Yes, she is the last Oscar II, but what she exactly has remains a question to which only god, the designers and the construction workers know the answer. About a year ago, there was a report on her which involved the lack of $100million for the installation of the Granit missile system, it also mentioned that due to this, it was not yet certain whether they would actually install Granit, or opt for something else. What the outcome was, I don’t know… Given that she is completed for 75%, it might mean that the missile system is still not installed and that they could possibly still opt for 72 Oniks missiles instead of the Granit launchers. Of course there are rumors about Granit II too, which could also be the missile for Admiral Nakhimov in the future?!

Hermes, I have said that it certainly is possible, but to say “it is easy” is a bit exaggerated. I don’t know if you know the internal lay-out of Kilo, but the bulkheads and internal construction do not really support a modular concept and therefore it is still not easy to put modules in.

Yes Djnik, it was recently stated that they wanted to finish her THIS YEAR. Eventhough she is only 75% complete…. This statement was made however, by Sevmash representatives. I guess it’s more of an individual effort to clear the slipway for new projects than a State order.

If everything else was so much better, then I suppose no one would have ever bought the MiG-29 would they? If the advantages of these others are worth their prize, then I suppose they would have bought those, but reality shows otherwise doesn’t it???

K-139 Belgorod:

Somewhere between 74 and 75% complete.

K-64 is normally named Vladimir, although i have no pictorial evidence of that. She is said to be converted for DSRV use, but again haven’t seen any real evidence of that!

It says Gorshkov on the bow to me… Russia doesn’t rename stuff before it enters service in the customer’s Navy.
All ships built in Russia, receive a Russian name and number during trials (Talwar for example was called Dozorniy with the pennant number 711). Only after hand over they are repainted and renamed. So Vikramaditiya will only be called like that when she enters service in IN.