Videos of Recent Training Activity

The Russian military news channel, "Zvezda," has collected nice montages from recent exercises of the Black Sea Fleet and the Air Combat Conference.

Submarine News

Two pieces of interesting news on the Russian submarine fleet.

The Barents Observer reports that the Russian Atomic Agency (Rosatom) says it has nearly completed the decommissioning of all Russian retired nuclear submarines.

Also, the FAS Strategic Security Blog reports on the decreased patrolling activity of Russian SSBNs.

"The low Russian patrol number continues the sharp decline from the Cold War; no patrols at all were conducted in 2002 (see Figure 1). The new practice indicates that Russia no longer maintains a continuous SSBN patrol posture like that of the United States, Britain, and France, but instead has shifted to a new posture where it occasionally deploys an SSBN for training purposes."

According to Pavel Podvig of the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces blog, "the importance of the number of patrols in Russia's case, however, should not be overestimated. The Soviet Union never really relied on constant presence of its missile submarines at sea to the extent that the United States or Britain do."

Mi-28N News

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The Mi-28N is being tested by regular squadron crews of the Russian army aviation. This is a true milestone not just for this particular program, but for the entire Russian military. It hasn't been often in the entire history of the Russian Federation that new gear - even if it stretches the concept of "new" to its limit - is enjoyed by regular troops of the armed forces.

Unofficial reports from witnesses at the scene describe the pilots' reactions as largely positive. The helicopter is maneuverable and features a modern and well received cockpit avionics package. However, it is still missing the mast-mounted radar and pilots have expressed concern over the helicopter's weight, which may result in severe restrictions on maneuverability and is likely only to increase over time. Some concern was also raised over the lack of helicopter controls in the gunner's position.

Currently, Mil is testing an already upgraded version of the Mi-28N (Russian link), powered by the significantly more capable VK-2500 turboshaft engines.

Upgrading the Russian AWACS

Kommersant reports on the planned upgrade of Russian A-50 AWACS aircraft.

“The successful completion of research and development work enables to start serial upgrading for A-50 jets of Russia’s Air Force,” a source with the country’s defense and industrial complex told Interfax."

Besides the bad translation, I would note that no specific upgrade plans or schedules are stated, landing this report into a long series of "planned" upgrades to Russian military equipment. Time will tell.

Russian Army Fails to Impress Americans

A kommersant article on a recent conference at the Heritage Foundation attended by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Michael McConnell.