Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. France has to agree a prospective buyer for Mistral helicopter carriers with Russia, with no time limits set for such approval, an informed source in the Russian government said on Monday. "Russia must approve a prospective buyer while no time limits for this approval are set," the source said.

The €1.12 billion contract for the construction of two Mistral-type helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy was signed in June 2011. Under the contract, Russia was expected to receive the first of the two warships, the Vladivostok, in the autumn of 2014. However, Paris suspended the ship’s handover to Russia at the very last moment over Moscow’s stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine.

It was planned that the second ship dubbed the Sevastopol would be handed over to Russia in the second half of 2015. But the deal was suspended like in the case with the first Mistral ship. News came in the summer of 2015 that Russia and France had agreed on the fate of the two Mistral helicopter carriers. Under the agreement, Russia would get back its money paid for the Mistral construction, after France would be able to use the amphibious ships at its discretion.

The media has already named a whole number of prospective buyers for the Mistral helicopter carriers, including Egypt and Malaysia.


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ATOM: Russia Rolls Out Killer Armored Vehicle
Russia’s tracked vehicle manufacturer UralVagonzavod is preparing to unveil a heavy armored wheeled vehicle, which is being as eagerly awaited as Russia’s all-new Armata tank.


Originally designed as part a collaboration effort with France’s Renault Trucks Defense Company, the ATOM heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) was to become the pinnacle of modern-day technology and a prime example of mutually-rewarding cooperation between Russian and European manufacturers.

After Renault Trucks Defense suspended its participation in the joint project, UralVagonzavod decided to go it alone producing one of the best armored vehicles money can buy.

The ATOM represents the plant’s first entry into the wheeled armored vehicle market, reflecting the company’s strategy in strengthening its traditional tracked vehicle production base with wheeled vehicle platforms, for which demand is stable (unlike tracked vehicles).

As a heavy vehicle platform, ATOM will be able to adapt to a number of applications, all based on a common chassis.

These include troop carriers, command vehicles, combat electronic vehicle, combat engineering and recovery, and fire support platforms, mounting various weapon systems, from the 57mm cannon to the 120mm gun-mortar.

The ATOM 8x8 IFV features an overhead unmanned turret armed with a 57mm automatic gun, which is capable of engaging light armored and soft targets with a firing rate of 300 rounds per minute and an effective firing range of up to six kilometers.

It is powered by a 600hp diesel engine, which features an automatic gearbox and transmission with independent suspension. The IFV is propelled in water by a pair of propellers fitted on the sides of the rear hull.

It has a maximum speed of 100km/h and an unrefueled range of 750km, with a ground clearance of 600mm and features run-flat tires. The vehicle can be air dropped using Il-76 aircraft.

The ATOM features an all-welded hull with modular armor plates. Its cabin accommodates three crew members and up to eight troops along with equipment. It has one rear ramp, and four roof hatches for entry and exit.

The IFV is designed to provide transportation for motorized infantry subdivisions during combat missions and in battlegrounds.

The vehicle can be customized to make it suitable for deployment in different operations. It is available in different variants including troop transport vehicle, ambulance, breakdown vehicle, and armored police vehicle.

The combat weight of the vehicle is 32 tons and the maximum payload carrying capacity is 7 tons.

The ATOM IFV will be presented at the Russian Arms Expo (RAE) exhibition to be held at Nizhny Tagil on September 9-12.

Link:


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Half a century of Russian naval cooperation with India


(Defensa.com) On September 1, 2015 the 50th anniversary of the first agreement for the supply of Soviet naval equipment to India, which has included four diesel-electric submarines of Project I641K 5 159E bodyguards and five boats of held 368P. Since 1965, when the first contract with the Navy of China in the framework of their bilateral relations, more than 70 warships were built in Russian shipyards for that country she was initialed. India was the first foreign customer to obtain Soviet ships special designs based on export. Currently the Russian and Soviet military equipment accounts for 80 percent of the inventory of its navy, composing the backbone.

The trend of bilateral cooperation has led to the construction of Russian designs in Indian shipyards. Russia's experience in building aircraft carrier Vikramaditya includes and is very useful in building national Project 71 such vessels. Rosoboronexport will also attend the Indian Navy in the design and retrofit projects destroyers 15A and 15B and frigates 17. Thanks to its close ties with Russia, India had access to technology family BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missiles.

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Superjet will be offering the uprated engines meant for long range/high MTOW version also in standard MTOW version.
(uprating is solely via FADEC)

This will facilitate operations in hot and high climates.
The chief designer mentioned South and Central Africa as major market for this (by which I understand S & Central AMERICA),
as well as China and India with high elevation areas, as well as EU markets with short airports close to city centers etc.
I do know Mexico City elevation has specific requirements and this goes for a few other major markets in Mexico, as well as the Andes.

He also mentioned the winglet modification which will be offered from 2017, claiming it offers up to 4% decrease in fuel consumption,
which is a signficant amount, I believe P&W GTF on E-Jets had about 15% increase and Superjet already had around 5% on E-Jet,
so that could possibly halve the gap to newer GTF/ E-Jet T2, while having much lower airframe costs especially with ruble.
(incidentally I remember asking on avia forums when SJ was launching "why not use winglets" which were cropping up everywhere at the time,
and people answered me "only older wings benefit from them, SJ's wing is designed so it doesn't need them" ... cue 4% fuel reduction)

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A drone design by Msyashev
Link:

I didn’t translate from Russian to English. Translation never comes out correct.


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"Moscow plans to offer Kamov Ka-52K helicopters to a country interested in purchasing the two Mistral warships which France originally built for the Russian Navy, the Kommersant newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources.The Ka-52K rotorcraft are specifically tailored for the amphibious assault ships. Russia built a total of four machines to serve on the Mistrals before the arms deal was cancelled in August.

No nation has formally confirmed its decision to buy the helicopter carriers but many speculate that Brazil, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates are contemplating adding the amphibious assault ships to their fleet.

A source told the daily that Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sis discussed the Mistrals with Vladimir Putin while on a visit to Moscow last week. “Sisi expressed interest in the possibility of buying the helicopter carriers from the French but it was a purely theoretical interest. … Obviously, they need financial assistance from a third party to purchase the ships,” the source added but declined to comment on whether Russia could serve as a creditor.

Earlier, reports emerged that Saudi Arabia could buy the two Mistrals which would likely be docked in Egypt. The oil kingdom views the amphibious assault ships as a means to project its own power in the region. They could also become part of the joint Arab force project which was recently unveiled by Riyadh and Cairo.

Regardless of who will buy the two Mistral, France will have to discuss the matter with Russia since Moscow has power to veto such a transaction. Meanwhile, the Vladivostok and the Sevastopol built under a $1.3 billion deal are docked at a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire."


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Russia has allowed France to sell the "Mistral" to Egypt and/or the United Arab Emirates

Link:


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The newly developed drone will have an opportunity to fill in a niche between planes and helicopters

ZHUKOVSKY, Moscow region, August 27. /TASS/. Prospective Russian unmanned aircraft, or drones, of the Fregat family will have a capability to speed up to 700 km/h, Nikolai Dolzhenkov, the director of the drone section of the Kronstadt Group told reporters on Thursday.

He addressed the media as part of an official presentation of the Fregat drone at the MAKS’2015 international aerospace show underway in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow.

"The Fregats will have a speed of 600 to 700 km per hour, which is inaccessible for today’s helicopters," Dolzhenkov said.

He believes the newly developed drone will have an opportunity to fill in a niche between planes and heliopters.

The Kronstadt Group press service said earlier the new promising aircraft is expected to carry 1.0 tons to 1.7 tones and the stay airborne for about ten hours.

The manufacturer plans to cooperate on the project with the Prospective Research Foundation and the Vnesheconombank (VEB) Foreign Trade Bank.

Assembly of these drones will be streamlined in 2022, Dolzhenkov said.

When TASS asked him about the main purposes of the Fregat and Orion-2 drones, Dolzhenkov said Kronstadt was developing them for exclusively civilian uses.

"We don’t plan any utilization of these two families of drones by the military," he said.

Unlike the Fregat, the Orion-2 was not presented at MAKS but spokespeople at the press service of the corporation said it had been designed for monitoring the Earth’s surface in the interests of the manufacturing sector.

"All the projects of the drones are purely civilian," Dolzhenkov told TASS. "Well, they can be militarized of course but in a different life."

Link:


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On 20 August 2015 the Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov made one of her passages through Istanbul. This is the very first time equipment has been seen on the deck of the cargo ship and was visible
The destination is not declared ahem

(concerns Project 11356)
Mar 28, 2015

Jura said:

... and the Admiral Makarov will be commissioned this year -- I'll try to search Russian Internet for more news ...

Click to expand...

launched September 2:



(but hit the water only the next day I mean the ship left the floating dock:

September 3, says