An interesting item in this AM’s news clips: (ASSOCIATED PRESS 20 OCT 08) Russia’s Deputy PM: Russia May Leave Sevastopol LONDON – Russia will leave the strategic Black Sea port of Sevastopol if its lease is not renewed by the Ukrainian government, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview due to be…
(h/t Russian Navy Blog) Cold iron – that time in a shipyard when the ship is completely dependant on shore-based services; electricity, water, steam, etc. as the plant (conventional or nuclear) is shut down. Of course, as is wont to be the case, that which is brought on from shore typically falls short of demand on…
“Stability 2008” the exercise that (if you believe Russian sources) signals Russia’s return to preeminence as a global military power, continues. Over the past weekend we witnessed a number of Russian ICBM and SLBM tests in conjunction with “Stability 2008.” Some of the video reporting for these launches is provided below (h/t Russian Navy Blog):…
“Be modest about what military force can accomplish, and what technology can accomplish. The advances in precision, sensor, information and satellite technology have led to extraordinary gains in what the U.S. military can do…But also never neglect the psychological, cultural, political, and human dimensions of warfare, which is inevitably tragic, inefficient, and uncertain. Be skeptical…
Medvedev and Putin have declared intentions to undertake an ambitious re-armament program cross all the armed forces, funded by profits realized from petroleum. Yet, if an opinion piece in today’s Washington Post rings true, the challenge they face in finding the manpower to build and man those forces may be considerable. Consider: • Three times…
Couple of quick summaries to start the week off: 1. Upgrade of Nuclear Deterrent ordered: (Moscow Times) 29 September 2008. President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday announced plans to create an upgraded nuclear deterrence system by 2020, including a space defense system and new nuclear submarines. “A guaranteed nuclear deterrent system for various military and political…
(courtesy longtime reader SJBill) Tu 160 Deployment To Venezuela View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: russia tu-160) Graphic of TU-160 Â Also this note via RIA Novosti concerning the heavy cruiser “Peter the Great” and his accompanying ships:”A Russian naval task force departed Monday on a tour of duty in the Atlantic Ocean,…
…and another book to add to the growing pile: In the Nightmare RONALD RADOSH We know that history holds many surprises. One does not expect to learn more about the secret history of the Gulag than we already know from both Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago and Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History. This feat, however, is…
…Right? Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, flying on the International Space Station, is being criticized by some U.S. observers for using a digital camera equipped with an 800-mm. telephoto lens and a video camera to image what a Russian official said were “after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus” on Aug. 9, soon after the…
After ten years in overhaul/upgrades (Sevmash and Rossiiskaya Gazeta ) – meet the “Dmitriy Donskoy”(“Дмитрий ДонÑкой”), a Project 941 class SSBN: It is probably worth noting this is the same shipyard that is responsible for the ongoing overhaul of the INS Vikramaditya (neè Adm Gorshvov) carrier for the Indian Navy – which is also well…
