Красная звезда вторник: Red Star Tuesday — Overhauling Russia’s Air Force

The average age of aircraft in the Russian Air Force is about 25 years, so the defense ministry is working up an ambitious plan to replace a major portion while eliminating some inventory by retirement, all by 2020.  Fifteen hundred aircraft of which 350 are to be new production combat aircraft over the next ten…

Wednesday’s Roll-up of Missile Defense News

Two items of note for today’s summary — France may be seriously studying missile defense and Russia’s at it again (re. European Phase Adaptive Approach – PAA). Parlez-vous la Défense de Missile Balistique ? A recent 65-page study on BMD, written by three members of Parliament at a think tank linked to the National Assembly…

“Доверяй, но проверяй” (“Trust But Verify”)

Votkinsk Machine Building Plant. Located about 8.5 km to the east of the birthplace of Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky, in the Russian Federation Republic of  Udmurtia, is an industrial facility whose name, in typical Soviet fashion, obscures the products made there.   It is a name unfamiliar to most outside of the arms control, intelligence or…

Fifth Generation Fighters – The Competition Casts Its Ballot (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Lots of comparisons to the F-22 based on the front end shots and planform, but I’m also thinking that Sukhoi took some cues from this bad boy: based on a comparison from the tailfeather POV: for comparison, here is an in-flight of the YF-22 and YF-23: Things that make you go hmmm…. In this…

Looking Into the New Year (II) – What Does Russia Want Now?

Part I here. 29 December 2009.  In the US, the games of the season are underway, whether it be the NCAA college football bowls or the intramural finger-pointing inside the beltway over the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.  Parts of the US were buried under a new winter storm while other parts continued digging…

Bulava Fails Latest Test – Lessons for US?

“After its firing from the submarine Dmitry Donskoy, the Bulava missile self-liquidated and exploded into the air” – Russian MoD spokesman to Interfax 23 Dec 08 And thus was written the postscript on the latest test of the star-crossed Bulava SLBM.  Five failures in eight attempts would seem to call into question the fast-track to…

Красная звезда вторник: Red Star Tuesday

Bulava SLBM Update:  According to press reports, the star-crossed Bulava SLBM will go into serial production “soon” – most probably after the next test flight.  There is one more test shot scheduled for sometime later this month (after 21 Dec) after which it is anticipated that the new SLBM will be declared operational.  Nine tests of the…