International Naval News & Discussion

[Pratyush]

They will have there own Gorshokov if they do. Fit in nicely with PN ambitions for the 20 teens. They were looking for one by 2014/15. But did not have the funds to do any thing about it.

[dnivas]

For 2 million, India should buy it and scrap it, so that China or Pukistan can not get its hand on it.

[ashokpachori]

After 32 years of service in the Royal Navy, the carrier Invincible is up for sale on the Disposal Service Authority website – the government equivalent of eBay.








Machinery and Systems

Boilers 4 Stones Vapour type for auxiliary steam. Not serviceable.
Main Engines 4 Olympus gas turbines – Removed
Generators 8 in number Paxman Valenta 1.75MW Diesel Generators. Not serviceable.
Auxiliaries and Pumps Electrically, diesel and hydraulically driven. Not working.
Electrical System breached in many places. NOT FIT FOR USE.
Steering Gear Twin Hydraulic rams driving crossheads. Locked
Electronic & Sensors Few machines remain. None working.
GMDSS None
Batteries Removed.
Fire-Fighting Not working or maintained.
Sanitary Seawater flush to sea or Sewage Treatment Plant. Cleaned but not working




Anybody interested in above junk?

[Philip]

JSF problems.Oversight in design has made the engine too large to be carried at at sea! This will definitelt rule it out for the IN even if it were affordable and available soon.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/11/n ... g-112910w/

Xcpts:

JSF engine too big for regular transport at sea

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 30, 2010

The naval variant of the military’s fighter jet of the future arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on Nov. 6, a development that means the Navy and its industry partners are satisfied that the jet can safely perform basic flight maneuvers and is ready to tackle more demanding tests.

Behind the scenes, however, the Navy is struggling to remedy a significant design oversight that poses a major potential hindrance to its ability to successfully deploy and maintain the F-35C Lightning II, the carrier-based variant of the joint strike fighter: Its powerful single engine, when packed for shipping, is too large to be transported to sea by normal means when replacements are required.

“That is a huge challenge that we currently have right now,” said Capt. Chris Kennedy of the JSF Program Office, answering a flier’s question about JSF engine resupply following a public presentation on the state of the program at the 2010 Tailhook Symposium in September in Reno, Nev. He said the program office is working with the Navy staff and carrier systems planners to solve the problem.

Regular wear and tear, as well as mishaps such as an engine sucking a foreign object off a carrier deck, make the availability of replacement aircraft engines critical. High-tempo combat operations only increase the need. Carriers typically pack spares, but heavy demand can drain those stores, requiring at-sea replenishment.

However, the F-35C’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, contained in its Engine Shipping System, is too large for the cargo door on a standard carrier onboard delivery plane and for the V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft, the program office acknowledged in a response to a follow-on query from Navy Times. The engine can be broken down into five component parts, but just its power module and packaging alone won’t fit into the COD or the V-22.

The JSF Program Office says the V-22 Osprey, like the MH-53E helicopter, can externally carry the F135 engine module, the heaviest of the five components, at least 288 miles “in good weather.”

One outside analyst, Jan van Tol of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, wondered how the Osprey, in hover mode, could safely lower the module to the flight deck or pick up an out-of-service engine in higher sea states, given the heavy downdraft the aircraft’s 38-foot rotors generate when the engine nacelles are in the vertical position. When so positioned, with the aircraft hovering over the flight deck, the rotor wash can also affect sailors standing nearby – particularly those attaching the load sling, van Tol said. The GAO reported in 2009 that during shipboard exercises, the V-22’s downwash was so severe that in one instance, a sailor was directed to hold in place the sailor serving as the landing guide.

Heat could also be a problem. Depending on the amount of heat generated, sailors involved in sling operations could possibly be forced to wear heat-resistant suits, van Tol said.

Moreover, the Navy has no fleet V-22s and has no plans to acquire them. The Marine Corps flies the MV-22, but the Navy amphibious groups that carry its forces and aircraft to distant shores generally do not operate in the vicinity of carrier strike groups.

The 9,400-pound engine module and transport container also cannot not be transferred from a supply ship to a carrier during underway replenishments — when two ships are sailing side-by-side and connected by supply lines — because, Kennedy said, “It’s too heavy for the unrep station.”

The coming Gerald R. Ford-class carriers will have underway replenishment stations that can handle the load, Kennedy said. But the first Navy F-35 squadrons are scheduled to deploy between 2015 and 2018, when there will be one Ford-class carrier in the fleet. The second won’t be commissioned until four years after the first sets sail. The current Nimitz-class carriers will dominate the fleet until the 2030s.

“You’ve got a very complex aircraft — and there are many, many interesting technologies in this — where it’s tough enough to consider the operational and technological factors,” van Tol said. “But apparently, they’ve not looked as carefully at second- and third-order issues.”

Not the first problem
The JSF program was launched in the mid-1990s; system development and demonstration contracts were awarded to design contract winner Lockheed Martin and engine builder Pratt & Whitney in 2001. The Navy currently plans to buy 680 F-35s, including the “B” short takeoff, vertical landing variant and the “C” carrier variant. It has only one F-35C operational flight test model, operating out of Pax River, according to Lockheed Martin.

The apparently unforeseen engine transportation issue is yet another snag in a controversial program that has seen lagging flight tests, cost overruns and other unannounced concerns — problems laid bare by a Government Accountability Office report released in March. The mounting issues prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to fire the program’s top official in February, impose what amounted to a $614 million penalty on Lockheed Martin and order a major restructuring of the program.

The program’s director since May, Vice Adm. David Venlet, recently briefed top Pentagon officials on the program’s status, including “additional issues that are of concern,” Gates spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Taken together, the problems threaten to further increase program costs and complicate immediate spending plans. The House wants to limit the number of aircraft purchased in fiscal 2011 unless certain performance milestones are met; the Senate Appropriations Committee, citing various concerns with the program, has approved a spending bill that cuts 10 of the 42 jets the Pentagon has requested.

Navy: Issue with alternate, too
The resupply issue likely won’t add fuel to the fire still burning in some congressional circles for an alternative JSF engine made by General Electric and Rolls-Royce — one strongly opposed by the Pentagon. That engine would have similar transportability issues.

“The F136 would have similar dimensions and modularity,” said Navy spokeswoman Capt. Cate Mueller.

The F136 would use the same transport system, thus making it unable to fit into a COD or V-22.

Mueller said “multiple options” for transporting spare engines to aircraft carriers are being considered in the discussions referred to by Kennedy, which also involve Marine Corps officials. Solutions being evaluated, she said, include “developing a low-profile engine transport system that would fit in the back of Navy and Marine aircraft; prepositioning spares on [carriers and amphibious ships]; and prepositioned spares located at forward-deployed operational areas that can be quickly transported to ships.”

Officials also are evaluating “the usefulness of existing containers with the V-22, MH-53 and C-2 aircraft,” she said.

A low-profile rail system would allow the engine — which by itself is not too large for the cargo doors of the COD, the MH-53E or the V-22 — or its modules to slide off the trailer and into the aircraft, Mueller said. A separate maintenance transfer trailer would be needed on the carrier for the transferred engine.

As is current practice, commercial carriers would be employed to supplement the military’s ability to transport spares to forward locations, Kennedy said. Planners have also modeled carrier capacity to store additional engine modules, a concept he said is “one of the challenges we’re working today.”

Storage, even on a ship as big as a carrier, is a precious commodity, van Tol pointed out. “The storage was always at a premium, no matter how large the ship was,” said van Tol, a retired Navy captain who commanded three ships, including the amphibious assault ship Essex. “Not only that, you have to be able to store it in such places that the yellow gear — the handling equipment — can actually move the engines around to where the jets are that are [having engines] replaced.”

Carriers carry spares for embarked aircraft with engines that are repairable underway. A carrier typically deploys with about 35 spare, fully assembled F404 or F414 engines for its Hornets and Super Hornets, respectively, according to Lt. Aaron Kakiel, a Naval Air Forces spokesman.

All told, the program’s multiple problems “increase the risk that the program will not be able to deliver the aircraft quantities and capabilities in the time required by the war fighter,” GAO concluded. The Marine Corps wants initial operational capability of the JSF by 2012, with the Air Force and Navy by 2013.

However, Naval Air Systems Command said in 2009 that because of the many unresolved issues with the program, the Marine and Navy goals are “not achievable.” The Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation told GAO that it projects the initial operational testing of the full war-fighting capability of the JSF by mid-2016.

By the time initial operational capability is reached, Mueller said, the F-35C engine resupply issue “will be completely addressed.”

GAO did not raise the engine transportability issue while discussing the program’s logistical challenges, but it found that the Air Force faces a parallel problem: The current integrated support system for its JSF variant is limited in scope and would prohibit two detachments from one squadron simultaneously — another limitation that “will severely affect current operating practices.”

At the current Pentagon estimate of $382 billion, the JSF is the military’s most expensive acquisitions program. Under the Pentagon spending plan for fiscal 2011, each aircraft is projected to cost $112 million — or, when research and development costs are factored in, about $133.6 million in constant fiscal 2010 dollars, according to the Congressional Research Service..

PS:The Invincible.
Well,we bought another rust bucket called the Trenton/Jalashwa of similar vintage,and if the hull is OK then the rest of the eqpt. can be retrofitted.More importantly are her "movable" assets,namely the Harriers that she carried and their condition,which as they were retd. early due to budget cuts,should serve for another decade+.Worth taking a look at though,as we do need amphibious vessels and she can serve in that role carrying helos.

JSF problems.Oversight

[Pratyush]

Amazing oversight wrt the F 135. & the Airborn COD suitability. But not one that ought to be applicable for the IN. IF the F 35 is to be acquired by the Navy. As the COD is not a mission that is a part of the support option for the IN Carrier fleet.

Also, I find it amusing that the analyst is unable to understand that the Ship to Ship option for the existing Nimitz class can be instituted with relative ease. The Nimitz class is capable on being rearmed underway. The ordinance loads are transfrerd using the hook system it self. With modest changes it also ought to be able to handle the F 135 and assorted components.

[Pratyush]

Anybody interested in above junk?

I vote for the junk to be gifted to the Pakistani Navy.

Let them have a white Eliphant in their service. Even the 3.5 will not be able to afford to keep her in the Paki service.

[Philip]

China's 4th modernisation,its navy and sub fleet.

http://www.economist.com/node/17601487? ... 7&fsrc=rss

A special report on China's place in the world

[wig]

the UK aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal returns home after final voyage

The Royal Navy flagship, HMS Ark Royal, was making its final return to its home port of Portsmouth this morning.

After a quarter of a century of service across the globe, the famous vessel is being decommissioned following the government's spending review.

Its future remains unclear. It may be sold, used for spare parts or even turned into a museum – though the latter option is thought to be too expensive.

The decision to scrap the ship ahead of schedule and the planes has been controversial and leaves the UK without the ability to launch British fast jets from a British aircraft carrier until the Queen Elizabeth class of aircraft carrier comes into service at the end of the decade.

One senior officer on the Ark has called the move "madness".

Ark Royal's role as the navy flagship will initially be taken on by the amphibious assault ship HMS Albion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/0 ... nal-voyage

[Gerard]

US Navy Sets World Record With Railgun firing

And at 11 a.m. today, the Navy produced a 33-megajoule firing -- more than three times the previous record set by the Navy in 2008.

[NRao]

Test of Futuristic Railgun A Success: U.S. Navy

[Philip]

Poor HMS "Trouble",aka HMS AStute.AFter running aground off a Scottish isle recently,the much touted nuclear sub has again experienced problems ,,,during her first voyage back at sea!

http://news.scotsman.com/politics/HMS-T ... iclepage=2

HMS Trouble in hot water again as sub breaks down on first day at sea !

13 December 2010
By Craig Brown
A NUCLEAR-POWERED submarine that ran aground off the Scottish coast two months ago broke down on its first day back at sea, it has emerged.
HMS Astute was forced to head back to its base in Faslane, on Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, during tests last week after suffering what Ministry of Defence officials described as a "minor defect".

It was initially reported that a fault was found iADVERTISEMENTn the steam plant, which affected the submarine's propulsion and desalination system, which makes sea water drinkable, but the MoD denied this yesterday.

Navy sources said Astute - which is supposed to be capable of staying at sea for three months at a time - reached Faslane under its own power.

A source said: "We could do without these new technical problems just weeks after Astute was grounded. At least this time it wasn't damaged."

The submarine hit the headlines on 22 October, when it ran aground off the coast of Skye and ended up marooned for several hours until the tide eventually freed it.

The vessel was damaged in a collision with the coastguard tug the Anglian Prince, which was sent to free it.

The submarine returned to base at Faslane on the Clyde three days after the incident for repairs, which the Royal Navy claimed were minor, although experts at the time said that the bill for the work could run into millions of pounds.

The error led to the submarine's commander, Andy Coles, being transferred to another post and replaced by Commander Iain Breckenridge.

It is hoped that the vessel will be back in service this week.

The latest incident came as the Ministry of Defence admitted that despite being fitted with the latest global positioning and monitoring systems, the submarine's personnel still rely on paper charts similar to those used in British submarines during the Second World War.

Insiders claim that cuts in defence spending mean that although electronic charting is fitted in some Royal Navy ships, it will not be installed in Astute until next year.

An MoD spokesman declined to comment on whether or not the lack of equipment was instrumental in Astute running aground, but confirmed that the vessel would be included in an ongoing upgrading programme.

"HMS Astute is fitted with a range of navigational aids, which include GPS and an electronic plotting table," he said.

"She will be fitted with electronic charting as part of an ongoing upgrade of the navigational systems on all Royal Navy vessels.

"The circumstances surrounding the (grounding] incident have been investigated and the service inquiry has reported and is being considered.

It is too early to discuss its outcome."

The spokesman confirmed: "HMS Astute has been completing sea trials and has returned to port to have a minor defect corrected."

Astute is the first of seven new nuclear-powered submarines of its class.

One of the most advanced submarines in the world, it was built by defence giant BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and launched in 2007, ten years after it was ordered.

The seven-strong fleet will eventually replace the Trafalgar-class submarine.

It is fitted with a nuclear reactor that will not need replenishing during its 25-year tour of service.

The main limit to the amount of time it can spend underwater is the amount of food it can carry.

With a displacement of 7,400 tonnes and a top speed of 33mph, and capable of carrying a crew of 109, the vessel can carry a mix of up to 38 Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes and Tomahawk Land Attack cruise missiles

PS:Very good pics of the Astute in this link.Worth comparing it with our very own ATV and Akula-2 class.

HMS Calamity: First it ran aground, then it collided with a tug. Now Britain's £1.2bn flagship submarine breaks down on its first day back in service

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z17ztXcpiW

[PratikDas]

Test of Futuristic Railgun A Success: U.S. Navy

High resolution photos if anyone's interested:
Pic 1: Jim Poyner, senior engineer, Gun Weapons Branch, Office of Naval Research performs a final inspection
Pic 2: Electromagnetic Railgun (EMRG) laboratory launcher, located on board the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, is operational
Pic 3: Wide-angle Top View of the EMRG

[SRay]

Cracks plague Ticonderoga-class cruisers
Their superstructures are made of aluminum alloy 5456, a material used on numerous U.S. warships since 1958. The alloy, according to NAVSEA, relies on approximately 5 percent magnesium as an alloying element to develop strength. Over time, the magnesium leaches out of the material and forms a film, susceptible to stress-corrosion cracking in a marine environment.

[ashokpachori]

Fuses blew submarine out of water

"During a switch-over from shore to ship electrical supply, an incident occurred whereby an AC (alternating current) plug was incorrectly inserted in a DC (direct current) socket," she said in reply to a parliamentary question.

"This led to a number of fuses being blown (as with trip switches) protecting electrical equipment onboard from incorrectly phased electrical supply."

[VinodTK]

Local shipbuilders eye more govt-aided defence contracts

This year alone, Indian shipbuilders have won defence contracts worth at least Rs.37,000 crore.

[Philip]

HMS Ambush-claims ability to detect ships "3,000km away"!

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/14 ... super-sub/
Xcpt:

U.K. to Launch New 'Super Submarine'

Published December 14, 2010
The Royal Navy has a new hunter-killer submarine in its arsenal of weapons. Its name: HMS Ambush.

The submarine has the ability to send guided missiles at the enemy more than 1,000 miles away, and it will never need refueling and can detect ships approaching at 3,000 nautical miles away.

This titan of the sea is able to make oxygen and fresh water from ¬seawater, to keep the 98 crew members alive in time of crisis, the U.K. DailyMail reports.

Ambush replaces smaller vessels such as the ¬Swiftsure and ¬Trafalgar subs, but despite its size is much quieter, making it virtually undetectable to enemy vessels.

The U.K. Daily Mail reports that the vessel is more complex than U.S. space shuttles and is able to ¬circumnavigate the globe ¬without surfacing.

Ambush is 291 feet long, as wide as four double-decker buses and 12 stories high. HMS Ambush will carry 38 ¬missiles as ammunition. Its nuclear-powered engine will propel the submarine through the water at more than 20 knots, allowing it to travel 500 miles a day, U.K. DailyMail reports.

This super sub cost $1.2 billion dollars and will be launched at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, U.K. on Thursday.

[Singha]

yeah yeah we heard it all for HMS Astute its lead ship....and we know how that is performing...3000 miles indeed...

[SaiK]

... BTW, hope there is no nuke leak.

[Sid]

Poor HMS "Trouble",aka HMS AStute.AFter running aground off a Scottish isle recently,the much touted nuclear sub has again experienced problems ,,,during her first voyage back at sea!

http://news.scotsman.com/politics/HMS-T ... iclepage=2

Insiders claim that cuts in defence spending mean that although electronic charting is fitted in some Royal Navy ships, it will not be installed in Astute until next year.

An MoD spokesman declined to comment on whether or not the lack of equipment was instrumental in Astute running aground, but confirmed that the vessel would be included in an ongoing upgrading programme.

"HMS Astute is fitted with a range of navigational aids, which include GPS and an electronic plotting table," he said.

"She will be fitted with electronic charting as part of an ongoing upgrade of the navigational systems on all Royal Navy vessels.

Ok.. so I did some research but could not locate any current GPS tech which will work while submerged.

Since the GPS signals are weak they cannot possibly be received while submerged below 20-30 m in water.

Most of the Subs uses INS for guidance, but first time I heard of GPS. So does UK has some top-secret GPS device (which they disclosed) or they are just passing the buck on current equipment for HMS Astute poor fortunes?

Added later - http://www.navysbir.com/n09_1/N091-091.htm
This is a link from US Navy SBIR programs. Until 2009 they were still researching on GPS navigation while submerged. And UK already has this tech!!

[Pratyush]

A sub can always raise an antina and gain a positional fix using GPS.

[Sid]

A sub can always raise an antina and gain a positional fix using GPS.

For this Sub will have to at periscope depth.

Its not good for a Nuclear Sub on deterrent petrol to be at such depths just to keep getting GPS fix.

Reason I asked this whole GPS theory was because UK babus (yes they have babus too ) were giving excuse of people using old maps even when Sub was equipped with GPS and what not.

So either they are confused with INS/GPS or they are hiding a bigger problem in HMS Astute.

[Kailash]

Is it possible for the sub to stay any depth and deploy a buoy or some kind of floating device and establish (stealthy wireless) communications with it - streaming GPS/radar/video data?

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Is it possible for the sub to stay any depth and deploy a buoy or some kind of floating device and establish (stealthy wireless) communications with it - streaming GPS/radar/video data?

Not a buoy maybe but submarines do use ELF signals on a streaming antenna to maintain stealth. Also, ELF signals suffer less attenuation in a marine environment when exposed to moisture and salinity. Therefore a lower power, hence more difficult to detect signals can be used.

More here: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/navy/doc ... part04.htm; and here: http://books.google.com.om/books?id=4S3 ... em&f=false

Added later: I don't remember correctly why but I guess data transmission rates will be pretty low. Therefore heavy files like voice or video maybe difficult to transmit. Definitely not in real time

[Philip]

The latest electronic non-hull pepentrating periscopes (NHPPs) scopes are supposed to have a multipliicity of capabilities,and need to be raised just for a couple of seconds to acquire video clips and other data.The pics/data is then passed on to any display allowing the sub's commander to scan and operate the sub even from his cabin.Communication buoys are vital to any sub for commns. as well and are supposedly made of stealth material to defeat radar.In addition,the US in particular has supposedly made huge strides in blue-green laser communications with subs.This is the magic bullet-communicating with a sub while it is submerged.ELF is one solution but the inordinate time taken for ELF signals to reach in the age of instant data demand thanks to NCW ,makes it more useful for communicating with stealthy SSBNs on patrol then attack/SSGNs.

[ashokpachori]

Submarine launched BRAHMOS almost ready

[ashokpachori]

GPS signals are fairly weak. They are coming from satellites orbiting at 11,000 miles. By the time the signals get to earth, they are so weak that even heavy tree foliage can block them.

Therefore, the only way for a submarine to use GPS signals is to come to the surface or to tow a buoy that is floating on the surface. There is no way for GPS signals to penetrate the water.

So how do submarines navigate when they are underwater? The most important tool is the inertial navigation system. An INS uses precise accelerometers and gyroscopes to keep track of every change in the submarine’s speed and direction. A computer monitors all the changes and therefore knows where the submarine is. Obviously over time small errors add up, so the submarine will come to the surface periodically to get a GPS reading and recalibrate the system from a known point.

[Austin]

^^^ Nuclear submarine per say do not need GPS for accurate navigation , besides INS they have some sort of classified navigation equipment that allows them continuous submerged navigation for months even under ice and yet during the entire period the error does not exceed allowing then to be under 5 km where they want to be , subs have been navigating long before GPS ever existed.

If required the subs can float communication buyos for high bit rate communication when they can get GPS updates , conventional subs do not have those kind of navigation equipment that Nuke subs do hence they would need some external aid over a period of time but conventional subs do snorkel from time to time and can make use of it to get navigation updates.

[Ajit.C]

Came accross this article in Gulf News, UAE

Royal Navy can rest assured with latest 'super-sub'

HMS Ambush joins fleet of hunter submarines. The "super-sub" is able to make oxygen and fresh water from seawater

Daily Mail
Published: 00:00 December 15, 2010

London: Her nuclear reactor could power a city the size of Southampton, she will never need refuelling and she can use her guided missiles to pulverise an enemy more than 1,000 miles away. Meet HMS Ambush, the Royal Navy's newest hunter-killer submarine.

The "super-sub" is able to make oxygen and fresh water from seawater, to keep the 98 crew — some of whom are expected to be women — alive in time of crisis. And despite being 50 per cent bigger than the Swiftsure and Trafalgar subs she will replace, Ambush is quieter.

Her propellers are said to make less noise than a baby dolphin — making her virtually undetectable to enemy vessels. Of course, that is if enemy vessels can get near her.

The submarine's sonar and radar are so sensitive that she can detect ships a staggering 3,000 nautical miles away.

It means that if she was sitting in the English Channel she would know if a ship left the New York Harbour. A true titan of the deep, the £1.2 billion (Dh6.9 billion) warship will be launched at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria tomorrow.But naval chiefs will nervously hope the newly-named craft will not suffer the same catalogue of disasters that has recently befallen her sister vessel, HMS Astute.

Astute's captain, Commander Andy Coles, was relieved of his duties after the submarine ran aground on a sandbank off the Isle of Skye in October.

During the rescue, a tug collided with the sub, causing £7 million of damage.

Last week, she limped back to her home port of Faslane after a mechanical failure at sea."

Can a sub's sonar and radar have a range of 3000kms?

[Singha]

^:rotfl:

[Brando]

Her propellers are said to make less noise than a baby dolphin — making her virtually undetectable to enemy vessels.

It means that if she was sitting in the English Channel she would know if a ship left the New York Harbour. A true titan of the deep,

And you though DDM was pathetic ??

The British like to continuously delude themselves and anybody who'll listen to them that their glory and military prowess of yesteryear is still intact and they are yet a power thus we have these stories about "super-subs" like this HMS Crash.

I suspect hearing a ship leaving the NY Harbor is not that difficult with modern Sonar but being able to sort out one particular signature from the trillions of sounds that are jumbled over it would be the real challenge. Imagine the number of birds, animals, fish, helicopters, aircraft, ships and other sounds one would find in 3000 miles of some of the most heaviest shipping lanes in the world!

[Brando]

Anybody interested in above junk?

I'm sure it looks mouth watering to the scrap metal dealers in Alang in Gujarat. They'd strip it from stem to stern without missing a beat. In all likelihood this is exactly what is going to happen since there is hardly anybody with the means or the will to refit it and make it functional again. Hell, even for turning it into a floating casino, there are much better ships out there that would be better deals.

[Singha]

lol the chinese could buy it for 'studies'

[Philip]

PLAN ambitions are far more deadly!

http://news.carrentals.co.uk/china-buil ... 29493.html
China builds aircraft carrier as Britain scraps hers

In a possible sign of things to come, China is building the country’s first aircraft carrier as the UK announces the scrapping of its carrier fleet.

In a move which reduces the ‘Senior Service’ to its smallest capacity for 500 years, PM David Cameron last week announced the scrapping of the Navy’s last aircraft carrier and the reduction of its battleship numbers to 25. Meanwhile, in up-and-already-arrived new world power China, naval plans are underway which will dwarf the Royal Navy and end the UK’s historic fame as the world’s finest seafaring nation.

Even although two UK super-carriers are to be built at a cost of £5.6 billion, China’s plans will result in a huge carrier fleet, 66 submarines, 52 frigates and 27 destroyers by the year 2020. Former army officer-turned Tory MP Patrick Mercer is in disagreement with the defence review, which decided the UK was more at risk from internal and external terrorist threats than from other states.

Mr Mercer told reporters this is the reason the Royal Navy is being run down. He added many had made the point that China’s threat was real and sees its naval plans as the proof. By 2020, the Chinese battle-ready fleet will easily challenge the US’s Pacific naval supremacy.

China’s army comprises 1.6 million military personnel and is the world’s largest. Its navy has 250,000 officers and men and a secret new submarine base able to hold 20 nuclear submarines has now been completed on Hainan Island in the country’s far southeast. Details of the carrier programme were revealed in a Japanese newspaper and will further trouble that country’s government, already concerned about aggression from its powerful neighbour.

Vietnam and the Philippines, of massive strategic importance to both the Chinese and the Western powers, are both mired in long-running disputes with China about island chains set along vital trade and oil routes. Both countries are alarmed by China’s revelations, with military analysts believing sovereignty issues over the disputed atolls could be triggers for global conflict.

[Philip]

We don’t yet know what kind of plane EMALS launched this weekend (an F/A-18 Super Hornet, I presume?); how much energy was required and generated; or what the generated speeds were. But if the test succeeded, it’ll be some good news for a program that hit a snag in January, when equipment failure caused a three-month test delay. General Atomics has to deliver its electric catapult to the Newport News shipyard by May 2011 in order to meet the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford’s production schedule, so the test helps determine the future of the next-gen supercarrier.

Navy watchers are looking at EMALS closely, since outfitting the Ford with steam catapults instead is estimated to cause a year-plus delay

in the carrier. The outgoing chairman of the House’s shipbuilding subcommittee warned this summer that if EMALS fails, “the nation has paid billions of dollars for an unusable ship

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12 ... tic-shove/

[rohitsawant]

Related to Philips post

Chinese aircraft carrier

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... 959162.ece

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BM0YG20101223

[Ameet]

US Navy Uses Electromagnets to Launch Fighter Jet

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/ ... hter-jets/

Newer, heavier and faster aircraft will require more force to catapult from the carrier decks than steam-powered systems can supply. Electromagnets will be able to deliver, and allow for smooth acceleration at both high and low speeds, increasing the carrier’s ability to launch aircraft, the Navy said in a press release.

[Raja Bose]

The U.K. Daily Mail reports that the vessel is more complex than U.S. space shuttles and is able to ¬circumnavigate the globe ¬without surfacing.

Ambush is 291 feet long, as wide as four double-decker buses and 12 stories high. HMS Ambush will carry 38 ¬missiles as ammunition. Its nuclear-powered engine will propel the submarine through the water at more than 20 knots, allowing it to travel 500 miles a day, U.K. DailyMail reports.

This super sub cost $1.2 billion dollars and will be launched at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, U.K. on Thursday.

The bolded portion tells all about the quality of this GPDM article (Gora Paki Dork Media).

[Singha]

seems the JSF-B (SVTOL) version holds the envelope record at present mach 1.35 and 7G. web sources indicate JSF design top speed is only mach1.5

this kind of low bar would likely be ok if it had a f22 style VLO and a new astoundingly good missile , the 2nd issue can be fixed but not the first.

I really wonder how JSF-C with similar specs is expected to deal with the best of the land based fighters coming up soon...

[Austin]

Video: Lada Trials

[Gerard]

US Navy investigating lewd videos aboard USS Enterprise

The films' key figure is Capt Owen Honors, now USS Enterprise commander.