It Happened 55 Years Ago........

Simple Russian guy, a junior Air Force officer launched humanity on the new path.............

 Taming Of Fire

 

Perils Of Mosquito (re-opened).

So, the news are that two hulls of Project 1241 Molnya missile boats which remained in the state of limbo for a while will be completed by the shipyard Vympel to specifications of Project 12418 missile corvettes. 

Molnya (Lightning) To Become A Thunderbolt (In Russian) 

For those who do not remember, those ungainly ships went into existence as Tarantul-class missile boats in 1970s and even US Navy had one  (former DDR Navy's Hiddensee) serving at Naval Air Warfare Center in Maryland in 1990s. Latest iterations of venerable Tarantuls, however, are a different game. Project 12418 corvettes are armed with....drum roll..16 Uran-E (Switchblade) missiles. 

Here is the model: 

 Here is a movie:

 Here are Vietnamese Navy's (export) versions:

There will be obvious upgrades, including latest electronic suite for corvettes for the Russian Navy. 

What does it all mean? Considering the fact that in Sea Denial and A2/AD business a salvo means a lot, it means that theoretical salvo of Russian Navy in the theater, where these corvettes will be serving, grows by additional 32 anti-shipping missiles. That is a lot, to put it mildly without resorting (which I will eventually) to the specifics of Salvo Equations and coefficients which constitute them. Obviously, such corvettes have very limited Air Defense (for now) and no ASW suites to talk about, but they fit perfectly into the littoral A2/AD settings where other heterogeneous forces will be taking care of air defense and ASW. Now consider the fact that Russian Navy is actively building Project 22160 Patrol Ships (these ones carry UKSK and have a very respectable air defense) and this clearly indicates that Russia is building her Navy "from the shore" thus indicating a very defensive posture. Will Russia eventually build full blown Blue Water Fleet? Here is the puzzle: will it be Power Projection or Sea Denial Navy? I guess the latter is the most likely scenario.   

Anatoly Karlin's Blog Entry

Here is Anatoly Karlin's excellent summary of Panama "revelations". Worth reading.

 Putin: The Whipping Boy of Panama

Marshal Shaposhnikov To Be Modernized.

Remember one of my favorite quotes I use a lot? "We need numbers", that is what legendary Arleigh Burke told Elmo Zumwalt. Numbers matter, a great deal, and so, in order to address the issue of numbers, Russian Navy decided to do a pretty obvious thing--modernize the existing fleet of Udaloy-class Large ASW Ships (BPK project 1155). The first one to be modernized is 32 years old Marshal Shaposhnikov of the Pacific Fleet. Udaloys are magnificent ships but past their prime. One of the drawbacks of these ships, which were designed to be an ASW provider for Sovremenny-class Destroyers (Project 956) which were designed to be a SuWa asset with their Moskit (SS-N-21 Sunburn) anti-shipping missiles, was the fact that Udaloys had very limited anti-surface capability. It seems that this issue will finally be addressed with the installation of new Kh-35U Uran (SS-N-25 Switchblade) anti-shipping missiles. 

Modernization (In Russian) 

Shaposhnikov In Home Base Of Vladivostok

Yes, for some enthusiasts of the UKSK and massive Kalibr or Onyx capabilities, installation of the sub-sonic sea-skimmer may seem as a glass half-empty.  The truth, however, is very simple, installation of the inertial, passive-active and GLONASS-guided 260-km range missile complex will not require any substantial work on the hull. Against the background of Shaposhnikov's massive upgrade of its electronic signal-processing suite, the price tag of 901 million rubles (roughly translates into....drum roll...13.25 million USD) is really a sweet deal. In the end, Uran is a very modern missile, highly protected against opponent's ECM. It is deadly and in this sense the use of the semi-popular term Harpoonski (based purely on similar appearances of missiles) is wrong.  

It is a very good decision which will allow, on cheap, mind you, to upgrade remaining Udaloys while the issue of power plant for Gorshkov-class frigates is being resolved. Udaloys will finally get a full blown anti-surface capability, while retaining what they were always known for--robust ASW. These are ocean-going ships with superb sea-keeping ability and their elegant silhouettes graced not for once all oceans of the world. 

  

Here is the youngest of Udaloys, Destroyer Admiral Chabanenko (of Udaloy II class--look at the launchers of Moskit missiles) visiting Norfolk Naval Base in 2011.

Well, Duh.....

I already mentioned several times that Europe is run by imbeciles and whores. Most of Europe's political class is, basically, a collection of degenerates, literally. As was expected, any agreements with Erdogan are not worth the paper on which they were written. 

Migrant arrivals to Greece rise sharply despite EU-Turkey deal 

At this stage Europe reminds me of a condemned to death criminal who is already on the execution table, strapped and having IVs in his arms, with first portions of poison being pumped into the body. He (or she) is still alive but receding fast and is about to fade into the nevermore. Is physical salvation still possible at this stage? No. 

Hollande scraps plan to strip terror convicts of nationality 

The title of this news story speaks more volume than what is actually in the story itself. I'll explain. It is not news that Hollande or "elites" he represents are spineless cowards which are in the process of flushing what's left of France (or Germany) down the toilet. What is remarkable is that those European (and many American) imbeciles think of "nationality" as merely a citizenship. As Barnett succinctly observed:"According to liberal thinking, a nation was no more than so many human atoms who happened to live under the same set of laws". But nations are not formed this way, they never were. Nation involves more than concept of citizenship, way more. It involves race, blood, that is ethnicity, language, culture, religion, shared historical experience and realm which do give birth to citizenship--not the other way around. Citizenship is a derivative of nationality, and not even the first one. A real Russian remains a Russian, even being a citizen of France or USA, French will remain French even if he is stripped of his citizenship--he will retain his (or her) French nationality no matter what. A real German will remain a German even in Africa (I am not talking about rare cases of self-imposed "mutation" into something what people are not--I know some of those) and, in most cases, will seek other Germans to establish a connection, because will need an experience of common language and culture through communications.

But this is not how EU and US "elites" and so called intellectuals view nationhood. They indeed view it as a collection of human atoms. They are incapable of comprehending the reasons why Islamic terrorists, who do have French or Belgian citizenship, ARE NOT French or Belgian, never were and can never be in the future. The whole notion that Molenbeck is populated by what we broadly perceive as Belgians is preposterous--there is nothing Belgian there. One can try to strip those inhabitants of their citizenship but one can not strip them of Belgian nationality since they never had it in the first place and never will have it, unless one wants to redefine Belgium and Europe in terms of Arabs, Albanians and Turks thus effectively denying European nations their nationhood. But that is exactly what happens. Losing a nationhood means death or, in case of EU and, to a certain, lesser degree, USA--a murder. Current EU political class is a class of murderers both literally and figuratively and as murderers they must face justice. Will European nations be able to deliver this justice? I doubt it, but this is the case when I will be happy to be wrong. As of this moment, however, the introduction of poison continues.
 

Sasha Prokhorenko, You Are The Hero

The name of the Russian Spetsnaz officer who heroically died near Palmyra, by drawing the friendly fire is now known. It is 25-years old young graduate of Air Defense Academy, officer (most likely of junior rank) Aleksandr Prokhorenko. He is from near the city of Orenburg. He leaves behind a pregnant wife. His child must know what his (or her) father did. He will remain in the hearts and memory of all decent people. He is immortal now. 

          

Link in Russian.

   Aleksandr Prokhorenko

Link to Daily Mail

  

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Palmyra Is Taken

By now everyone who lives outside MSM news bubble should know this. Strategic ramifications of this success are immense. It is also a massive, possibly crippling, ideological blow to IS. President Putin already gave order for Russian Army's engineer-sapper units to start clearing Palmyra from mines, while State Hermitage will take active part in restoration of Palmyra's historic sites destroyed by IS savages. 

It seems now that final defeat of IS in Syria is a matter of time. Syrian Army gave good account of itself but it also clear that Russian contribution in form of active air support, military advisers and employment of Russia's massive C4ISR capabilities played one of the key roles in this operation. Meanwhile in Europe, they sing Kumbaya songs, cry, light candles, say pious speeches and promise to double down on "diversity"--you know, the usual staff which traditionally defeats dangerous enemies. But during this important for Christians (Western) day of Easter, I want to wish all of them and to decent people of other confessions a happy Easter. As they say in Russia--Христос Воскресе, Christ Is Risen. And no better gift on this day than taking Palmyra.  

Remember this?