The Titanic designers claimed it was unsinkable too. How did that work out for them?

Veliky should be fully combat ready. As the Northern Fleet flagship he’s been out and about relatively often from what I recall, albeit nowhere near this far from Severomorsk.

Forget PAK-FA, anything new on the Su-33UB? Has the second prototype ever flown? Will the Russian Navy modernize the Su-27Ks at any point?

I find Podvig’s site very useful for some things, and not so much for others. But his book on Russian nuclear forces is very well done, even if it is starting to become a bit dated at this juncture. Kommersant’s article appears to be the standard journalistic reporting on something they don’t quite understand.

Now someone convince the Russians to stop being asinine and let Veliky make a port call in New York City so I can go get some pictures 😀 More seriously and to the point, will Russia turn Venezuela into the new Cuba? With all of these major exercises, one has to wonder if basing agreements aren’t in the back of Russia’s mind.

I keep hearing you guys mention some sort of improved SS-N-19, is there any sort of evidence out there to suggest this thing exists?

Topol as a solid-fueled missile made sense as it was going to be road mobile. Same goes for Bulava where missile dimensions and storability were critical. But, solid fuel missiles typically have much more plume radiation in both the IR and UV bands. That makes them far easier to detect and track. If you want to hide a missile launch or make it more difficult to locate, liquid fuel is usually the way to go due to lower radiation signatures.

Those would be MiG-25BMs, not MiG-25Rs, and they still lacked AAM capability.

Twice as effective does not mean twice the range. It can mean increased kill probability, it can mean twice as many simultaneous engagements, etc.

S-400 radar is 1 sqm at 600km. should not be a problem AWACS at 1000km.

Ok. That statement is totally false. Picture a 91N6 radar set mounted on a 30 meter mast assembly. The radar horizon 1000 km downrange is 190,000 feet. That means that at a distance of 1000 km, assuming the radar can get a strong enough return to locate a target to begin with, anything below 190,000 feet cannot be seen by the radar due to the curvature of the Earth.

Now you tell me. What AWACS is operating at or above 190,000 feet?