Category: Naval

Russia Increasing Test Launches of New SLBM

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Because of the most recent test failure of the Bulava SLBM, Russia will be increasing the number of test launches for the missile in 2009.

They had indented to do 3-4 test launches this year, but now they are committing to at least 5 launches.

They have been 5 for 10 on test launches, which is actually better than SLBM tests during the Soviet days, and this indicates a move back to more extensive testing, which I approve.

In reviewing US missile tests, it appears that there is a panic whenever their is a failure, because the test programs here are now based on the idea that everything will be caught in analysis, and that tests should progress without failures.

This does not work, and results in delays and cost escalation.

Brazil to Buy French Assistance on Nuke Boat

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It’s a part of a $12 billion purchase by Brazil

Brazil on Dec. 23 signed contracts worth $12 billion to buy 50 military transport helicopters and five submarines from France.

The submarine deal involves the purchase of four conventionally powered Scorpene submarines, and the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine to be built with French cooperation.

It’s unclear to me what “French Cooperation” means, though it appears that the nuclear reactor would be a wholly Brazilian endeavor.

Like This is a Surprise

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Well, defence ministry spokesman Huang Xueping has announced that China is considering building an aircraft carrier.

This is really no surprise. There have been indications that China was considering building a carrier for some time, as I have noted.

It will be news when China actually starts formally drawing up requirements, and again when it starts cutting metal or negotiating a purchase, but this is no surprise.

Picture Pr0n: X-47B Demonstrator Rolls Out

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Well, Northrop-Grumman has rolled out its first X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator in a rather splashy debut.

Not bad for a project that was on the death watch list just 6 months ago.


It’s actually rather large, with a, ” 62.1 ft, compared to 44.7 ft. for an F/A-18″ (the E/F models), and so looks to be close to the size of the canceled A-12 attack aircraft.


Here we can see the standard robust naval landing gear.


Here is a closeup of the inlet, which the N-G folks were fine with letting people take, which surprises me, because it’s kind of the “secret sauce”.

There is still a part of me that is surprised that the US Navy is considering a tailless anything after the debacle that was the F7U Cutlass (aka “Gutless” and “Ensign Eliminator”).

NG press release here.

Boeing Aircraft’s Pre-Christmas Sale

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Well, it certainly sounds like one of those pre-Christmas sales.

Boeing is offering to sell F/A-18 E/Fs to the US Navy and Marines for less than $50 million each, in order to help with the “fighter gap”, that the Navy is facing as its older aircraft face the end of life, and the F-35 is further delayed.

This is with the AESA radar, so it is a very good deal by today’s standards.

I never in my life thought that I’d be saying “F/A-18”, and “low cost” in the same breath.

And the Sub Lease Deal Soap Opera Continues

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Well, it looks like the on again off again deal between Russia and India to lease nuclear attack submarines is on again.

The Nerpa, which was originally the subject of the deal until an accidental discharge of the fire fighting system killed 20 people, is no longer believed to be a part of the deal, though a sister ship (Project 971 “Akula” class boats), or perhaps more than one sister ship, might be a part of the deal.

X-47 UAV Program Expanded

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A few months back, it looked like that the Navy/Northrop-Grumman X-47 CUCAS-D (unmanned combat air system demonstration) was on the chopping block.

This is perhaps the most ambitious UAV currently in development, given that among other things, it’s supposed to make an arrested landing on a carrier deck.

It now appears that in addition to demonstrating combat capabilities and carrier ops, the program has been expanded to include autonomous air-to-air refueling, which will greatly improve the strike capability of the aircraft.

Autonomous refueling has been kind of a holy grail in the UAV community, and is really essential for any system that actually sees operational use.

Shipborne Rolling Vertical Landing Aid Demonstrated

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The folks at Quinetiq have demonstrated a landing aid for SRVL on the HMS Illustrious.

The idea behind shipborne rolling vertical landing is that an F-35 can return to deck in forward flight, with some of the lift coming from the wings, and some from the lift fan, which would allow for greater “bring” back in terms of weapons loads, and less wear and tear on the engine:

For the latest trial, a demonstration visual landing aid dubbed a “Bedford array” was installed in the port catwalk adjacent to Illustrious’s flight deck. Taking inputs from inertial references to stabilise against deck motions, this is combined with a ship-referenced velocity vector in a helmet-mounted display to enable a pilot to fly an accurate approach to the deck on a constant glidepath. A second lighting array was rigged on the carrier’s flight deck, and was used during a parallel evaluation of its visual acuity.

Me, I’m dubious.

The idea of making a rolling landing on an aircraft carrier with a 60,000 lb aircraft without an arrester hook seems to me to be a dicey proposition.

The Real DDG-1000 Cancellation Reason?

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Both of the US Navy’s new combat ships, the DDG-1000 Zumwalt and the Littoral Combat Ship are designed to minimize crew size to save cost.

However, the LCS is a conventional hull form, and it has lots of open space in, both for modules, and for a lot of reserve bouyancy.

The Zumwalts, however, appear to be much more tightly packed, with less reserve bouyance relative to their size, and a tumblehome hull form for stealth that is suspected of having stability issues.

Galrahn at Information Dissemination suggests that perhaps the crewing and hull form created a ship with a serious glass jaw, much like the British battlecruisers at the turn of the last century:

More than any other form of damage control, flooding is best known for being managed by active means best represented in manpower. The reduction in crew creates an unstable situation in this regard, and while we are on this subject, let me note that I believe one of the real unspoken reasons Roughead wants to cancel the DDG-1000 is specific to the absence of flood control capabilities with that platform that has a relatively tiny crew. Ever read Friedman about ship design? If so, consider the hull form of DDG-1000 as you reflect upon the thoughts I’ve noted below.

If his analysis is correct, and I think it is, I find it interesting this is repeating almost in an almost exactly 100 year cycle.

Russian Sub Update

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There are 3 items, and I don’t believe the first 2:

The Russian Navy is due to receive Severodvinsk 2010. Yeah right…..Considering the delays and cost overruns in their shipyards, the Indian carrier comes to mind, this is not going to happen on schedule.

They are also claiming that they will scrap all decommissioned nuclear submarines by 2012. See above.

The one that I do believe is reports that the Russians Russia will not lease the Akula II class nuke boat, Nerpa India.

Idon’t think that the recent fatal accident has anything to do with this. I think that this was always a ruse by the shipyard to get funding to finish the boat, with the goal of delivering it to the Russian navy.

This is About Pork, Nothing Else

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Well, it looks like the US Navy is looking at moving a carried from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Mayport, Florida, near Jacksonville, and the Virginia Congressional delegation is throwing a fit over this.

This is not surprising, the presence of that carrier pumps something like ½ a billion dollars into the local economy.

The Navy is arguing that, “The five East Coast carriers should be dispersed as a hedge against a natural disaster or attack that could shut or cripple the sprawling Norfolk base.”

So, in order to hedge against natural disaster, you want to move the ships into hurricane alley, otherwise known as Florida.

Of course the idea that foreign power will launch a sneak attack on the base is ludicrous.

SecNav John Lehman did this in the 1980s, on the argument that it would make more difficult for Soviet subs to shadow fleet movements, but it was a crap argument then.

Of course, these days the USSR is no more, and the Russians can’t deploy a significant portion of their fleet and the Chinese are a decade from a meaningful submarine fleet, so there is no risk of attack.

The reality was that Lehman wanted to do this because it created more constituencies for his vision of a 600 ship navy, because a large number of small bases gets you the support of many congresscritters, where as one large base just gets you 1 or 2 districts support.

With the Navy claiming that their ships and aircraft are wearing out and need to be replaced, they still want to drop a billion dollars on the move, not because of military need, but because of political need.

Russians Look at Anglo-French CFV Purchase

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It should come as no surprise that the current Russian STOBAR carrier has not proved itself to be a world beater.

Even so, reports that the Russian Navy is in discussions with Thales about purchasing the Anglo-French CVF aircraft carrier is a bit of a surprise:

The idea being floated is that all indications are Russia would like to build 6 aircraft carriers similar to the 60-70 thousand ton CVF design being developed for the British and French Navies. Ilya Kramnik’s idea is to build the lead ship in France with foreign assistance, including some experience for Russian shipbuilders, then do follow on serial construction of the rest of the class in Russia.

There are a number of thorny issues that make this difficult, among them the likelihood that any US technology on the ships would not be cleared for export.

I think that its more likely that, if there were a joint venture with other countries, it would be Russia-China, and certainly the new shipyard planned at Cahngxing, will be used for the construction and service of larger ships, and the model of the facility, shows an aircraft carrier in a drydock.

Deaths in Russian Sub Accident

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It appears that a fire suppression system activated, and people suffocated before they could don emergency breathing gear.

This may come down to training, as the people on board may not have know how and when to use breathing gear.

Technical error in article: Freon (more likely a similar CFC like halon) is described as a toxic gas. It isn’t, but in high enough concentrations, it can suffocate you, much like a pure Nitrogen atmosphere did at a NASA installation a few years back.