DATELINE: KAZAN Aug 23

The Zelenodolsk Gorky Shipyard will dispatch the second Gepard 3.9 class frigate of Project 11661 to the Vietnamese Navy on Monday evening, the shipyard said.

The first vessel was dispatched in July 2010, and the second vessel was launched in March.

Rosoboronexport signed the contract to build two Gepard 3.9 class frigates for Vietnam in Hanoi on December 22, 2006. The shipyard started to fulfill the contract in July 2007. The contract said that the first ship must be ready within 31 months and the second one within 37 months.

The cost of the contract is unknown.

The Gepard 3.9 class frigate searches for and destroys maritime and aerial targets, performs convoying and reconnaissance missions and protects national economic zones.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 23

The delivery of Russian firearms and ammunition to Afghanistan will start after Kabul files the request, a military diplomat told Interfax-AVN in Moscow on Monday.

“A political decision to donate firearms and ammunition to the Afghan Interior Ministry has been made, and the work is about to start,” he said.

In fact, Moscow is resuming direct deliveries of Russian armaments and ammunition to Kabul. The deliveries were suspended in 2005 as Moscow did not wish to duplicate U.S. supplies, he said.

The firearms and ammunition will be supplied from Russian Defense Ministry depots, the diplomat said.

He did not specify the amount of the upcoming deliveries.

Russia rendered over $220 million worth of military and technical aid to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2005, including airfield equipment and the anti-aircraft missile system that currently protects the Kabul Airport. “The Afghan army also received four military cargo aircraft, and eight helicopters were repaired,” the diplomat said.

Earlier reports said that Russia had supplied Afghanistan with communication and control systems, over 100 trucks, dozens of cross-country vehicles, as well as parts, repair workshop equipment, manuals and other property. In addition, Russia helped repair and modernize armaments and military hardware belonging to the Afghan army.

Russian Defense Ministry schools trained over 300 Afghan servicemen for free.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 25

Russia plans to hand over the nuclear submarine the Nerpa to the Indian Navy under a lease contract before the end of the year, a source in the Russian Pacific Fleet told Interfax-AVN.

“The submarine the Nerpa is now being tested in the Sea of Japan as part of the transfer arrangements. The trials will be completed by the end of autumn. The submarine with an Indian crew on board is expected to head to one of India’s naval bases in December,” the source said.

Both Russian and Indian sailors are currently working aboard the submarine, he said.

“The Indian crew is being trained to handle the vessel,” he said.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 26

Russia’s defense industry increased production by almost 12% in January-June 2010, the Industry and Trade Ministry said in a report received by Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.

“Plants manufacturing conventional armaments, ammunition, chemical warfare agents, radio-electronic items, and missiles increased the output of civilian products,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, civilian output of aircraft and shipbuilding plants decreased, the ministry said.

Aircraft builders decreased output by 5.8%, the ministry said. In all, Russia built 63 helicopters, including 35 for foreign clients (two Mil Mi-17, 25 Mil Mi-17-V5, six Mil Mi-171 and two Kamov Ka-32) and 28 for domestic clients (five Mil Mi-171, 21 Mil Mi-8AMT, one Mil Mi-8AMT1 and one Kamov Ka-226). Two Antonov An-148 light passenger jetliners were produced.

The output of aircraft engines rose by 68.6%, while the production of parts for missile engines and propulsion units of space rockets and spacecraft increased by 30%, and the production of parts for aircraft engines increased by 15.2%.

Civilian output of ammunition and specialized chemical plants grew by 12.1% as compared with January-June 2009, the ministry said.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 16

Russia and South Korea will continue to investigate the abortive launch of the KSLV-1 delivery vehicle, whose first stage was made in Russia, Khrunichev Aerospace Center press secretary Alexander Bobrenyov told Interfax-AVN.

“The joint commission has approved additional tests for exposing reasons of the unsuccessful rocket launch,” he said. “The commission did not discuss the possibility of an additional launch.”

Meanwhile, an aerospace industry representative told Interfax-AVN that additional tests were a compromise that satisfied both countries.

Telemetric data convinced Russia that the first stage of the rocket had nothing to do with the accident.

“The entire information was spelled out to the Korean partners, but they demanded an additional probe,” he said.

The commission studying the KSLV-1 failure held the third meeting in the South Korean city of Taejon.

Khrunichev General Director Vladimir Nesterov said on July 15 that the commission had not found any problems with the rocket’s first stage.

The first launch of a KSLV-1 took place at the Naro Space Center in South Korea on August 25, 2009. The first stage created at the Khrunichev operated normally. Yet half of the nose fairing failed to separate and the satellite was not put into the designated orbit.

The second launch was done on June 10, 2010. It was also a failure.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 2

Reports of a possible supply by Moscow to Baku of S-300 surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems are a bluff, a high-ranking source from the Russian Defense Ministry told Interfax-AVN.

“There are no contracts regarding S-300s and they are unlikely to be signed any time soon. A bigger nonsense would be even harder to imagine. Reports on this subject a mere bluff and profanation,” the source said.

“Today, the supply of Russian S-300s to Azerbaijan is impossible,” he said.

“Primarily for political reasons. Given the complicated relations between Yerevan and Baku, the export of S-300s to Azerbaijan would no doubt destroy the balance of forces in the region. Besides, Armenia is Russia’s ally within the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), and Yerevan could see such arms contracts between Moscow and Baku as a betrayal. As for Azerbaijan, none of its officials has so far announced the country’s plans to join the CSTO,” the source said.

Besides, “the economics of the matter is not in favor of such contracts either,” he said.

“It is highly unlikely that Azerbaijan would be able to afford the deal worth almost one-third of its defense budget,” the source said.

Reports about an alleged contract for the supply of Russian S-300 SAMs to Azerbaijan were earlier dismissed by Rosoboronexport as well.

“We know nothing about this contract,” company spokesman Vyacheslav Davidenko told Interfax-AVN.

DATELINE: FARNBOROUGH July 26

Two Ilyushin Il-76MF military transport aircraft will be delivered to Jordan next year.

“The aircraft are being produced. In line with our contract obligations we plan to deliver them in 2011,” head of the Rosoboronexport Air Force Property Export Department Sergei Kornev told Interfax-AVN at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Il-76MG is an overhauled version of the Il-76MD aircraft. It is furnished with the latest on board equipment and new PS-90A-76 aircraft engines with a thrust of 14.5 tonnes. The carrying capacity has been raised from 50 tonnes to 60 tonnes compared to its predecessor. During trials the Il-76MF had a range of 6,200 kilometers carrying 40 tonnes of cargo. Its range with a payload of 60 tonnes is 4,200 kilometers, and with a standard payload of 20 tonnes – 8,500 kilometers.

DATELINE: FARNBOROUGH July 26

Russian state-owned arms trader Rosoboronexport does not rule out the possibility that Brazil could purchase an additional batch of Mil Mi-35 helicopters.

“Brazil is now considering the possibility of acquiring an additional batch of helicopters but this is all at the talking stage, so it is premature to speak of numbers,” head of the Rosoboronexport Air Force Property Export Department Sergei Kornev told Interfax-AVN at the Farnborough International Airshow.

He said that a contract for the delivery of 12 Mi-35M helicopters was signed. “We delivered the first batch of three Mi-35 helicopters.

They were transferred at a special ceremony attended by the Brazilian defense minister the general director of Rosoboronexport, and the first deputy head of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. It was an important historic event,” Kornev said.

The Mi-35M is a strike helicopter for round-the-clock operations.

Helicopters of this type are used by the Russian Air Force and CIS nations and in some countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

DATELINE: FARNBOROUGH, England July 21

The Russian Kamov Ka- 226T light multirole helicopter, which Russia is offering the Indian military forces in a current tender for 197 units, has passed hot weather tests, a spokesman for Russian Helicopters said.

“After the summer tests in India, the helicopter is coming back to Russia in September for the next set of tests – certification tests,” the spokesman told Interfax-AVN at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The Ka-226T, which is fitted with two Arrius 2G2 engines from French company Turbomeca, passed winter tests in India in January and February, the spokesman said. “All the tests of the helicopters, including in harsh alpine conditions, were successful,” he said.

The Ka-226T is superior to foreign helicopters of the same category in some key respects. It is easy to control and is unsurpassed when used in hot weather or in mountain areas.

A proposal is under consideration for the Ka-226T to be manufactured in India under license.

The chopper’s production under license has evoked interest in Venezuela as well.

DATELINE: FARNBOROUGH, England July 19

The head of Russian aerospace holding company Oboronprom said on Monday that “literally five minutes ago” he signed a contract at the Farnborough International Airshow with India’s Vectra Group to sell it four Kamov Ka-32-11BC helicopters for a total of more than 30 million euros.

Delivery of the helicopters to India will start late this year or early in 2011, Oboronprom General Director Andrei Reus told a news conference.

It was the first-ever Indian purchase of Kamov choppers, he said.

Reus said contracts with Chinese, Italian and French firms were currently in preparation and that they might be also signed in Farnborough. He did not give any details of the planned deals.

“I have a very busy schedule of meetings with American, Chinese, Indian, French and Italian partners [during the show],” he said.

The companies forming part of Oboronprom include Russian Helicopters.