Defense update
24.07.2008 13:03

***** Yantar Shipyard refused from the large American contracts. Recently Yantar and «LUKOIL – Kaliningradmorneft» (LK) have been competing for the large-scale contract with one of the oil-extracting companies of the USA. The American side is interested in manufacturing in Russia thirty sea ice proof oil platforms of the type D-6. Similar station has been operated for four years on the Baltic shelf, 22 kilometers from the national park «Kurshsky peninsular» (the Kravtsovsky oil deposit).
According to the source close to LK’s director on manufacturing construction metals Vladimir Sobko LK was created specifically for the construction in Kaliningrad region platforms D-6. LK already has all conditions and equipment, including crane-ship (40 tons capacity), floating crane (capacity 25 tons), sea tugs, berths, repair base. The plants’ quality control system was the first in the Kaliningrad area to be certificated for ISO 9002-94 by the Russian Sea Registe in 1998.
Yantar could take these orders too. The shipyard is not a iota inferior to its competitor neither in terms of quality of the "heavy" products nor in terms of technology. However, LK has a vivid advantage – the terms of fulfilling the contract. We are theoretically ready to fulfill this order, but now all production capacities of the plant are completely occupied, said a source in Yantar.
This was the main reason why the oil rigs was given to LUKOIL, also now it is not just 30 rigs, but 50. So far there are no new about the project price, its terms and date of signing the contract. The only detail available is that the high-quality metal necessary for the first batch of platforms D-6 LUKOIL-KMN will buy in St.-Petersburg.

**** Shipbuilding plant Volga is finishing the first landing ship Dyugon of the series 21820 for the Russian Navy. It is planned to construct five landing ships of this series. The project had been developed by the Nizhniy Novgorod CKB SPK Alekseeva for several years. This year it is planned to begin the first tests of the landing ship.
It is difficult to expect something technically extraordinary in the design of Dyugon. The basic idea is increase of speed parameters using the principle of air cavity. CKB Alekseeva is famous for designing the well-known screen planes. Possibly, making use of the experience and knowledge, the designers used the air cavity principle in the new series of ships.
Dyugon has no analogies in Russia, both in terms of design features and operational period. The hull made of aluminum alloys will serve for not less than 20 years. With the payload of 120-140 tons the ship has 50-60 knots (approximately 90-100 kilometers per hour) speed and the range of at least a thousand kilometers. The first ship of this series is fitted with diesel power unit made by SPb based Zvezda. Further it is planned to used the gas turbine M70FRU designed by Saturn, which will be upgraded and will allow to raise the high-speed properties of the ship considerably.
In December, 2007 at the session of the scientific and technical council of NPO Saturn the technical design of the gas turbine unit for Dyugon was approved. The also the agreement on cooperation between Saturn, financial-industrial group «High-Speed Fleet» (parent company of Volga) and JSC Zvezda was signed, providing for joint designing of high-speed ships with s turbine power plants and so called diesel gas turbines power units. It is supposed that the first gas turbine units developed and made on the basis of the ship GTD-M70FRU will be installed on the second serial Dyugon.
Technical design of the power-plant for the project Dyugon was started two-three years ago in the division of Saturn, Scientific and Technical Centre in St.-Petersburg and OKB-1 in Rybinsk which are developing basic sea gas turbine engine powered 14000 h.p. Besides, in 2008 it is planned to begin working out diesel gas turbine unit (DGTA) for the artillery ship Buyan. It will have the power of 5 MWt for gas turbine and 1 MWt for the diesel engine. The power installation will include the diesel engine of 7000 h.p. and a new two-level reducer of Zevzda as well as, of course, the gas turbine of Saturn.
Now some tests of GTD M70FRU are finished. Conformity of the engine to the requirements of the customer is confirmed. Before presenting M70FRU for the state tests in the second half of 2008 it is necessary to pass some more special tests.
Sea power-plants with gas turbine engines M75RU and M70FRU have big commercial prospects. The demand assumed serial production for the Russian militaries. The Advisory Council of the Border Service of FSB of Russia recommended Saturn to continue the works on creating the engine M70FRU and gas turbine unit on its basis for fitting it on a new project of the border guard ship. Gas turbine diesel installation M70FRU also can be used in the project of a new border guard corvette.

**** The Nizhniy Novgorod based Krasnoe Sormovo is upgrading its production capacities. The modernization plan is based on considerable investments which has already allowed the enterprise get to a new level of building ship. New mechanized line of manufacturing flat sections made by German firm IMG (production  rate 12 000 tons a year), new horizontal line of clearing and a prime coating of rolled metal made by German firm "Slick" and also the new plasma unit for thermal cutting of metals of Swedish firm "ESAB" allow to build 10 "river-sea" ships in a year. No shipyard in the Russian Federation has such a mechanized line of manufacturing flat sections.
The shipyard still has manufacturing of the torpedo-rocket complexes and mast rising which are part of the uniform technological chain of building and repair of nuclear submarines for the Russian Navy. The enterprise is equipped with a special dock-chamber for testing the deep-water vehicles, creating conditions of a thousand metres depth.
In the past years Krasnoe Sormovo pays big attention to modernizing its manufacture. For the last 5 years the shipyard introduced the following modern equipment: pipe bending units STG159RK, STG-100, pipe cutting machine tool HU440DGH and three STG-45. Machine tool STG-2S was modernized. The accuracy and quality of the dented ship units were considerably has raised. The shipyard also introduced specialized machine tool GFS-220N-E for cold processing of pipes for fitting flanges; mobile units for cutting CHP12G (2 pieces.); for removing facets in hull segments and also self-propelled conveyor "Commeto" for transporting large sections weighing up to 200 tons from the workshops to the building berth. Other totally new equipment already introduced: painting equipment of the type "King", "Bulldog" (14 units), welding equipment (more than 300 units), 15 new metal cutting machine tools in the machine-building workshop, new quality control equipment for welding and assembly works. The new technology of “longitude” joining two pontoons afloat each sized up to 150x42m was introduced too.
The project of modernizing manufacture in 2007 cost 2 million Euro. This year it is planned to spend about 4,5 million Euro.
In 2008 it is planned to introduce:

• The robotized line of manufacturing of units of profile steel.
• Hydraulic press (powered 500 tons) for bending parts of complicated shape.
• Mobile equipment for jet clearing of surfaces of hull before painting.
• Pipe bending equipment of SVO-1G for the mechanized opening of wholes in pipes for fit-on parts and processing of the whole for welding.
• Magnetic cross-arm (“traversa”) for cutting team of the second part of hull of the main hull workshop.
• The equipment for manual arc welding with energy saving converters and inverters.
• Second machine tool ESAB SUPRAREX SXE-P3 for plasma cutting of sheet metal.

News source: ShipbuildingRU