Russia & CIS Defense Policy Blog

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 26

The Russian Navy’s main staff will remain based in Moscow, a source in the Russian Naval Command told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.

“The relocation of the Navy’s Main Staff to St. Petersburg has been put off indefinitely. The efforts have been focused now on the radical optimization of its structures that are to be completed before the end of the year,” he said.

But he noted that the group of staff officers, who moved to St.

Petersburg at the start of the year, will remain headquartered at the Admiralty building and will operate as the Main Command’s representatives. The headquarters have an office for Naval Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, who regularly visits St. Petersburg, he said.

“A compact control structure is currently being formed which, while being based in St. Petersburg, will be located in the maximum vicinity of the fleet,” the source said.

A high-placed source in the Main Naval Command earlier told Interfax-AVN that the relocation of individual structures and control bodies of the Navy has been made and that the relocation will be completed in 2012.

In analyst’s estimate, the price of the relocation could be 50 billion rubles.

The idea of moving the Navy’s Main Staff to St. Petersburg was first proposed by State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, who said, “St.Petersburg is Russia’s naval capital.”

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 26

The Federal Space Agency approved on Wednesday a preliminary design of the new Russian space delivery vehicle, Rus-M, which would be launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the Amur region.

“Federal Space Agency Director Anatoly Perminov summed up the results of a meeting of the Academic and Technical Council, which had considered the preliminary design of the medium-class rocket with an increased lifting capacity, and generally supported the project and its planned phases,” the agency’s website said.

Perminov ordered the swiftest possible submission of rocket technical specifications.

Decisions necessary for starting the construction of the Vostochny spaceport in 2011 have been made, Perminov said.

He recalled that the contract on the drafting of the preliminary design of the rocket was signed with CSKB-Progress in keeping with technical terms approved by the Federal Space Agency and the Space Forces

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 26

Russia has not ruled out the prospect of establishing a production facility in Iran in the near future that would make fuel for nuclear power plants, an informed source close to the talks between the parties told Interfax in commenting on the Iranian authorities’ statements.

“To begin with, we must finish the commissioning of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, which will be supplied with Russian fuel. As for the future, the creation of a facility for making fuel in Iran is possible,” he said.

But uranium enrichment in any case will proceed in Russia, he said.

Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday that Iran had offered Russia to set up a consortium for the delivery of nuclear fuel to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and to other nuclear power plants which will probably be built in Iran. He said the proposal is being studied in Russia.

The physical launch of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant began on August 21. Nuclear fuel is to be loaded into the reactor in September and the energy launch is to be carried out before the end of the year, when the station is connected to the country’s energy grid and starts generating electricity.

The nuclear fuel for the first loading was made by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant, which is part of the TVEL nuclear fuel company. TVEL’s contract with Iran for fuel delivers to Bushehr is intended for ten years.

DATELINE: VLADIKAVKAZ Aug 26

Several people suspected of delivering large batches of ammunition and arms to militants operating in the North Caucasus have been arrested in North Ossetia, a spokesman for the republic’s law enforcement told Interfax.

“Federal Security Service (FSB) officers together with the North Ossetian police in the course of operative and search efforts in North Ossetia have detained six people engaged in arms deliveries, specifically to the gangs illegally operating in the North Caucasian Federal District,” he said.

Law enforcers confiscated two Kalashnikov submachine guns, 12 Kalashkinov-74 assault rifles and two PSM pistols. Searches at the homes of the detainees uncovered 1,180 grams of plastid, 160 grams of TNT and over 4,000 pieces of ammunition for small arms of various calibers.

The spokesman said that some of the weapons were reportedly stolen from arsenals in South Ossetia during the August 2008 war in the Caucasus.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 26

The Mil Mi-38 helicopter will undergo test flights and certification with locally produced and imported engines, a representative of the defense sector told Interfax-AVN.

“Four Mi-38 helicopters will take part in the test flights and certification process. Two of them will run on locally produced TB7-117B engines, and the other two on Pratt & Whitney engines,” he said.

In all, 600-700 test flights will be made.

“Russian certification of the Mi-38 will be done in 2014, and batch deliveries of the new helicopter will begin in 2015,” he noted.

The Mi-38 will replace Mil Mi8/17 and Mil Mi-6. The maximum takeoff weight of the Mi-38 is 15.6 tonnes. The Mi- 38 has a maximum speed 285 kilometers per hour, a ceiling of 5,500 meters, and a range of 820 kilometers.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 17

A planned command post exercise by Russia’s 98th Airborne Division on August 23-28 will involve tests of the BMD-4M infantry fighting vehicle, IFV, an Airborne Forces source said.

The exercise, to be coordinated by Airborne Forces Commander Lt.

Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, will be held near Ivanovo, Russia, the source told Interfax-AVN.

The exercise would involve the dropping of paratroops and weapons, including BMD-4M IFVs. “Immediately after landing, the crews of the fighting vehicles will start carrying out a combat task in an unknown locality behind a supposed enemy,” the source said.

The BMD-4M, would be put in service in the Airborne Forces if it passes the tests, according to the source.

The BMD-4M which is made by Kurganmashzavod, at the Volgograd Tractor Plant and other manufacturing facilities of the Tractor Plants firm.

The BMD-4M has a crew of seven, five of whom are paratroops.

Its diesel engine enables it to reach maximum speeds of 70 kilometers per hour on land and 10 kilometers per hour on water. It can travel for up to 500 kilometers without refueling.

It is armed with a 30-millimeter 2A42 automatic cannon, a 100-millimeter PTUR 9M113 Konkurs cannon, a PTUR Arkan cannon, an AG-17 grenade launcher, and two machineguns – a 7.62-millimeter PTK and a 5.45-millimeter RPKS-74.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 18

A special air squad will be formed in Russia to study the Arctic region and to expand the scope of Arctic research, a military source told Interfax-AVN.

“The government is expected to adopt a relevant resolution in October,” he said.

“This work is part of the state course to enlarge the aviation component to be involved in the development of the Arctic region,” the source also said.

“For now, three upgraded Ilyushin Il-114-300T transport planes and two aircraft of the IL-76 type will be made available for the special air squad,” the source said.

“The Il-114-300T will have a wheel-ski undercarriage for work in Arctic conditions,” the source said.

DATELINE: KAZAN Aug 16

The Helicopters of Russia holding has defined the key directions of advancing technologies the implementation of which will allow the industry to remain competitive on the world market, its executive director Andrei Shibitov says.

“If by 2014-2016 we fail to apply at least one third of these technologies, the competitiveness of our range [of helicopters] will start plummeting because by that time a new generation of helicopters made by European and U.S. companies will appear on the market that will be by far superior to ours from the viewpoint of advanced technologies,” he said at the international conference on aerospace technologies in Kazan.

“That is critical for us,” he said. “Therefore we plan to complete work on key technologies by 2015-2016 the latest,” he said.

Shibitov said he was speaking of a promising high-speed helicopter.

He said that today the cruising speed of helicopters reaches 250-270 km/h and the maximum speed is 350 km/h. “Our U.S. colleagues have reached the speed of 460 km/h. It is our objective to make 350-450 km/h the cruising speed of our helicopters,” he said.

He said that if this complex technical aim is reached, the transport effectiveness of helicopters will sharply increase.

The holding is also planning to carry out the program of an environmentally friendly helicopter that will result in the reduction of the negative impact of the vehicle on the environment. The list of strategic programs of the holding also includes the programs of a safe helicopter and a friendly helicopter. Their implementation should make helicopters much safer as well as more adaptive and ergonomic.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 16

Russia is developing radically new air defense systems Vityaz and S-500 and aircraft capable of operating in outer space, Russian Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said on Saturday.

“In fact a new system with new weapons is being developed – this is a system called Vityaz,” Zelin said on Echo Moskvy radio.

Compared to the S-300 system, Vityaz has a significantly larger combat ammunition load and requires a shorter time to get it operational, Zelin said.

S-400 air defense missile systems will be supplied to air defense forces protecting the central industrial region of Russia and Moscow, he said.

Russia is also developing the S-500 system, which will serve not only as an air defense but also a missile defense system. “This weapon will enter the Air Force’s inventory by 2020,” he said.

Asked whether Russia is working on constructing planes capable of operating in outer space, Zelin replied, “Naturally, it is.”

Such projects are being pursued in other countries as well, Zelin said. “We are also doing this. We cannot trail along at the back. There are projects, there is understanding as to how to do this, and there are technical solutions,” he said.

DATELINE: MOSCOW Aug 16

The Russian domestic industry is so far incapable of providing the armed forces with state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), Russian Air Force Commander Col. Gen.

Alexander Zelin said on Saturday.

“We would be happy to buy our own devices, but unfortunately they don’t meet the high standards that this kind of weapons is supposed to meet,” Zelin said on Echo Moskvy in commenting on the decision to buy UAVs in Israel.

Russia could set up a joint venture to assemble UAVs devised abroad, he said.

“It might make sense to set up a joint venture, as is done in other countries, like India or China,” Zelin said.

The Mistral helicopter carrier that Russia plans to buy from France for its Navy will carry Ka-52 helicopters on its deck, Zelin said.

“I believe our helicopters are most advanced and are not inferior to foreign ones,” he said.