Unconfirmed Report from Ukraine at 2127 CET 16.08.14

Russia has 5 days to get out from Ukraine otherwise all information  on Russian  Nuclear Defense System will be given to NATO and United States.

 

Royal Australian Navy's newest ship, ADV Ocean Shield, arrives

The Navy’s newest ship, Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield, has arrived in Australia. The Government announced earlier this year that it had purchased the vessel, formerly known as Skandi Bergen, to add to the Royal Australian Navy's current amphibious ships.

The vessel ensures that Defence has the humanitarian and disaster relief capability required between now and the arrival of the two new Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships in the middle of the decade.

It will primarily be used to transport troops and supplies in support of humanitarian and disaster relief operations domestically and in the region.

Ocean Shield is able to operate in sub-Antarctic weather conditions and will be able to undertake patrols in the Southern Ocean providing surveillance, detection and apprehension of any vessels operating illegally.

                         

The Navy’s newest ship, Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield, has arrived in Australia. The Government announced earlier this year that it had purchased the vessel, formerly known as Skandi Bergen, to add to the Royal Australian Navy's current amphibious ships.

Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield will add to the Royal Australian Navy’s current amphibious capability. These ships can be used to transport troops and supplies in support of humanitarian and disaster relief operations domestically and in the region.

(Picture: Royal Australian Navy)

                         

Ocean Shield is the sister ship of the Ocean Protector which is currently operated by Customs and Border Protection and undertakes these patrols.

The 6,500 tonne ship is 105m long and 21m wide. It has accommodation for up to 100 people, more than 1000 metres of deck area, and a helipad.

After Defence introduces the first LHD into service, Ocean Shield will be transferred to Customs and Border Protection to provide a long term capability for Customs and Border Protection.

Ocean Shield will join HMAS Tobruk and HMAS Choules in providing Australia’s amphibious humanitarian and disaster relief capability.

India Tests Upgraded Arjun Tank

India has started testing a deeply modernized version of its domestically-developed Arjun main battle tank, The Times of India newspaper reported.

The trials of the Arjun Mark II main battle tank (MBT) began at the Pokhran field firing range in northwestern India on June 22 and will continue until the end of July.

The testing focuses on 19 major modifications to improve the features that came under heavy criticism in its earlier version, the Arjun Mark I MBT, The Times of India cited on Monday India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) spokesperson Ravi Gupta as saying.

The major upgrades include missile-firing capability against long-range targets, panoramic sight with night vision, additional ammunition types, explosive reactive armor, advanced air-defense gun to engage helicopters, an advanced land navigation system and improved running gear.

The new version, if approved, will supplement 124 Arjun Mark I MBTs already in service. The Indian Defense Ministry has ordered a total of 124 modernized Arjun MBTs to be built at the DRDO's heavy vehicles factory in Avadi, near Chennay.

According to the Indian military experts, the 66-ton Arjun “moves like a 'Ferrari' in the desert” even compared with a lighter 40-ton Russian T-90S MBT, which is also in service with the Indian army.

Belarus - Military aircraft flights resume

Military aircraft flights that were suspended following the June 12 crash of a Su-25 ground attack plane in the Hrodna region were resumed on Thursday.

However, only the aircraft that will be involved in the July 3 Independence Day parade in Minsk are now allowed to fly, whereas the other aircraft still remain grounded, Colonel Uladzimir Makaraw, spokesman for the defense ministry’s Main Ideology Directorate, told BelaPAN.

The Independence Day parade is expected to feature Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters of the 50th Composed Air Base in Machulischy near Minsk and the 181st Combat Helicopter Base in Pruzhany, Brest region; three Mi-2 helicopters of the Voluntary Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation and Fleet; Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters of the 61st Fighter Base in Baranavichy, Brest region; and Su-25 ground attack aircraft of the 206th Attack Air Base in Lida, Hrodna region.

Dress rehearsals for the flyovers are scheduled to take place on June 27 and June 29.

Unlike in previous years, Su-24 bombers, which have recently been retired, L-39 jet trainers and an Il-36 airlifter will not be involved in the parade.

The Su-25 ground attack plane that crashed in the Navahrudak district on June 12 belonged to the 116th Air Base in Lida. The pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Mikalay Hrydnew, was killed in the crash.

Five pilots of the Belarusian Air and Air Defense Force have been killed and four warplanes have been lost in accidents since mid-2009

The RAN landing ship HMAS Choules, bought from UK last year may need major repair

Australian news media today reported that the Navy’s new landing ship HMAS Choules, which was bought from the UK last year, may need a major repair.

The media reported that defects were detected in the propulsion system of the vessel, and it may be out of action for as much as 12 months. RAN had bought the amphibious landing ship last year, which was then celebrated as one of the most significant purchases by the Navy.

According to the naval authorities, a major defect was defected on one of the transformers, which passes electricity towards the propulsion system. The speed of the vessel was cut in to half as a result of the failure, and the RAN was forced to cancel the planned naval operations last week.

Rear Admiral Tim Barrett, senior RAN official claimed that the defect was very unusual for this type of ship, and a full scale naval investigation will be launched by the navy, to ascertain the actual reasons behind the failure. Currently the ship is docked at the Fleet Base East, in Sydney. Reports of overheating and other defects were reported from the vessel during last year itself, which were brushed aside by the naval authorities.

The vessel, which is only 6 years old, was bought by the RAN in 2011. At that time the engineers had claimed that the vessel is in excellent condition. However, after the defects were found earlier, the RAN had submitted a status report to the Australian minister of defence, Stephen Smith last month. Meanwhile senior RAN official claimed that the Navy has already contacted the manufacturers of the transformers, so that the defective ones can be replaced.

The HMAS Choules, a 16,200 tonne vessel was built by the British ship builder Swan Hunter, from the county of Tyne and Wear. The RAN acquired the vessel on 6 April 2011, four and a half years after its commissioning in to the Royal Navy. The vessel is armed with various naval guns such as the Mk 44 and the FN MAG. It is capable of transporting as much as 24 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs).

Rogozin in Climbdown Over Long-Range Bomber

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Tuesday he was in favor of development of the PAK DA long-range bomber for the country's air force, just hours after saying the project was unnecessary, in apparent contravention of  President Putin's call last week for domestic aerospace industry to develop just such an aircraft.

“I am for PAK DA but it should not be a copy of the B-2. We need to look at the horizon and develop hypersonic long-range aviation, civil and military,” Rogozin said on his Twitter blog on Tuesday afternoon. The B-2 is an American long-range stealth bomber developed by Northrop, which became the most expensive aircraft ever built and is in service with the U.S. Air Force in very small numbers.

Earlier on Tuesday, Rogozin, who has special responsibility for the military-industrial complex, insisted Russia has no need to develop a new long-range bomber to replace its existing fleet.

Rogozin was repeating a statement he made to Russian media reports earlier this month. He said then that he saw no need for PAK DA, an acronym for future long-range aircraft in Russian, to replace the air force's ageing Tu-95MS cruise-missile carriers and Tu-160 supersonic bombers.

“These aircraft will not get anywhere. Not ours, not theirs,” Rogozin said in an interview with Izvestia in June.

"I'm ready to insist on my point of view," Rogozin said on Tuesday on his Twitter blog. "With modern air defense systems, these targets will be destroyed on the way," he said.

In May, Rogozin called on Russia's defense industry to develop hypersonic air-breathing weapons as a future strike system. He picked out American development work in the X-51, Falcon, HiFire and HyFly programs as examples of what he described as the perspective threat posed by U.S. hypersonic development work.

"The undertaking of this work allows us to lay the basis for creation of a national competitor in hypersonic weapons," he said.

Development of such a weapon should be discussed at the highest levels of state, he said.

Last Thursday, President Vladimir Putin ordered initial development of the new long-range bomber for strategic aviation. Speaking during a conference on defense orders, Putin said: "We have to develop work on the new PAK DA long-range bomber aircraft for Long-Range Aviation. I know how expensive and complex this is. The task is not easy from a scientific-technical standpoint, but we need to start work," Putin said.

If Russia did not start work soon on the project, it could miss the boat, Putin said.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said previously that a new aircraft assembly line in Russia's Kazan plant (KAPO) would build PAK-DA and the new Antonov An-70 propfan transport aircraft. The same plant previously built the Tu-95MS and Tu-160.

The Defense Ministry is due to hold a meeting to discuss development of the new bomber later in June.

“The comments from Putin and Rogozin appear to reflect sharply differing opinions – unusually being aired in public -  as to the desirability of pursuing a bomber replacement for the Tu-160 and Tu-95 in the strategic strike role," said Douglas Barrie, air warfare analyst for the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"In the long term the Russian Air Force’s role in the nuclear triad – beyond the Tu-160 and the Tu-95 – would seem to rest on the acquisition of the PAK DA, though the aircraft would also have utility in the tactical environment.  A programme such as PAK DA would be expensive, and whether this could be accommodated within available likely funding also remains in question,” he added.

Currently, only Russia and the United States operate intercontinental range bomber aircraft. Most other nuclear-capable nations rely solely on intercontinental ballistic missiles, based on submarines or in land-based silos, or cruise missiles. The United States has expressed an interest in successor systems to its B-1, B-2 and B-52H long-range bombers.