Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

A

anzha

Captain
Registered Member
A write-up of what we know about the Skif project from the Soviet days to build an orbital laser weapon as a response to the American SDI program:

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H

HighGround

Senior Member
Registered Member
tacoburger said:
Question: Russia barely buys any weapons/equipment from China, despite being allies. They buy components, electronic and raw materials, but almost never any complete weapons systems. Why is that? Russia is an ally, China clearly has more advanced military equipment than Russia, a large and diverse arms export market and Russia actually needs the equipment badly, even before 2022 Ukraine, Russia was busy fighting medium scale engagements in Syria, Georgia, Ukraine 2014 etc etc. Is it just pride or arrogance? China has no problem buying the S400 and various flankers.
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Because that's the price of having your own domestic defense industry. Russia, China, United States, and France are the only countries that can create their own weapon systems. Russia likes having this kind of total independence, and I can certainly see why. You never know what might happen, alliances sour all the time.

That said, more co-operation between China and Russia would be a good thing for both countries, and it can be done in a way that doesn't compromise that independence for either country.

tacoburger said:
It's a bit off topic but I can't help but wonder how the invasion of Ukraine could have gone if Russia had bought a few billion worth of chinese hardware specifically designed to supplement their weakpoints in drone, logistics, anti drone warfare, SEAD and electronic warfare.

One thing is for sure, once the war ends and attention dies down, Russia is for sure going to be buying lots and lots more hardware from China.
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It wouldn't have gone too differently. Equipment wasn't Russia's problem. It was the way they approached this operation. I still believe they had the ability to take Kiev in 3 days if they just took it seriously from the get go.
 
H

HighGround

Senior Member
Registered Member
gelgoog said:
There are issues in Russia with engine production for drones. Probably will only be mitigated in a couple of years time.
Russia lacks turboprop and piston powered engines in general.
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Explains a lot about their drone offerings.

They really need something better than shitty Orlans.
 
G

gelgoog

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Russia already managed to serial produce the Al-222 turbofan engine for the Yak-130 trainer and the Grom drone prototype.

Russia is currently developing the Klimov VK-650 engine. This is a 650 hp turboshaft/turboprop. They will deliver four turboshaft engines to install on a Ka-226 helicopter for tests this year. It is expected that a turboprop version of this engine will be made for the Yak-152 trainer aircraft and large drones like the Altius.

Russia is also currently dependent on Rotax engine imports for the smaller reconnaissance drones I think. Although there are claims the Rotax engines were replaced with engines by Agat.

This is the Agat APD-110/120 engine (110/120 hp engine). Which is an equivalent to the Rotax 914.

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