What’s the status on Russian Marine Gas-turbine propulsion systems for Surface Ships? Till now all Russian ships with Gas-turbine propulsion have used Ukrainian Zorya-Mashproekt engines. I had read about efforts by Klimov and NPO Saturn to develop new marine gas turbines to make the Russian Navy independent of Ukrainian manufacturers. What powerplant will the Project 22350 frigates have?

Does the ASaC(‘Area Surveilance and Control’) designation signify that the Merlin will be capable of controlling friendly fighters unlike typical AEW helos that only perform surveillance?

If so the Indian Navy committed a huge blunder by buying so many Ka-31s(a platform it’s reportedly unhappy with) instead of these.

I believe they do – but that doesn’t solve the problem of distance.

Australia is a continent. It’s over twice the size of India, almost as big as the USA without Alaska, & surrounded by sea. It is dependent on maritime trade. The nearest neighbours are to the north, near the most sparsely populated part of the country. Just to get to the north coast from the nearest port suitable for a submarine base is a long voyage.

It also has absolutely no regional rivals or territorial disputes, a long-term military relationship with the US and NATO, protection under the American nuclear umbrella, relatively few inhabited regions to defend, no fear of attack from the southern half(i.e. the Antartic), and finally no resources worth risking an expensive sea-based invasion for(that can’t be obtained elsewhere with less difficulty).

If it’s looking to fight piracy on sea routes then what it really needs is more frigates and patrol boats.

Yes, in mid-90s she was a barge with missiles. Article is from 2007, speaks of 1996.

At the end he mentions that the boilers are still leaky even after overhauls, though not as much as before.

While googling I came upon a rare gem: a detailed account of the Admiral Kuznetsov’s propulsion problems over its operational lifetime; from a Russian Admiral and former Chief of Staff.

Russian link:
http://www.zavtra.ru/cgi/veil/data/zavtra/07/735/52.html

Link for babelfish translation:
http://uk.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zavtra.ru%2Fcgi%2Fveil%2Fdata%2Fzavtra%2F07%2F735%2F52.html&lp=ru_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

It’s quite a revealing tale, I had no idea the carrier’s condition was that severe. All those proud flag-waving visits that were actually risky exercises that threatened another tragedy like the Kursk..

Chine builds naval steam plants, which are derivatives of originally russian designs, of which the Varyag plants are also developments. So chances are these plants are similar, to say the least.

As for no news of Russian sale of certain items, not everything aborad the russian ships is built in russia. In a lot of cases, Ukraine produced components and sometimes other eastern european countries as well. So, you might not have noticed a sale of such items if you were only monitoring Russia’s trade with China.

I think the sale of boilers designed for aircraft carrier propulsion would have made the news.

And it’s one thing to have a domestic engine/powerplant industry and another thing to have one capable of naval use. For instance South Korea has a thriving industry for marine powerplants and Hyundai markets fifth-generation gas turbine engines comparable to Western designs but yet the South Korean KDX series warships still use American LM2500 gas turbines.

What the hell? Once again AK Antony and Pallam Raju of Kerala show their socialist priorities. MDL has its order books full for years and years. They’ve already got 12 guaranteed Scorpene orders. Why the hell couldn’t the second submarine line have been granted to L & T, who had built a shipyard specifically geared for that purpose and had even acquired the Navy’s approval!?

This is the reason the Indian defence industry will never completely fulfil our Armed Forces’ needs. The capacity is there, only our communist-minded babus won’t utilize it because they can’t look past the DRDO and PSUs. MDL and GRSE will continue to hog all navy orders even with their limited capacity. Expect even bigger delays.

“And those who argue that the RAAF isnt a small airforce, for a country the size of Australia with the massive coastline, its a small airforce.”

It’s not a small air force.

I’m sure you’re well aware that Australia has
-No regional rivals or territorial disputes
-A very close friendship with the US and military association with NATO
-Only needs to be defended from the northern side as no one would bother attacking it from the polar regions in the south.
-Very few populated and industrialised areas needed to defend(the rest is mostly desert) and no natural resources worth risking the massive economic and political cost to invade(Coal? Uranium? Can be obtained far cheaper in a number of other places).

I think it’s pretty adequate.