|
Pyotr Veliky cruiser, INS Trishul to hold drills in Arabian Sea
http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20100811/160151887.html
Russia's Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser and Indian Talwar class missile frigate INS Trishul will conduct a joint PASSEX-type naval exercise in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday.
The warships will practice joint maneuvering and carry out several communications drills.
The Pyotr Veliky, the flagship of the Russian Northern Fleet, is returning to its home base in the Barents Sea from large-scale naval drills in the Pacific Ocean. The cruiser called at the port of Mormugao in the Indian state of Goa on August 6. There it replenished water and food supplies.
Mormugao is the only port on India's western coast allowing visits by nuclear-powered ships.
The Russian cruiser already visited Mormugao in January 2009, when it took part in the INDRA-2009 joint anti-piracy naval drills with the Indian Navy.
Russia's largest and most powerful warship, the Pyotr Veliky has a displacement of between 24,000 and 26,000 tons, and a speed of up to 31 knots (almost 57 km/h). The ship is 251 meters in length and has a crew of more than 700 sailors.
The ship's main weapons include 20 SS-N-19 Shipwreck missiles, designed to engage large surface targets, and air defense is provided by 12 SA-NX-20 Gargoyle launchers with 96 missiles and 2 SA-N-4 Gecko with 44 missiles.
NEW DELHI, August 11 (RIA Novosti)
Venezuela acquiring Russian submarines
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2010/08/10/Venezuela-acquiring-Russian-submarines/UPI-75881281471976/
Published: Aug. 10, 2010 at 4:26 PM
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Venezuela is close to acquiring Russian submarines but President Hugo Chavez isn't giving anything away -- yet.
He told the audience of his populist Sunday political sermon on Venezuela's state-run radio and television the submarines that are about to join the country's armed forces would be "normal" submersibles with conventional weapons and radar technology.
"They won't have atomic bombs, I'm saying so now, so they don't accuse of us of becoming nuclear," Chavez said in a characteristic reference to Venezuela's unnamed detractors or his personal critics within the opposition.
Venezuela went on an arms shopping spree last year, spurred by a tense standoff with Colombia over what Chavez characterized as that country's covert preparations for war after it joined forces with the U.S. military to fight the drug cartels. Both Colombian and U.S. officials dismissed Venezuelan allegations, pointing out that the narcotics threat to North America justified the collaboration to control the drug cartels.
In the meantime, however, Russian aims to expand the arms market coincided with Chavez's needs and the stage was set for one of the biggest lines of credit for oil-rich Venezuela to buy Russian military hardware. Up to $800 million of credit is available for Venezuelan arms buying in Moscow.
Critics of Chavez say the country, currently in recession, can ill afford that scale of defense spending on cash or credit. Instead, the critics want the government to channel funds or foreign capital into strengthening the economy. A combination of prolonged drought and alleged government inefficiencies plunged Venezuela into crippling power cuts through winter and spring. Substitutes for hydroelectric power generation are in the cards but not implemented yet.
Analysts said the Venezuelan purchases of Russian submarines would also solve a major problem for Russian military manufacturers who have been trying to find customers to phase out older items on their inventories. It's not clear what to make of the submarines involved but Caracas and Moscow have been in discussion over a submarine deal since 2005.
Earlier reports cited Russian interest in transferring to Venezuela at least three diesel-electric powered Project 636 Varshavianka class submarines at a cost that could run over $1 billion.
Included in the deal would be the training of Venezuelan personnel. It isn't clear if Russian experts and trainers will be stationed in Venezuela, though analysts didn't rule out that possibility.
The Project 636 submarines, called the Kilo class by NATO, are already in the services of Chinese and Indian navies, while Russia has been busy marketing a much lighter and quieter Project 677 Lada-class submarine in Southeast Asia. The vessels are built at Admiralteyskie Verfi shipyard, St. Petersburg.
Industry experts say Russia expects to maintain a market lead in what are widely seen as relatively inexpensive submarines. More important, Russia is keen to set aside political considerations while pushing for more customers for its hardware to sustain its defense industries.
The Kilo class submersible is usually equipped with four 533mm torpedo launchers and 10 missile launchers and other equipment. The fighting machine is renowned for being able to resist heavy radio and electronic interference while in operation.
Venezuela has two German built submarines U-209 dating to the 1970s and considered unable to compete with newer rivals on the high seas.
Putin wants Russian satnav system in new cars from 2012
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gXennqUAYggivPoWReBOHGilIFhg
(AFP) – 11 hours ago
MOSCOW — All new Russian cars could come equipped with Moscow's GLONASS satellite navigation system, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, with a tax to be levied on the rival GPS system.
"I think that from 2012 all new cars could be sold with the system built in so as to raise the level of road security," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying.
Putin said that GLONASS, which was invented by the military in the 1980s to compete with the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and will in the future face competition from Europe's Galileo, was being successfully developed.
Six new satellites are to be launched this year, Putin said, which will add to the network criss-crossing the planet and provide global navigation coverage.
Putin said in April that Russia is to spend 1.7 billion rubles (42.5 million euros, 58 million dollars) developing the system next year compared to 2.0 billion rubles this year and 2.5 billion rubles in 2009.
Deputy Prime Minister Serei Ivanov meanwhile announced that he would seek a 25 percent import tax on GPS systems from 2011, the Ria Novosti news agency reported.
WILDFIRES IN RUSSIA
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: | 
