Russia and CIS Defense & Policy Blog

DATELINE: MOSCOW March 4

The research and production corporation Saturn (Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region) has started the stand testing of the AL-55I light aircraft engine intended for India, a source in the defense-industry complex told Interfax-AVN.

“One engine is under testing already and a second, being prepared at Saturn, is expected to join the first one soon,” he said.

The light AL-55I will retain thrust and fuel economy characteristics, the source said.

“But no decision has been made so far on the engine’s flight testing,” he added.

The AL-55I has been ordered by the Indian corporation HAL (Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd) for the HJT-36 training plane. A licensed production of AL-55I engines is to be launched in India.

In the future the AL-55I with an increased thrust of 2,200 kilograms could be installed on the Indian HJT-39 plane.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: MOSCOW March 3

The Russian authorities plan to complete a project to build the Vostochny spaceport in the Amur region in 2020, Federal Special Construction Agency (Spetsstroi) Director Gen.

Nikolai Abroskin said.

“The construction of all facilities belonging to the Vostochny cosmodrome will take nine years – from 2012 to 2020,” Abroskin said at a session of the Spetsstroi board on Wednesday.

Specialists are now working on design documents for the project, he said.

“Spetsstroi of Russia, as the project’s contractor, has been playing an immediate role in discussions on all related issues,” he said.

Source: Interfax-AVN

In the past 6 months or so we’ve gotten estimates of 2015, 2018, and now 2020. Taking bets on when we start to hear 2025!

DATELINE: BAIKONUR March 4

The GEO-IK-2 geodesic satellite will be launched in 2010 to conduct high precision measurements of the Earth’s surface, Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems General Designer and Director Nikolai Testoyedov told Interfax.

“The satellite will be gliding at an altitude of 1,100 kilometers and making Earth surface measurements with the precision of five centimeters with the help of the Sadko altimeter [made in France]. That is necessary for the Glonass navigation satellite system,” Testoyedov said.

The satellite will supply precise information about Earth’s parameters, such as rotation and shape, he said.

The Reshetnev is building the satellite to revive the Russian space geodesic system. Two GEO-IK-2 satellites will be sent into orbit.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: MOSCOW March 4

Russian shipyards are capable of designing and building large landing ships comparable with the French Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, but domestic designers haven’t been given the chance, editor-in-chief of the Moscow Defense Brief edition Mikhail Barabanov told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.

“The Russian military command does not invite domestic designers and shipyards to take part in the large landing ship tender. There have been numerous claims that the domestic shipbuilding industry is not experienced in designing and building such ships,” he said.

Nevskoye Design Bureau designed a large landing ship of Project 1174 (a helicopter-carrying ship with a full displacement of 14,000 tonnes). The Kaliningrad Yantar shipyard built three ships of that project in 1974-1989.

The ships were never repaired and eventually became obsolete. The last ship of the series, the Mitrofan Moskalenko, arrived in Vladivostok in 1990 and never made another voyage.

The Nevskoye Design Bureau developed a universal landing ship of Project 11780 with a full displacement of over 30,000 tonnes in the 1980s. The ship was never built due to the absence of free docks, Barabanov said.

The expert doubts that France may supply Russia with the SENIT 9 advanced information and control system together with the Mistral ship.

The access to technologies the Russian military command is seeking in the Mistral deal “will most probably imply the acquisition of a self- propelled ship hull built by simple commercial standards. It seems not only Russian but also Chinese or Eastern European shipyards can do the same,” he said.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: MOSCOW March 4

Designers are not responsible for unsuccessful test launches of Bulava sea-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, Moscow Heat Technology Institute general designer Yuri Solomonov said in the Nuclear Vertical book.

“The Bulava advanced strategic missile has been tested with variable success. Test launches confirmed the correctness of main characteristics, but did not achieve steady positive results,” he said.

The book gave a detailed analysis of post-Soviet problems in the Russian defense sector.

The loss of unique technologies developed by the Soviet defense sector, the Finance Ministry’s blocking of industrial modernization programs and the absence of expensive test beds were the main reason for the failure of the majority of Bulava test launches, the designer said.

Solomonov headed the institute in 1997. He supervised the development of the new strategic missile system Topol-M and tendered his resignation in July 2009 after another failure of the Bulava. Sergei Nikulin took his position in a contest organized by the Federal Space Agency. Solomonov remained the institute’s general designer.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: BAIKONUR March 4

The Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems will supply antennas for Express AM-5 and Express AM-6 satellites built to order of the Space Communications federal enterprise.

“We will be the only supplier of contoured beam antennas in Russia,” Reshetnev General Designer and Director Nikolai Testoyedov said.

The satellites will be launched in 2012.

The Reshetnev, the Radio Research Institute, Gazprom Space Systems and Space Commissions will launch the production of re-transmitters, antennas and orientation and stabilization systems in Russia, he said.

The satellite contract was signed on August 12, 2009, after an open tender. The winner will design, produce, test, prepare for launching and establish orbital contact with Express AM-5 and Express AM-6.

The satellites will provide digital TV and radio service in Russia, presidential and governmental communications, multimedia services (telephone, videoconference, data transmission and Internet access) and VSAT communications.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: MOSCOW March 4

The Russian Defense Ministry’s policy stipulates that the armed forces will receive 350 warplanes in the next ten years, Sukhoi General Director Mikhail Pogosyan said.

“Plenty of things must be done to meet the Defense Ministry needs.

The primary need is the sweeping modernization of aircraft and anti- aircraft missile systems. The armed forces will get 350 warplanes in ten years,” he said.

The Monday conference at the Sukhoi Company chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin “will help coordinate plans of the Defense Ministry and plants,” he said.

“We now have a long-term program of the development of the defense sector and the armed forces for the period until 2020,” Pogosyan said.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: SEVERODVINSK March 4

The Severodvinsk Zvezdochka shipyard has scrapped the unique nuclear-powered submarine K-222 Anchar, nicknamed the Gold Fish.

“The government ordered the scrapping. The submarine disposal is unique, the same as the submarine itself. The sub is being scrapped with fuel inside,” a source at the Severodvinsk administration told Interfax.

“The security of works is complete,” he noted.

The source did not say why the scrapping began before the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) chose an international consultant on the fuel unloading.

The Federal Nuclear and Radiation Security Center ordered the scrapping, an EBRD source told Interfax earlier.

The Northern Dimension environmental fund finances the unloading of spent nuclear fuel from Russia’s only titanium submarine and the disposal of the Lepse floating workshop based in Murmansk.

The construction of the titanium K-22 started in Severodvinsk on December 28, 1963, and the sub was commissioned on December 31, 1969.

The experimental product still has no world analogs, experts said.

The sub hit a record speed of 44.7 knots in 1971 which stands until this day.

Source: Interfax-AVN

DATELINE: MOSCOW March 2

Russia’s fifth-generation stealth fighter jet will have a custom made new engine, Sukhoi General Director Mikhail Pogosyan said.

“Claims that the fifth-generation jet allegedly has an old engine are wrong. Such claims are made by people with limited knowledge,” he said.

The Saturn Research and Production center made digitally-controlled engines of Project 117 for the new jet. The engine thrust was enlarged by 2.5 tonnes, as compared with the AL-31 engines, while the engine weight was cut by 150 kilograms. That allowed the new jet to move at a supersonic cruise speed, Pogosyan said.

“This engine meets the client’s requirements. This is not an intermediate product made particularly for test flights. The engine will be installed in jets, which will be supplied to the Russian Air Force and prospective foreign clients,” he said.

There will be another engine in the future, but it will take ten to twelve years to develop, Pogosyan said.

The fifth-generation fighter jet, also known as PAK FA, is being developed by the state-owned Sukhoi aviation company. According to information released by Sukhoi, the jet will be able to travel at 1,250 miles per hour and a range of up to 3,500 miles. It will incorporate stealth technology and come with air-to-air, air-to-surface, and air- to-ship missiles.

The jet’s first few test flights have already been carried out.

Source: Interfax-AVN

Now if only Saturn could actually produce its share of the SAM-146….

DATELINE: SEVERODVINSK March 1

Spent nuclear fuel will be unloaded from the Borisoglebsk K-496 nuclear-powered submarine of the Russian North Fleet in March 2010, a Zvezdochka shipyard source told Interfax.

“The unloading started in December 2009. It is proceeding normally.

The fire that broke out at another decommissioned submarine at Zvezdochka in late February had no effect on the Borisoglebsk works,” the source said.

Rosatom and foreign sponsors will fund the K-496 disposal, he said.

Canada is financing the unloading of spent nuclear fuel, and the United States is sponsoring the disposal of missile silos and the three- compartment reactor unit.

The construction of the Borisoglebsk K-496 (Project 667 Kalmar, NATO code name Delta 3) started at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk on November 23, 1975. The submarine was commissioned on December 30, 1977.

The Borisoglebsk collided with the U.S. Grayling submarine in the Barents Sea in March 1993, as the U.S. sub was covertly following the Russian one. The Borisoglebsk had a nuclear deterrence and stabilization mission in May-June 1999, during the NATO armed aggression against the former Yugoslavia.

The submarine was due to be modernized in May 2006, but that did not happen because of the shortage of funds. It was decided to scrap the submarine, and its flag was removed in early fall.

In all, the submarine had 22 combat missions, including three near the North Pole, 28 combat alert duties and 31 missile shootings. It was decommissioned in 2008.

The submarine is 155 meters long. It has a displacement of 10,600 tonnes, a submersion depth of 450 meters, an autonomous voyage of 90 days and a crew of 130 men. It is armed with 16 launchers of RSM-50 intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In all, 14 submarines of the series were built.

Source: Interfax-AVN