The Soviet “Flying Fortress” K-7 by Konstantin Kalinin

The Kalinin K-7  was a heavy experimental aircraft built and tested in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. It was named after Soviet aircraft designer Konstantin Alekseevich Kalinin (1889 – 1938). The K-7 was one of the biggest aircraft built before the jet age. It had an unusual arrangement of six tractor engines on the wing leading edge. In civil transport configuration, it would have had a capacity for 120 passengers and 7,000 kg  of mail. The K-7 was built in two years at Kharkiv starting in 1931. The K-7 first flew on 11 August 1933. The very brief first flight showed instability and serious vibration caused by the airframe resonating with the engine frequency. The solution to this was thought to be to shorten and strengthen the tail booms, little being known then about the natural frequencies of structures and their response to vibration. The aircraft completed seven test flights before a crash due to structural failure of one of the tail booms on 21 November 1933. The existence of the aircraft had only recently been announced by Pravda which declared it was "victory of the utmost political importance" since it had been built with steel produced in the USSR rather than imported (mostly from Sweden). Kalinin was executed as an enemy of the state in 1938 during the Stalinist purges. One of attached pictures were taken in Kharkiv early 1930s, and the third one is just a computer model created to show what the term of  "flying fortrass" was assosiated with many decades ago.

Corrected evidence of Poltava liberation.

70 years ago, troops of the Steppe front, successfully developing their offensive, forced the River Vorskla, and after three days' fierce fighting, on September 23, captured the regional centre of the Ukraine, the town of Poltava, a powerful German defense centre in the Ukraine to the east of the Dnieper River. 

In commemoration of the victory achieved, the formations and units who distinguished themselves in the fighting for the liberation of the town of Poltava were to bear the name of Poltava. On September 23, at 21.00 hours the capital of the USSR, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, saluted with 12 artillery salvoes from 124 guns the gallant troops of the Red Army which liberated the town of Poltava. One of the numerous places where the Soviet red flags were fixed was a monument dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava in the center of the Round Square. It is easy to notice on the picture taken on September 23th that the flagstaff is made of branch. Before to publish this picture in newspaper it was previously corrected using a needle and a paint because there was no any computer and Adobe Photoshop available at that time....

This fall 5000 youths to be conscripted to Ukrainian army

This fall, during the last conscription to the army, 5000 young soldiers will replenish the military forces of Ukraine.

In parallel, recruitment is ongoing to the army of contractors, said Defense Minister Pavel Lebedev.According to him, now Ukrainian army is manned by the military on contract by 58 percent. This year it is planned to recruit 10800 soldiers bearing service contract. According to him, unlike conscripted soldiers, the service contract will last from 3 to 5 years. Thus soldiers and sergeants on contract deal exclusively with their professional responsibilities that positively affect their military training.

The National Radio Company of Ukraine.

 http://www.nrcu.gov.ua

The monument to Polish general in Leipsig

This pretty modest and inconspicuous monument is located in Leipzig near the St. Michaelis Church. It has been unveiled in honor of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (1755 – 1818), a Polish general and national hero.

In June 1812 General Dąbrowski commanded a Polish division in the Grande Armee, joining Napoleon on his Moscow expedition. However, by October the Franco-Russian war was over and the French forces, decimated by a severe winter, had to retreat. Their defeat was completed by a battle lost during the crossing of the River Berezina, in which Dąbrowski was wounded. He fought under Marshal Auguste Marmont at the Battle of Leipzig (October 18, 1813).

His division was ordered to secure the withdrawal of French troops from Leipzig. Price at which the order was executed was very high, but anyway the division succeeded in holding its position. The fiercest fighting between French army and Russian-Prussian troops has taken place on the site where the monument was erected in 1863.

In the following year General Dąbrowski returned to Poland, unable to continue the fight any further. He was one of the generals entrusted by the Tsar Alexander I with the reorganization of the Polish army, and was named in 1815 general of cavalry and senator palatine of the new Congress Kingdom, and awarded the Order of the White Eagle. He retired in 1816 to his estates in Winna Gora in the Grand Duchy of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, where he died in 1818.

He wrote several military historical works in Polish. His name, in the French version "Dombrowsky", is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. "Dąbrowski's Mazurka" has become the national anthem of Poland. It was originally meant to boost the morale of Polish soldiers serving under General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski.

Russian air force puts X-38 air-to-surface missile into service

The Russian Air Force has put the advanced X-38 air-to-surface missile into service. Although the short-range missile was developed for the T-50 fifth generation fighter jet, the existing bombers and fighter jets, including Su-34 and MiG-29 CMT will be equipped with these missiles.

The missile was tested in great secrecy in 2012, and was commissioned in late December. The delivery of missiles will be started shortly. The new missile will be equipped with independently guided warheads. This solves various tasks and increases the striking power of T-50 multipurpose fighter jets. The missiles will be placed inside the jet that is being developed using stealth technology, says editor-in-chief of the “Independence Military Review” magazine Victor Litovkin.

“A fighter jet may have special characteristics, including non-visibility to radar and other detecting equipment, but it is just an aircraft. But when it is equipped with high-precision guided missiles, this is a high-precision aviation complex. That can be considered a fifth generation fighter jet. The fact, that the missile on board the jet increases its low visibility,” Victor Litovkin said.

The missile will not reflect on the radar screen. It has another advanced feature. It can orient itself during the flight using the GLONASS space navigation system. The recent armed conflicts, including in Afghanistan and the Middle East have shown that it is difficult to discover targets from air even with the guidance from the ground because advanced camouflaging systems have been developed. These missiles will be guided to the target by a GLONASS satellite, says Victor Litovkin.

“The missile’s accuracy increases owing to the GLONASS satellite that sees the target and missile and combines these two points. When taking into account the fact that this is a supersonic missile, a complicated task is solved, a missile that is flying at a high speed is guided to a target. In short, this is a great achievement of Russian missile designers,” Victor Litovkin added.

The X-38 missile is capable of hitting manoeuvering armoured vehicles and hideouts at a distance from 3 to 40 kilometers. These missiles will upgrade the combat capacity of the Russian Air Force.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_18/Russian-air-force-puts-X-38-air-to-surface-missile-into-service/ 

Exercise Rapid Trident 2013 opens in Ukraine

8 July 2013, Yavoriv, Ukraine

 Land forces from 17 nations began two weeks of collective training in a ceremony July 8 at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center here to mark the official start of Exercise Rapid Trident 2013.

Rapid Trident is a U.S. Army Europe led, U.S. European Command Joint Training and Exercise Program designed to enhance interoperability between forces and promote regional stability and security.

“Over the last several months Ukraine has set the highest of standards, and supported by dedicated planners from our partner countries, has set the conditions for excellent training,” said Exercise Co-Director U.S. Army Col. Alfred Renzi during his remarks at the opening ceremony.

Approximately 1,300 troops from 17 countries including host Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey and the U.S. will participate in this year’s exercise.

The exercise is focused around a week-long field-training exercise (FTX), during which the multinational force will conduct operations against a simulated enemy. In preparation for the FTX, units will undergo one week of situational training exercises that focus on key tasks such as countering improvised-explosive devices, convoy operations and patrolling.

This year’s exercise is the 11th iteration of Rapid Trident, which was previously conducted under the name “Peace Shield” from 1998 to 2002. 
U.S. units participating in the exercise include an airborne-infantry company from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Observer Coach Trainers from the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, 21st Theater Support Command, U.S. Army Europe and the California Army National Guard.

http://www.eur.army.mil/news/2013/20130708_RapidTridentOpens.html

One of the world's biggest open iron ore deposits is located close to Poltava

Komsomolsk is a purpose-built mining city in central Ukraine, located on the left bank of the Dnieper river, 120 km. away from Poltava. The city is pretty young, it was founded in 1960 as the residential and civic area for the Poltava Mining and Extraction Combinat. Nowadays it is controlled by the Ferrexpo - the most important iron ore-mining company in Ukraine.

Ferrexpo is a Swiss-based iron-ore producer operating in Ukraine. The business was founded by the Soviet government in 1960 as the "Poltava Mining and Extraction Combinat" to exploit iron ore reserves in Komsomolsk, Ukraine. The business was privatised in 2001 by the Ukrainian Government. In 1977 it started selling its product in the form of pellets. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2007. The Company sells most of its product to the steel mills of Eastern Europe.

80% of the city residents are employed by the mining industry. There are two gigantic open pit mines (up to 350 meters depth) and several spoil tips on the city territory, to the north-east and south of the residential area. 

 

The industry is served by several railway stations. However, the passenger service was discontinued and the city relies on intercity and suburban bus links. The combinat operates its own freight river port. Due to the profitability of mining, small city of Komsomolsk usually ranks high in all-Ukraine city rankings of birth rate, living standards, (un)employment and housing.