inkextropiandreams,
Did the English version of the ria novosti site carry the same article? I couldn’t find it in my brief search. Reason I ask is that the guys over at tanknet seem to think that the T-95 will be revealed in the land-based part of the display.
Which might mean that there will be no surprise at the victory parade… Except for those who hadn’t noticed that Putin is no longer the president of Russia… Boy, that’s gonna take some getting used to…
inkbring_it_on,
Sorry, I meant here:
Fifth generation combat aircraft will be made mainly of composites
MOSCOW. May 4 (Interfax-AVN) – Advanced materials are being widely used in the development of advanced combat aircraft, General Director of the Obninsk-based Tekhnologia research and production enterprise Vladimir Vikulin told Interfax.
“The current R&D to increase the application of composites in the advanced frontline aircraft [fifth generation aircraft] may facilitate an increase in the application of composites to 50% or more of the total surface of the aircraft in the future,” he said.
He said his enterprise is working on technologies of producing the fuselage and wing panels from composites for the new Russian fighter designed by the Sukhoi holding.
He said that the application of composites can reduce the weight of an aircraft 20-30%. “In the future more than two thirds of the wings, fuselage and tail section of the aircraft will be made of composites,” he said.
inkI thought the guy said more than 50% of the aircraft’s surface?
inkKen,
You’re dead right. Apologies.
inkChina has shifted policy from its Pakistan oriented diplomacy to one that includes Iran. Pakistan and the ISI are ultimately the main vein to the Taliban, true, but they are getting help from China and Iran. The latter has been the main supporter of the Northern Alliance prior to 9/11. Politics have changed and Iran is now in bed with the Taliban. What ultimately drives this trilateral alliance? Russia and U.S. pressures on the oil markets. China is going to great lengths to insure its supplies of oil. (Even if they have that “firework factory exploding” problem happening more often than in the past*.) A pro-U.S. Afghanistan is not something that brings sweet dreams to the folks in Beijing. Seems almost absurd that Iraq penned a deal for Chinese small arms.
Sorry – I don’t buy it.
inkMore drones down – apparently:
MOSCOW, May 4 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia shot down over its territory on Sunday two Georgian surveillance drones, an Abkhaz presidential envoy told RIA Novosti.
“The planes were flying at an altitude of 7,000 meters [23,000 feet] and were downed by our air defense system,” Ruslan Kishmariya said.
Abkhazia’s defense minister, Merab Kishmariya, confirmed that two planes had been shot down. He previously said that only one drone had been downed.
“Considering the altitude of the aircraft, their fragments will be scattered within a radius of between eight and 12 kilometers [5-7 miles],” the presidential envoy said, adding that a group of experts was already working at the crash site of the first drone and a search was underway for the crash site of the second…
For the rest of the article see: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080504/106528771.html
inkVymp, you could be on the right track – after all, why are we all so sure the surprise will be in the air?
As for:
1. Buk-M2 launchers. Not Buk-M1-2 upgrades (i.e. Buk-M1 TEL + Buk-M2 missile), but full standard Buk-M2s.
2. Upgraded BMP-3s (distinguishable from the normal model by no overgun LRF/designator, because of the new SOZH gunner’s sight, together with PL-1 laser searchlight replacing the old one)
3. Multiple BMD-4s; and
4. Multiple 2S25 Sprut-SDs.
You have to admit, they are a little less surprising than a T-60 or PAK-FA.
inkOkay, so this is a Russian news source and, considering the current situation, should therefore be taken with a dose of salt:
MOSCOW, May 4 (RIA Novosti) – Georgia has deployed almost 7,500 troops on its border with Abkhazia, the defense minister of the breakaway republic said on Sunday.
Merab Kishmaria said should a military operation begin, some 3,000 troops will apparently be used to seize the Kodori Gorge, in the northeast of Abkhazia.
“We are watching the movement of troops in the Kodori Gorge. According to our intelligence, up to 7,500 Georgian troops on the Georgian-Abkhaz border are on alert, with 3,000 of them to be used in attempting to take the Kodori Gorge,” he said.
He added that the Abkhaz armed forces had also been put on combat alert and that there would be enough forces and military equipment to repulse any “Georgian aggression.”
Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has responded with a sense of humor to recent Russian media reports concerning an imminent Georgian military operation in Abkhazia.
“The Georgian leadership advises the anonymous representatives of the Russian security agencies…to take a few drops of valerian [a traditional herbal sedative]. However, Georgian doctors believe that valerian will not be potent enough…and they would be better off taking Valium,” Georgia’s acting foreign minister, Grigol Vashadze, was quoted as saying by a ministry spokesman.
A Russian federal security source said on Saturday that Georgia, “with the participation of foreign experts,” had prepared a plan for “armed action” against Abkhazia, which would be carried out within the next few days.
He said the plan envisions “the seizure of vital installations in Abkhazia’s coastal area,” adding that “a number of foreign embassies in Georgia” were preparing to evacuate their staff from Tbilisi.
Abkhazia, alongside another Georgian breakaway republic, South Ossetia, broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Between 10,000 and 30,000 people were killed in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and some 3,000 in Georgian-South Ossetian hostilities. Georgia is looking to regain control over the two de facto independent republics.
Tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi have been escalating rapidly since Russia’s outgoing President Vladimir Putin called for closer ties between Moscow and the two breakaway republics in mid-April. Tbilisi also accused Russia of shooting down a reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle on April 20 – a claim Russia flatly denied, calling Georgia’s video footage fake.
Moscow has increased the number of Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia to 3,000 from 2,000, but has said that this is within the limits envisioned by earlier agreements on the number of peacekeeping troops signed by the Georgian leadership.
Russia has also threatened to use force if Georgia employs “violent measures,” against its peacekeepers or Russian nationals living in Abkhazia or South Ossetia.
NATO spokesman James Appathurai has said NATO believes that while Russia may technically have the right to do increase troop numbers, “in the political reality, this is not easing tensions, it is raising tensions.”
A situation worth keeping an eye on methinks.
Aside to mods,
If this really does escalate – perhaps it would be useful to convert this into a Russia-Georgia thread, rather than having a multitude of new ones springing up.
inkNeither actively back the Taliban and the Iranians actively hated them (prior to the US invasion anyway).
inkCondolences to their families. Its always sad to hear news like this.
inkWas in Switzerland not that long ago and saw their Hornets on some kind of training flight – looked damn pretty against a mountainous backdrop. Certainly looked much better than Hornets normally do… Made me wish I had a much longer lens with me…
inkbring_it_on,
This MIX-MATCH stuff might not be the best buisness sollution in my opinion . The best way would be to develop the RuAF version with what ever they want for an EIS date of say 2013-2015 . Then work with india over the MKI version , and market the MKI version (minus whatever india wants out for secerecy) and share profits accordingly . That is a more simpler buisness model and one that in my eyes be more profitable rather then the integration nightmare of allowing everyone to develop their own product , which sounds very good in A MODULAR SENCE but looks like a lot of sweat .
I completely concur. In fact, this is what will probably happen i.e. one general MKI-type version will be the basic export version. It kind of like the MKIs for Malaysia. I think the opposite happened with Su-30MKs in general simply because its export success was a bit spontaneous and, probably, rather unexpected.
inkAbhimanyu,
Again, there is no mention of India which is supposed to be a “50-50” partner.
That was never realistic – in fact, I don’t remember seeing that anywhere.
Anyway, even if India is supposed to be a 50-50 partner financially, it was never going to be a 50-50 partner in terms of the development programme. Russian 5th gen fighter development started a long time ago, before the PAK-FA programme, and it would be ridiculous to expect India to jump on at some point and claim to be a 50-50 partner. I’m sure nobody at HAL or the IAF, let alone at Sukhoi, thought India and Russia were going to develop the PAK-FA together from scratch.
PS Its hard to tell on forums because I cannot judge your tone, but it sounds like you are hoping to score some points by ‘proving’ that India isn’t a 50-50 partner. If you are, then I have to wonder what you are hoping to achieve. If not – I apologise for jumping to conclusions.
inkWell $100mil + wouldn’t surprise me – especially considering the dollar is no longer as strong as it once was.
inkSo that would make the individual unit price at 62.5 million a plane, right?
Even if true, I would suspect that to be cost price for the RuAF – presumably the export price would be a lot higher.
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