Showing posts with label Russian warships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian warships. Show all posts

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Warships En Route to Ukraine and Russia test-Launches 'Advanced' Ballistic Missile

Two Russian warships crossed Turkey's Bosphorus Strait early Tuesday headed towards the Black Sea, Turkish media reported.
 
The reported ship movements came with Russia and the West locked in a standoff over Ukraine's Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea.
 
Turkey's state run Anatolia news agency, carrying a picture of one of the warships, said Russia had "summoned" the vessels back to its Black Sea fleet to strengthen its military presence in Crimea.
A Ukranian vessel was also seen crossing the Dardanelles Strait off Turkey's west coast and was expected to cross into the Black Sea, the agency said.
 
The Turkish military also said that it scrambled eight F-16 jets on Monday after a Russian spy plane was detected flying parallel to its Black Sea coast.
 
Turkey, a NATO ally, has repeatedly voiced fears about the fate of the Turkish-speaking Tatar minority in Crimea, which was part of the Ottoman Empire until it was conquered by Russia in the late 18th century.
 
Also on Tuesday, Russia carried out a successful test launch of an "advanced" intercontinental ballistic missile, state news agencies reported amid a fierce standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
 
"The purpose of the launch is to test the advanced payload of the intercontinental ballistic missile," Russia's three main news agencies quoted a top defense official as saying.
 
But the official said Russia informed the United States earlier this week that it would carry out the test launch.
 
"We have been notified of this test earlier this week. It's not unexpected," the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse.
 
He said the launch involved the RS-12M Topol -- a road-mobile missile last reportedly tested by Russia on December 28.
 
The missile was first put into service in the 1980s and then repeatedly modified. It is referred to as the SS-25 Sickle by NATO and has a reported maximum range of 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles).
 
The defense official provided no details of the missile's advanced features, saying only that it was launched from Russia's Kapustin Yar rocket launch site near the southern city of Volgograd.
 
The missile successfully hit its target in the Sary Shagan ballistic missile test range that Russia leases in Kazakhstan.
 
Russia has been testing warheads that could evade a missile defense shield the United States is deploying together with NATO in Europe over Russia's strong objections.
 
The Russian defense official said the test was designed to check the warhead's ability to "penetrate missile defense systems".
 
Meanwhile, Russian forces fired warning shots on Ukrainian soldiers at a base near Sevastopol as tensions flared in the standoff over Crimea.
 
Pro-Russian troops guarding an airfield in Belbek, near Sevastopol, fired the shots in the air as a column of about 300 Ukrainian troops approached around 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT), Oleksey Khramov, an officer at the base, told AFP.
 
"They fired several shots into the air and said they would open fire if they continued to approach," he said.
 
The Ukrainian soldiers, who were unarmed, then stopped to avoid a confrontation, he said.
In footage of the incident shown on Britain's Sky Television, a pro-Russian soldier told the approaching Ukrainians: "Hold back. I want your officer here! We'll be shooting your legs."
A Ukrainian soldier replied: "You will pay for this, you'll be held responsible."
 
The Russian soldier told the Ukrainian soldiers to "calm down" and accused them of "deliberately provoking us".
 
An AFP reporter at the base said the column of troops had since returned inside the administrative base of the Sevastopol tactical aviation brigade in Belbek, where dozens of Ukrainian soldiers are holed up refusing to abandon their posts.
 
Russian forces have surrounded Ukrainian military bases across Crimea as the Russian-speaking autonomous region has been thrown into turmoil following the ouster last month of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.
 
Tensions are high, but fears of an imminent assault by Russian forces did not materialize overnight.
"The night was quiet," Vladyslav Seleznyov, the defense ministry spokesman for Crimea, told AFP in the regional capital Simferopol.
 
Ukrainian officials said Monday that Russia had given Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea an ultimatum to surrender or face an all-out assault, although Russia denounced the claim as "complete nonsense".
"No more declarations have been made by the Russian side," Seleznyov said.
 
In Sevastopol, a bastion of pro-Kremlin sentiment, pro-Russian activists had surrounded the headquarters of the Ukrainian navy in Crimea.
 
An AFP reporter said about 100 pro-Russia activists were gathered outside the offices and formed a human chain, as Russian forces with automatic rifles stood nearby.
 
Seleznyov said Russian vessels were also blocking Ukrainian warships from trying to leave the port, which has been the home of the Russian navy's Black Sea fleet for some 250 years.
 
The Ukrainian defense ministry says several thousand Russian troops have been sent by the Kremlin to Crimea.
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday denied that Russian forces were operating in Crimea, saying that only "local forces of self-defense" were surrounding Ukrainian military bases.
 
Armed men believed to be under Moscow's orders last week seized key government buildings in Crimea and airports on the peninsula.
 
Regional lawmakers deposed the Kiev-supporting prime minister and have called for a referendum on March 30 on proclaiming greater autonomy for Crimea.

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Indian Navy eyes expansion with three more Russian-made Krivak IV class frigates

Indian Navy's quest to emerge as a global and regional sea power will receive a major boost with New Delhi and Moscow in negotiations to purchase three additional frigates from Russia.

Military partnership has been the cornerstone of Indo-Russian ties and the Indian Navy has been using Russian-made frigates. It has been learnt that India and Russia have already held preliminary discussions for the three additional frigates that the navy would purchase from Moscow. The talks on this issue will gain momentum when Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin arrives in Delhi on Tuesday with a jumbo delegation.

"Discussions are at a preliminary stage and it will get concretised in the coming days," said an official speaking on condition of anonymity, refusing to divulge details of the type of frigate and its features at this stage of negotiations.

However, it is understood that these frigates could belong to Krivak IV class of Russia. A Krivak IV class frigate is equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil medium-range air defence system, Club-N supersonic antiship missiles, two Kashtan point defence systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.

Russia, it is understood, made the offer to supply three additional frigates. India, which is constructing seven indigenous frigates at Mumbai and Kolkata, is mulling over the proposal.

The issue was discussed last April when the two sides agreed on a roadmap of doables in several areas of military cooperation. This roadmap would be deliberated in details between Rogozin and his Indian interlocutors, officials hinted. His delegation includes Alexander V. Fomin, director of federal service for military and technical cooperation and several key Russian defence industry bosses. The discussions would also focus on supply of spare parts for Russian supplied aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF), development of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and much delayed aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.

This will be Rogozin's, a close aide of President Vladimir Putin, maiden visit to India. Rogozin who is the co-chairman of Russian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on military-technical, trade, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna and defence minister A.K. Antony besides commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma. Russia is taking part in 20 tenders in India, with which it has a military-technical cooperation agreement until 2020.

Last month India received - INS Teg - the first of three the Stealth Talwar frigates it ordered from Russia six years ago. The 3,970 tonne P-17 project Talwar's are 124.5 meter (386 feet) long, carry 24 anti-aircraft and eight anti-ship missiles, four torpedo tubes, as well as a 100mm gun, short range antimissile guns, a helicopter, and anti-submarine weapons (depth charges and missiles).

The ship has a complete set of electronics gear. The crew strength is 180. All of the Talwars are being equipped with eight BrahMos anti-ship missile (range of 290 km) each. The Talwar is a modified version of the Russian Krivak III class.