Russian Tank T-90S at IDEX, Abu Dhabi

Defense FSB Tenders for Micro-UAV Sensor Package

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Monday a tender for research on a potential sensor system for a micro-unmanned air vehicle (UAV) project, according to an order posted on the government’s state procurement portal.

Officials have allocated about 7 million rubles (about $230,000) for the project, aimed at developing a 200-gram (6.5 ounce) electro-optical surveillance sensor package for the mini-UAV, code-named “Fly Fisher,” with a take-off weight of no more than 1 kilogram.

The developer will be tasked with analyzing foreign and Russian scientific and technological research to assess the system’s stabilization, surveillance capabilities, and power supply needs.
The tender requires the developer to create a sketch design and a scale model for testing. It also requests definition of parameters for transmitting surveillance images in real time without any loss in quality at a range of up to five kilometers (three miles).
Applications for the tender will close on February 21, with the study slated for completion by November 2014.

Russian fifth-generation Sukhoi-T-50 fighter aircraft completes first long range flight

Russia's prototype fifth-generation Sukhoi T-50 fighter jet has carried out its first long-range flight during the transfer from a manufacturing plant in Russia’s Far East to an assigned airfield near Moscow, deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday, January 17, 2013.

“It is a serious breakthrough! The plane flew 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles), making two landings, in Abakan and Chelyabinsk, on the way to the Russian capital,” Rogozin, who oversees the Russian defense industry, wrote in his Twitter blog.

The plane joined three other T-50 prototype models at the Zhukovsky airfield prior to state flight tests, which are scheduled to start in March 2013. The fifth prototype aircraft is being built at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory in Siberia.

The T-50, also known as project PAK-FA, first flew in January 2010 and was presented to the public at the Moscow Air Show in 2011.

The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to finish the state flight tests of eight prototypes by 2015, so that they could go into standard production in 2016.

The T-50, which will be the core of Russia's future fighter fleet, is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring elements of ‘stealth’ technology, super-maneuverability, super-cruise capability (supersonic flight without use of afterburner), and an advanced avionics suite including an X-band active phased-array radar

Russian air force puts secret X-38 air-to-surface missile into service

 click on image to enlarge

The Russian Air Force has put the advanced X-38 air-to-surface missile into service. Although the short-range missile was developed for the T-50 fifth generation fighter jet, the existing bombers and fighter jets, including Su-34 and MiG-29 CMT will be equipped with these missiles.

The missile was tested in great secrecy in 2012, and was commissioned in late December. The delivery of missiles will be started shortly. The new missile will be equipped with independently guided warheads. This solves various tasks and increases the striking power of T-50 multipurpose fighter jets. The missiles will be placed inside the jet that is being developed using stealth technology, says editor-in-chief of the “Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie” magazine Victor Litovkin.

“A fighter jet may have special characteristics, including non-visibility to radar and other detecting equipment, but it is just an aircraft. But when it is equipped with high-precision guided missiles, this is a high-precision aviation complex. That can be considered a fifth generation fighter jet. The fact, that the missile on board the jet increases its low visibility,” Victor Litovkin said.

The missile will not reflect on the radar screen. It has another advanced feature. It can orient itself during the flight using the GLONASS space navigation system. The recent armed conflicts, including in Afghanistan and the Middle East have shown that it is difficult to discover targets from air even with the guidance from the ground because advanced camouflaging systems have been developed. These missiles will be guided to the target by a GLONASS satellite, says Victor Litovkin.

“The missile’s accuracy increases owing to the GLONASS satellite that sees the target and missile and combines these two points. When taking into account the fact that this is a supersonic missile, a complicated task is solved, a missile that is flying at a high speed is guided to a target. In short, this is a great achievement of Russian missile designers,” Victor Litovkin added.

The X-38 missile is capable of hitting manoeuvering armoured vehicles and hideouts at a distance from 3 to 40 kilometers. These missiles will upgrade the combat capacity of the Russian Air Force.

Russia’s defense steps up in aerospace missiles

After shutting down production of the S-300 missile defense system, Russia is moving to equip its new S-400 and S-500 systems with hypersonic missiles. A shortage of more advanced missiles, however, stands in the way of the Ministry of Defense’s plans.

Russia is planning to open two major plants to produce much-needed advanced hypersonic missiles, but experts suggest that the country will be unable to counter a massive NATO attack for the next 10 years.

By 2014, Russia will launch two major plants to produce the 77N6-N and 77N6-N1 hypersonic missiles for its state-of-the-art anti-missile defense systems – S-400 “Triumph” and S-500 “Prometheus.”

The Ministry of Defense has officially announced that, “with these missiles, surface-to-air missile systems will be able to bring down any target flying at a speed of up to 7 kilometers per second, including nuclear warheads of ballistic missiles.”
The S-500 system has yet to be completed, while its S-400 predecessor can currently launch the older 48N6 and 9M96 missiles.

The 77N6-N and 77N6-N1 models will be the first Russian missiles with inert warheads, which can destroy nuclear warheads by force of impact (i.e., by hitting them with precision at great speed). No explosives are needed: engineers’ estimates show that a collision at a speed of 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) per second would be sure to destroy just about any flying object.

The new plants are vital for the development of an anti-missile shield above Russia, since new surface-to-air systems are already entering service unequipped with new missiles.
For now, the “Triumph” (S-400) defense system is complete with missiles that have been left over from the old S-300 systems. Their range is around 124 miles, whereas the S-400s are designed to intercept targets at a distance of about 250 miles.
The absence of more advanced missiles stands in the way of fully equipping Russia’s Air Forces and Aerospace Defense Forces with the S-400 systems. Only seven divisions have been supplied with such systems since 2007, with another 49 waiting to receive them, according to official data.
The missile shortage became even worse after production of the old S-300 systems was halted completely.
“The last S-300 was produced for the Russian army in 1994 or so,” says Igor Ashurbeili, co-chairman of an expert council on aerospace defense and former chief designer at the Russian defense company Almaz-Antey. “Since then, Russia has only produced these systems for sale. But now even export orders for the S-300s have been suspended.”
Indeed, Moscow turned down a contract with Iran back in 2010, losing $800 million. Production was completely shut down after rolling out the last S-300 division intended for export, which is to be supplied to Algeria soon. One of the problems faced by the Russian defense industry is that it stopped accepting orders for the S-300s, but has not started to take orders for the S-400s, says Ashurbeili.
The design of S-400 missiles has not been completed either. The system should be fully compatible with short-, medium- and long-range missiles. Presently, however, only short-range missiles intended for hitting targets within 95 miles have been designed without problems. Medium-range missiles (up to 155 miles) are still “raw,” and their design needs to be finalized.

The long-range missiles are non-existent, even though such a missile would be a serious hindrance to potential enemy vehicles, including Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS). Without these missiles, the S-400 cannot fulfill its purpose – engaging targets at a long range.
As for the future S-500 system, it will be an S-400 with long-range missiles, according to Alexanderf Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis.

“The S-500s will at best be created in 2020 – no earlier. At present, and for the next 10 years, the chances of countering a massive NATO attack are very low: it takes a long time to recharge the S-300s, so, in the best case, they will only repel the first wave of an assault, which would be 100 to 200 targets,” says Khramchikhin.

Military expert Vladislav Shurygin agrees with Khramchikhin. “For now, the S-500 is an ephemeral dream, and no one knows if it will ever come true,” he said. 
Even though the S-300s need to be replaced, there is simply no replacement for them. This is why Almaz-Antey is faced with some very important tasks. “Handling them will determine the future not only of the anti-missile defense system, but also of the country as a whole,” says Shurygin. The company is still capable of manufacturing high-quality products, but it needs to modernize its technologies and refurbish its production facilities quickly.

In other words, the production of modern aerospace defense weaponry is a comprehensive task which requires major technological innovations and modernization of existing production facilities.

Russian Air Force Gets First Six Su-35S Fighter Jets

SU-35S

MOSCOW, December 28 – The Sukhoi aircraft maker delivered on Friday the first six Su-35S fighter jets to the Russian Air Force, the company said.
The acceptance documents were signed by Defense Ministry officials at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft manufacturing plant in Russia’s Far East.

The Sukhoi holding has fulfilled its obligations on the delivery of this type of aircraft under the 2012 state defense order,” the company said in a statement.
“The fighter jets will fly to their designated home base in the near future,” the statement said.
The Su-35, powered by two 117S engines with thrust vectoring, combines high maneuverability and the capability to effectively engage several air targets simultaneously using both guided and unguided missiles and weapon systems.
The aircraft has been touted as "4++ generation using fifth-generation technology."
The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to buy about 90 Su-35s, which will gradually become the core of Russia’s fighter jet fleet.

Russia to Start Testing New Helicopter Gunship Engine

GORKI - Russia’s leading aircraft engine maker OAO Klimov will soon start testing an advanced engine for attack helicopters, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Monday.

The VK-2500 is produced under a special federal program to develop the country’s defense sector and allied industries, he said, adding that it is built using exclusively Russian-manufactured components.

“We are completely moving away from imported components,” Rogozin said.

Some 50 new engines are to be made next year for Ka-52 Alligator and Mi-28 Havoc helicopter gunships and, starting from 2015, a total of 400 are to be produced each year.

“We will be able to equip 200 helicopters with new engines [each year],” Rogozin added.

Fourth Prototype Of The T-50 PAK-FA Aircraft [T-50-4] Makes Its Maiden Flight

MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's fourth prototype Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighter jet took to the skies for the first time on Wednesday in a 40 minute flight at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur factory in Siberia, Sukhoi said.

"The fourth prototype PAK-FA made its first flight today from the Gagarin factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur," Sukhoi said, referring to the aircraft by its project name, an acronym for future fifth-generation tactical fighter.

"The flight tested the aircraft's overall integrity and its main engines. The aircraft is making a good impression in all phases of the flying program," Sukhoi said.

The T-50, which will be the core of Russia's future fighter fleet, is a fifth-generation multirole fighter aircraft featuring low-observable technology (stealth), super-maneuverability, supercruise capability (supersonic flight without use of afterburner), and an advanced avionics suite including an X-band active phased-array radar.

The first prototype first flew on January 29, 2010.

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to purchase a first batch of 10 evaluation aircraft and then 60 production-standard aircraft after 2015.

Meanwhile, the Novosibirsk aircraft factory (NAPO) plans to deliver ten more Sukoi Su-34 strike aircraft to the Russian Air Force in the near future, the Air Force's Col. Andrei Bobrun said.

"The Novosibirsk factory will send another ten aircraft to the Voronezh air base in the near future," he said.

The air force set up its first Su-34 squadron at the end of 2011. A two-seat strike-dedicated derivative of the Su-27 fighter, the Su-34 can carry a payload of up to eight tons of guided weapons over 4,000 kilometers.