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Ukrainian attack on a shipyard in annexed eastern Crimea last week caused "significant" damage, a Ukrainian military spokesperson has said. Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk made the remarks on national television on Sunday, commenting on the November 4 strike by Ukraine on the Zaliv shipyard, also referred to as Butoma, in Kerch, which reportedly hit Russian cruise-missile carrier Askold. Schemes, a project by U.S.-funded Radio Liberty, published satellite images by California-based global-imaging company Planet Labs that appear to show the aftermath of the strike on the vessel, which is armed with a Kalibr strike missile system. "As for the...

A major Russian shipyard that specialises in building non-nuclear submarines said its general director had died suddenly on Saturday after 11 years in the job, but gave no details. Admiralty Shipyards, based in the western port of St Petersburg, announced the death of Alexander Buzakov in a statement. He had been in the job since August 2012. -snip- Tass news agency said the shipyard is building improved Kilo-class diesel-powered submarines capable of launching Kalibr cruise missiles. In April, Moscow said it had used a diesel submarine in the Black Sea to strike Ukrainian military targets with Kalibrs.

Let me say from the outset, with a degree of specific assurance we generally reserve for other matters, Russia had nothing to do with the targeting of a grain facility in the port city of Odesa. Geopolitically and strategically, such an action would be against their interests. These events have the smell of the U.S. State Dept and CIA all over them.Start by first reviewing the agreement between Russia and Ukraine that was announced yesterday. July 22 (Reuters) – Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that...

Turkey's defense minister said on Saturday that Russian officials had told Ankara that Moscow had "nothing to do" with strikes on Ukraine's Odesa port. "In our contact with Russia, the Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail," Defence Minister Hulusai Akar said in a statement. "The fact that such an incident took place right after the agreement we made yesterday really worried us," he added. Two Russian missiles hit the port of Odesa on Saturday but caused no significant damage, the public...

Gulftainer is a Middle-Eastern based ports management company that operates Delaware’s Port of Wilmington. The Obama administration brought Gulftainer into the United States with its first lease at Florida’s Port Canaveral, bypassing the required CFIUS National Security Threat Analysis. Gulftainer illegally blocked Wawa from its fuel supplies at the tank farm adjacent to the Port of Wilmington. Wawa is a Pennsylvania-based chain of convenience store gas stations with nearly 900 locations on the East Coast of the United States. Gulftainer attempted to extort $1 million in “fees” in exchange for allowing the Wawa tanker trucks to access their own fuel...

Russia is deploying long-range, precision cruise missiles to the western Atlantic that American defense officials say will allow Moscow to target Washington and other East Coast cities with conventional or nuclear attacks. Moscow is adding Kalibr land attack cruise missiles to both warships and missile submarines that Moscow plans to use in Atlantic patrols near the United States, sorties that were once routine during the Cold War. The new sea-based Kalibr deployments are expected in the coming months, according to officials familiar with intelligence reports of the Russian maritime operations. The land-attack version of the Kalibr, known as the SS-N-30A...

The 'Marshal Shaposhnikov' Project 1155 large anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship being upgraded at JSC Dalzavod Ship Repairing Center will get the ability to use Kalibr cruise, anti-ship and anti-submarine guided missiles, the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) writes in its official blog quoting the Dalzavod`s acquisition plan for 2017 published online. Russian Navy Udaloy I class ASW Destroyer Marshal ShaposhnikovThe 'Marshal Shaposhnikov' ASW Destroyer seen during its upgrade at JSC Dalzavod Ship Repairing Center. Picture taken on 26.06.2017 by johnkey68 via forums.airbase.ru The point 601-EP of the document says that JSC Design Bureau of Special Machine-Building (KBSM,...

Russia will continue to see the development of its nuclear forces as a top priority, but the military will rely increasingly on conventional weapons to deter any aggression, the Russian Defense Minister said Tuesday. Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that weapons such as the long-range Kalibr cruise missiles carried by navy ships, long-range cruise missiles carried by Russian strategic bombers and the land-based short-range Iskander missiles will play an increasingly important role as a non-nuclear deterrent. Those missiles can carry nuclear or conventional warheads. Shoigu pointed to the new missiles’ debut in the Syrian conflict, saying they have proven themselves well....

India will soon inform Russia that it seeks to buy “Kalibr” cruise missiles, equipped with the latest high precision guidance system, and capable of striking ground targets. The issue will be discussed during of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forthcoming visit to India, an informed diplomatic source told “Novosti.” Military analysts believe that with the advent of the latest “Kalibrs”, the Indian military will acquire new combat capabilities and be able to prepare to locally develop the cruise missile. The proposal has been prepared by India and will be officially handed over during President Putin’s visit, said the source of “Izvestia”....

Russia plans to upgrade its Project 971 nuclear submarines with Kalibr cruise missiles, Rear Admiral Viktor Kochemazov said in a radio interview on Saturday. “The Kalibr cruise missile is a highly efficient weapon as was amply proved by the recent launches from the Rostov-on-Don submarine. Kalibr missiles will be installed on the modernized Project 971 submarines,” Admiral Kochemazov told Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei (Russian News Service) radio station in Moscow. Project 971 Shchuka-B or Bars, designated by NATO as the Akula, are the codenames for the multirole nuclear-powered attack submarines which are the backbone of Russia's maritime nuclear deterrence. First deployed...

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS-DEFENSE/. The performance of the Kalibr-NK system’s (NATO reporting name: SS-N-Sizzler) 3M-14 cruise missile in attacks on terrorists in Syria highlighted the need for the en masse introduction of the type to equip the Navy’s in-service and in-construction surface combatants and submarines, military expert Maxim Klimov writes in the Military Industrial Courier weekly. "Decisive measures are due in order to afford the Navy a real conventional strike capability, with the measures to include a revision of the earlier-made steps (e.g. the governmental armament acquisition program, shipbuilding program, research and development) and modification of the organization and distribution...

Russia is nearing deployment of a new missile capable of targeting all of Europe with nuclear or conventional warheads, according to defense officials. Disclosure of the new SSN-30A missile threat comes as Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday warned that Moscow under Vladmir Putin is reemerging as an existential security threat. Russia “is a very, very significant threat,” Carter told reporters at the Pentagon. “And I think a point that they’ve made, but I would certainly make: Russia poses an existential threat to the United States by virtue simply of the size of the nuclear arsenal that it has.” Regarding...