Ria Novosti: Russian military to receive first AN-70 transport planes by 2012

SEVASTOPOL, June 24 (RIA Novosti) Russia may start receiving its first An-70 military transport planes as early as in 2012, said the defense minister.

We hope to start receiving the tested aircraft by 2012. We need this plane and the Russian Defense Ministry plans to buy it," Anatoly Serdyukov said during his visit to the Black Sea Fleet's base in Sevastopol on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

The An-70 is a medium-range turboprop military transport plane developed by Ukraine's Antonov design bureau. The Antonov company first tested a flying prototype of the An-70 in 1994, but a lack of Ukrainian state funds, and political disputes between Moscow and Kiev have prevented large-scale production of the aircraft.

The recent thaw in Russian-Ukrainian relations saw Moscow renew long-stalled funding to Ukraine for eventual joint production of the plane.

There are up to 300 transport aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force, including An-12 Cub, Il-76MD and An-124 Condor transport aircraft.

The AN-70 is supposed to replace the AN-12, which is similar to the US C-130. The An-12 has about twice the payload of a C-130. The AN-70 has about twice the payload of an AN-12.

The An-70 is intended to replace Russia's An-12 military transport aircraft.

Russian Airborne Troops Commander Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said in May that his service had ordered 40 An-70 planes under the new state arms procurement program for 2011-2020.

Specifications (An-70)
General characteristics

• Crew: 3-5
• Capacity: 300 troops or 206 wounded
• Payload: 47 tonnes (2.25g) (103,620 lb (2.25g)) of cargo
• Length: 40.7 m (133 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan: 44.06 m (144 ft 7 in)
• Height: 16.38 m (53 ft 9 in)
• Empty weight: 66,230 kg (146,000 lb)
• Loaded weight: 108,860 kg (240,000 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 145,000 kg (2.25g) (319,725 lb (2.25g))
• Powerplant: 4× Progress D-27 propfans, 10,350 kW (14,000 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 780 km/h (420 knots, 485 mph)
• Cruise speed: 729 km/h (392 knots, 453 mph)
• Stall speed: 100 km/h (53 knots, 61 mph)
• Range: 6,600 km (3,600 nm, 4,100 mi) with 20 tonnes of cargo
• Ferry range: 8,000 km (4,320 nm, 4,970 mi)
• Service ceiling: 12,000 m (40,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 24.9 m/s (4,900 ft/min)

Comparable aircraft

• Airbus A400M
• Il-76

source: Wikipedia

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The best battle tank of WW 2: the T-34

'RIA Novosti' newswire 21:1018/12/2009

T-34 tank

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik) - Seventy years ago, on December 19, 1939, the Soviet government's Defense Committee issued a resolution approving the supply of several new types of automobiles and armored vehicles to the army. One of the latter was the T-32 track tank with a B-2 diesel engine.

The resolution also said that the new tank's armor should be strengthened and its visibility and armaments improved. The revamped tank was called T-34. When it was delivered to the army, few people thought it would be such an enduring design.

A new design bureau led by Adolf Dik started working on the tank in 1937, but the chief designer soon fell victim to Stalin's persecution campaigns. He was replaced by Mikhail Koshkin, the designer of the plant that later manufactured the tank.

The T-34 fought its first battles during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). These battles showed that its 15-20 mm armor left it defenseless against 25-47 mm antitank guns. It had been decided that a thicker armor would increase the tank's weight and not allow the planned combination of tracks and wheels.

However, by that time the country could make chain tracks that lasted several thousand kilometers, allowing the designers to replace the wheels with tracks without affecting the tank's running performance. The T-34 tank was designed for offensive operations that involved long marches at a high speed.

North Korean Arms scandal point to the Ukraine

Thailand intercepted an aircraft from North Korea that had 35 tons of rocket launchers an missile systems.

The arms originated in the Ukraine and were destined for a Middle Eastern location. The Thais were tipped off by US intelligence.

The Russians recently lost a contract with Iraq to the Ukraine for weapons procurement and have been feuding with the Ukraine over a variety of issues including energy, weapons sales and  Black Sea access.

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Russia officials welcome EU war report

Rightardia suggests the 'US  diplomacy' and the ABM deployment in Eastern Europe provoked the Russians. The EU Report is a slap in the face to the Bush administration.

21:3830/09/2009

MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian officials and politicians welcomed the EU-commissioned report on the Russia-Georgia war last August, dismissing its criticism of excessive use of force.

The Foreign Ministry highlighted that the report, prepared by a Swiss diplomat in cooperation with European military, legal and history experts and released on Wednesday, blamed Georgia for the start of the conflict.

"Any reasonable person would draw a core conclusion from the report that aggression against South Ossetia on August 8, 2008 was launched by Georgia's current leaders," the ministry said in a statement.

Georgia said it attacked its breakaway region to prevent Russia's invasion of the Caucasus state.

But the ministry pointed to what it called a series of ambiguous statements in the report, including on Russia's disproportionate use of force and at the same time the acknowledgement of the legality of the retaliation.

The report said Russia's response to the Georgian aggression was "legal," as the initial military operations were of a defensive nature, but subsequent Russian actions "went far beyond the reasonable limits of defense" and were "in violation of international law."

A senior Russian lawmaker also hailed the acknowledgement of Georgia's responsibility for the beginning of the conflict and dismissed accusations of excessive use of force as a result of pressure from Georgia's Western allies.

"The main positive meaning of the report is that it calls things by their proper names," Konstantin Zatulin said.

"It is important as it cuts the ground from under the feet of those who want to portray the conflict as Moscow's plot against democratic Georgia or a provocation staged by Russia's military and security forces," he said.

He drew a parallel to the U.S.-led operations in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan, saying Western powers were never condemned internationally for using military force disproportionately.

Germany's Foreign Ministry thanked the independent commission for their investigation into the causes of the conflict and said it showed that the conflict must not be repeated.

The EU Report confirms what the Russians had been saying about the war all along. 

source: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090930/156306380.html

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