM suite with 4xMASS multi-spectral decoy dispensers, towed torpedo decoy, SSTD soft-kill and TRAPR hard-kill torpedo defences.

Communications: Link-16/22 capable with SATCOM.

Aviation: 3xNH-90 helos(2xASW/SAR, 1XAEW) carried in below-deck hangar. Optional rotary UAVs(maximum of 6 in place of helos).

Also capable of carrying 2 high-speed boats for Marine operations and 1 remotely operated USV.

Range: 9000km(Cruise)

Endurance: 42 days

Crew: 225(plus upto 50 Marines).