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Did A Deadly Fire Break Out On A Secret Russian Spy Sub? Here's What We Know About 'Losharik' By Mike Eckel July 02, 2019 It's one of the more unique, more capable, and more distinctive vessels in Russia's naval fleet. And it now appears to hold the distinction of being the latest Russian naval ship to suffer a catastrophic -- and, so far, unexplained -- incident. Russia's Defense Ministry said on July 2 that a submarine operated by its main naval research and development unit had suffered a fire on board, killing 14 sailors. The ship was reportedly operating in...

"Krasnaya Zvezda, the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense, has included a heretofore unseen drawing of the Project 09852 Belgorod, a heavily modified Oscar II-class submarine outfitted for various "special projects" missions, in its latest report about a fire that killed 14 sailors onboard a still-unnamed Russian submarine on Monday. Russia officially launched the still-under-construction Belgorod, which is presently the world's longest submarine, in April 2019. At the same time, new details regarding the July 1st accident have begun to trickle out, although they are limited in number and some are unconfirmed in nature." ... "We have no...

The Trump administration released a report on the state of America's nuclear weaponry on Friday. The assessment, known as a Nuclear Posture Review, mainly concerns U.S. nukes and missiles. But buried in the plan is a mention of a mysterious Russian weapon called "Status-6." On paper, at least, Status-6 appears to be a kind of doomsday device. The report refers to it as "a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo." "The radius of total or near-total destruction is the size of a pretty large metropolitan area, actually," says Edward Geist, a Russia specialist at the Rand Corp. who has...

The 'Marshal Shaposhnikov' Project 1155 large anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship being upgraded at JSC Dalzavod Ship Repairing Center will get the ability to use Kalibr cruise, anti-ship and anti-submarine guided missiles, the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) writes in its official blog quoting the Dalzavod`s acquisition plan for 2017 published online. Russian Navy Udaloy I class ASW Destroyer Marshal ShaposhnikovThe 'Marshal Shaposhnikov' ASW Destroyer seen during its upgrade at JSC Dalzavod Ship Repairing Center. Picture taken on 26.06.2017 by johnkey68 via forums.airbase.ru The point 601-EP of the document says that JSC Design Bureau of Special Machine-Building (KBSM,...

President Vladimir Putin has signed into law the bill allowing the Constitutional Court to overrule the decisions of international courts if such decisions contradict the principle of supremacy of the Russian Constitution. The new act published on the government website on Tuesday reads that the Constitutional Court will look into every decision of any intergovernmental body based on an international treaty and find if it matches the Russian Constitution and the rights and freedoms guaranteed by it. Upon such consideration the Constitutional Court can allow the decision to be executed in Russia, in full or in part, or ban its...

A crucial stage in the production, involving removal of old equipment from the cruiser, has been completed, Sevmash told RIR. Preparations are on for the refit. The abrasive cleaning of the hull will be complete by the year end. The hull structure has been repaired; cutouts have been made at the location of the Granit cruise missile launchers, to allow installation of the new ‘Kalibr’ missile launcher unit. Tsirkon for the navy According to reent official information, after the work is complete, the cruiser will carry 80 cruise missiles and 96 anti-aircraft missiles with S-400 anti-aircraft systems.The Pantsir anti-aircraft artillery...

The new generation project 22350 frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" (hull number 417) for the Russian Navy started sea trials in the Gulf of Finland. This new class, intended to replace the soviet era Krivak class, is designed by the Severnoye Design Bureau of Saint Petersburg. The first ship of the new Russian Navy frigate project 22350 class "Admiral Gorshkov" sailing out for its first sea trials The first phase of the sea trials will focus on the navigation performance of the new vessel. Key elements such as the propulsion, steering gear, auxiliary machinery, communication, detection and navigation equipment, anchor gear etc....

The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed the specifications for the design of a new destroyer, according to a report by news agency ITAR-TASS on Oct. 21, referencing a highly placed source in the domestic defense industry. The program for the creation of the vessel has been assigned the codename of “Leader.” Work on the Russian “lord of the seas” has been entrusted to the Northern Design Bureau, the creator of practically all of the major surface warships in the Russian fleet. Work on the design of the “Leader” is scheduled to begin in 2015, but the construction of the...

Russia’s Defense Ministry has approved the technical design specification for the Leader class destroyers, a high-ranking source in the ministry told TASS on Tuesday. The destroyer’s nuclear-powered and gas turbine versions are planned. He said there was no clarity yet concerning the weapons, but the new ship will be most likely equipped with the Caliber high-precision cruise missile system and the S-500 antiaircraft defense system. “The Leader technical design specification prepared by the Navy command has been signed by the Defense Ministry leadership that approved the engineering design for two versions of the destroyer — nuclear-powered and gas turbine,” the...

Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov (“Fleet Admiral of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov”) is an aircraft cruiser serving as the flagship of the Russian Navy. She was originally commissioned in the Soviet Navy, and was intended to be the lead ship of her class, but the only other ship of her class, Varyag, was never completed. The ship has ill fame and the phrase “If you misbehave, you’ll be sent to the Kuznetsov” is a norm. Read below to find out why. To begin with, the ship has no heating because an auxiliary boiler is missing. So it’s not bad...

The Democratic National Convention’s final night included a stirring tribute to America’s veterans from a retired naval four-star admiral, complete with a backdrop of jets flying over a row of proud warships. But convention organizers may soon regret it. Norman Polmar, author of “The Naval Institute Guide to the Soviet Navy” and other military handbooks, told the Navy Times on Tuesday that the ships were Russian vessels. “The ships are definitely Russian,” Polmar told the military newspaper. “There’s no question of that in my mind.” The ships depicted in the Democrats’ backdrop had radar designs that the U.S. fleet doesn’t...

Russian Navy to Drop Lada Class Subs – CinC Vysotsky The Russian Navy has decided against construction of Lada class submarines (Project 677) and will instead modernize its existing boats, Navy Commander-in-Chief Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky said in an interview with RIA Novosti. The design of the diesel-electric Lada class was completed at the end of the 1990s, but none of the planned boats have entered service, although the lead ship in the class, the Saint Petersburg, is undergoing trials with the Baltic Fleet, Vysotsky said. “The Russian Navy does not need the Lada in its current form,” he said. Vysotsky...

Aircraft carrier pilot: One day of life November 18, 2011 Vladimir Ruvinsky For the first time in 17 years, a young pilot took part in the exercises in the Barents Sea involving the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. An RIR correspondent was on board to talk to the naval fighter pilots. the 25-tonne machine has to land on a 36-metre landing strip; you have to touch the strip at a certain angle and at a certain speed. Source: ITAR-TASS “My wife will give me my marching orders soon”, naval pilot Stanislav Avdin says jokingly when asked about his service. “I leave...

‘Aircraft carrier killer’: RT goes aboard flagship Varyag Published: 19 September, 2011, 16:05 The Varyag guided missile cruiser knows no fear – not even the old one about having women aboard. RT’s female reporter admires the might of the Pacific flagship, samples sea bread, looks into the hearts of its crew, and meets the ship’s cats. His wide green eyes were studying me. I was studying him, too. It just seemed too strange. A red cat with a sly face – it really was sly – was lying by the ship’s gun. It then stretched itself, yawned as if we...

Russian Navy to receive new air defense system The Russian Navy will soon receive a new ship-based gun/missile air defense system, KBP Instrument Design Bureau, the developer of the system, said on Monday. The system, dubbed Pantsyr-M, has been developed on the basis of the land-based Pantsyr-S1 (SA-22 Greyhound). "Pantsyr-M will replace the Kortik air defense systems and will be installed on all new classes of Russian combat ships, from corvettes to cruisers," said Alexander Zhukov, a senior KBP official. Zhukov cited specifications for an export version of Pantsyr-M as the data on the system for the Russian Navy is...

Russia to build nuclear aircraft carrier by 2023 The Russian navy has one conventionally powered aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov © RIA Novosti. Oleg Lastochkin 11:20 30/06/2011 ST PETERSBURG, June 30 (RIA Novosti) Russia will complete construction of its first nuclear powered aircraft carrier by 2023, the head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation said on Thursday. “We will start designing the Russian aircraft carrier in 2016, so that by 2018 we can start construction,” company head Roman Trotsenko said. He also said that as the construction period was likely to be five years, the carrier would be put into service...

France and Russia will sign an agreement on the construction of two Mistral helicopter ships on January 25 in the presence of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, the Elysee Palace said on Sunday. Benefits of military cooperation with Russia outweigh possible negative factors, French Defense Minister Alain Juppe said in an interview with Le Monde on January 18. “NATO allies decided at the Lisbon summit to start cooperation with Russia in the development of a missile defense network. Benefits of strategic cooperation with Russia in the military sphere are much more important than negative...

The United States voiced concern to France earlier this year over the possible sale of a French warship to Russia, saying it sent a "mixed signal" to both Moscow and Eastern European allies, according to a leaked US document published. In a meeting on February 8 in Paris, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his French counterpart at the time, Herve Morin, disagreed over missile defense for Europe and over France's plans to sell the Mistral-class helicopter carrier to Russia, a secret diplomatic cable posted by the WikiLeaks website showed Sunday

Russia's Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on Sunday confirmed the ministry's plans to buy two foreign helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy and eventually produce vessels of this class on Russian soil. "We are speaking about the purchase of two helicopter carriers. Moreover, we are going to buy them with full technical documentation so that eventually we can produce them at our enterprises," Serdyukov said in an interview with Vesti Nedeli TV program. In early October, Russia's Defense Ministry announced an international tender for the construction of two amphibious assault ships for the Russian Navy. Previously, Russia held negotiations with France's...

Russian naval aviation is facing a crisis, in that within the next five years, few of the navy's aircraft will be flyable. It's not that no one saw this coming, it's just that there were larger calamities to deal with. The collapse of the Soviet armed forces after 1991 (when the Soviet Union dissolved) was a catastrophic event, with the largest military establishment on the planet quickly losing 80 percent of its manpower. A lot more equipment stayed on the books, in theory. But over 100,000 tanks and aircraft were allowed to quietly fall apart in the 1990s, because there...