Lenta.ru (Russian link) reports on the "Nizhniy Novgorod" project-945A (Sierra-II) SSN being returned to active duty with the Northern Fleet after a seven-year long refit operation.
5/1/08
Gorshkov Cost Increase
According to new reports, Russia is requesting an additional $1.2bn for the Gorshkov refit for the Indian navy.
Russian Moves on Separatist Regions (Update)
Following the alleged shoot-down of a Georgian UAV by a Russian fighter, tensions continue to rise as Russia and Georgia accuse each other of massing military personnel and equipment near the Abhazia and South Ossetia regions. Russia has announced and already sent more peacekeepers into the region, a move Georgia has called an attempt at "military annexation."
The BBC summarizes the action and the international response.
4/30/08
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.
4/29/08
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
image source
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.
4/13/08
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.
3/30/08
3/27/08
Setting of the Red Star?
Although not officially confirmed, a number of online "insiders" are reporting that the Russian Air Force may be leaving the red star in favor of a three-color star of the Russian flag. Some FSB airframes have been spotted carrying the new insignia. Awaiting further notice...
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Russia---Air/Antonov-An-72P/1241600/L/
http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5390&highlight=
Russian Moves on Separatist Regions
As Kosovo independence approached, all eyes were on the Russian response. The fear was that Russia would use Kosovo as a precedent to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abhazia in Georgia, as well as Pridnestrovie in Moldova. However, Vladimir Putin promised in his final press conference, that Russia "will not play the fool," meaning play tit-for-tat with the West, but that plans have been drawn nonetheless.
The first responses have now emerged. While not formally recognizing their independence, Russia appears to plan on expanding economic, legal and political interaction with the contested regions. The government has already suspended economic sanctions with Abhazia and the parliament has been pushing for closer ties with all three regions. Where this ultimately leads is difficult to predict, but it will be one to watch.
A Flying Air Force (Update)
As mentioned before, the Russian Air Force has been showing a significant increase in military training activity, with no signs of letting up this year. Here are three examples of recent and upcoming exercises, as reported by the Russian MoD. Note, all three exercises involved live firing, although according to unofficial sources, the air to air fire was limited to short-range, IR-guided missiles only.
Between March 11 and March 14, four fighter regiments, flying the Su-27, MiG-31 and MiG-29, conducted training at the "Ladoga" firing range. In total, about 100 flights were made, including at night.
On March 26, the "Telemba" firing range hosted a regiment of 20 MiG-31s for daytime and night-time training flights.
Between April 1 and April 10, over 10 aviation regiments of various types, including fighter (MiG-31), frontal (Su-24), army aviation, transport, support, and communication units will participate in a number of activities as part of the Air Combat Conference and training exercises over the "Ahuluk" and "Kapustin Yar" ranges.
3/25/08
Defense Export Problems (Update)
India has agreed to a cost increase for the former Admiral Gorshkov. Exact numbers have not yet been agreed on, but estimates range from $500m. to $1.2bn of additional funds.
Meanwhile, Andrey Dutov, head of the Russian Federal Agency of Industry, indicated in an interview to Vedomosti (Russian link) that the MiG-29SMTs recently refused by Algeria may be adopted into Russian Air Force service.
3/4/08
Industry Consolidation (Update)
As previously reported (1 and 2), the Russian government is conducting massive restructuring of critical national industries, including aviation, shipbuilding, nuclear energy, defense technology and others.
On February 20, 2008, while visiting the Zhukovskiy flight research center with as yet to become President Elect Dmitriy Medvedev, Vladimir Putin announced the creation of the National Aircraft Construction Center, to be built in Zhukovskiy. Creation of the entity had quietly been signed into law beforehand.
The center is designed to combine the intellectual and production potential of Russian aircraft design and construction firms in a united net of new facilities.
Meanwhile, Jane's forwarded the opinion that Russian defense consolidation may offer investment opportunities for western companies. A free sample of the article is available here.
2/19/08
Ground Forces Training for 2007
ARMS-TASS (Russian link) reports on the training activity of the Russian ground troops in 2007. According to General Aleksey Maslov, the army conducted five full-scale brigade-level live fire tactical exercises, 26 regimental and over 1000 battalion and company-level exercises and about 10,000 platoon and squad-level live fire exercises.
Russian Repair Ship in Need of Repair
PM-138, a Black Sea Fleet repair ship on its way from Tartus, Syria to Sevastopol, Ukraine after participating in the recent Mediterranean Cruise, lost all power in the weather of the Aegian Sea on February 18, 2008. The ship sent out a distress call and has since been safely towed into port by the Hellenic Navy.
Algeria Refuses MiG-29SMTs
Algeria is returning 15 MiG-29SMTs it had purchased from Russia in 2006-2007. The reason given is low production quality of certain aircraft parts. Rosoboronexport (Russian state arms export monopoly) disagrees and sites political reasons. In any case, the Algerian president is currently in Moscow for talks and it appears that Russian-Algerian "cooperation" will continue, but the original contract may be altered, possibly in favor of more Su-30MKI(A)s. Kommersant has an overview of the situation and Russia Today has a news report.
2/13/08
Yuri Dolgorukiy Launched (Again)
The Sevmash construction yard launched the first 'Borei' class SSBN, the Yuri Dolgorukiy, on February 12, 2008. If this sounds familiar, it's because the submarine was already "launched" on April 15th, 2007. However, it was no secret at the time that the boat remained incomplete and more dry-dock work was necessary. It appears the work is now complete.
In related news, the Northern Fleet officially accepted the overhauled and upgraded K-117 'Bryansk' (Delta-IV) SSBN on February 9, 2008. Russianforces.org has more details:
" This is the fourth Project 667BDRM submarine that has underwent overhaul in recent years - K-51 Verkhoturie, K-84 Ekaterinburg, and K-114 Tula were the first three. K-18 Karelia is still at the Zvezdochka plant and K-407 Novomoskovsk will probably join it there soon."
Although no details of the upgrades are available, they are likely to include various tactical improvements (silencing, sonar equipment, etc.) and possibly introduction of the RS-29RM 'Sineva' missiles.
2/12/08
Defense Export Reform
Continuing the discussion of Russia's defense export industry and the series of recent contract problems, kommersant has an informative article reviewing the history of and recent plans to further reform the state monopoly - Rosoboronexport. See bottom of the page for a summary of 2007 export contracts and deliveries.
2/11/08
Strategic Implications of the Mediterranean Cruise
Information Dissemination has an interesting analysis of the possible long-term strategic implications of the Russian naval cruise to the Mediterranean. As announced last year, Russia plans on building the world's second largest naval force in the 2020-2030 time frame, including numerous aircraft carriers for the Pacific and Northern fleets. Contrary to popular opinion, Information Dissemination believes such a force is required less for a potential military confrontation with the U.S., but more for economic accessibility to forward markets in a globalized economy. An excerpt:
"The exercises involved the fighter aviation forces onboard the Admiral Kuznetsov in escort of the long range, land based Tu-160 bomber forces at the point of attack. This demonstration highlights that the Russian military has retained the military capability of forward strike, and given the distances involved, is a military capability beyond that of every nation in the world with one exception, the United States.
From a strategic perspective, long range bomber sorties from Russia guarded at the point of attack by forward deployed CV aviation is an enormous capability. With the military option of forward strike supported by sea power comes an option unique to super powers, the ability of Russia for military intervention in forward locations.
...
This will give Russia the capability to emerge in [the future] as a major military power in a world influenced heavily by the rapid expansion of globalization. The purpose of building these military capabilities is not, as some contend, to compete against the United States as a military power in forward markets, rather emerge instead as an alternative to US military power in forward markets. In that context we see long term plans for expanding Russian carrier based naval aviation, which is defensive in nature per doctrine, aligned within the scope of Russia's strategic goals for economic influence in forward markets."
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