In addition to writing for Aviation Week Network, Maxim holds a key position at Russia's Air Transport Observer magazine (www.ato.ru). In the past he was in charge of several ATO sister aerospace publications and earlier worked for the Moscow-based CAST defense think-tank.
Maxim has a degree on international relations from MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia, and for several years worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Novator Design Bureau has expanded the Club missile system’s deployment options with a land-based Club-M and air-launched Club-A. NDB, part of Russia’s Almaz-Antey defense consortium, showed the new versions at the MAKS 2007 aerospace and defense exhibition in Moscow. This is a new development for Club, originally a naval weapon. The first test firings of the sub-launched system (Club-S) in 2000 were from Russian submarines. The ship-based version (Club-N) followed almost immediately.
The Russian navy is developing a class of surface combatants as part of a larger effort to renew its aging and, in many cases, outdated fleet. The first-in-class vessel, the corvette Stereguschiy, is a milestone in naval design, in that it represents Russia’s latest attempt to apply stealth technology to a frontline ship.
Russia's armed forces will receive the first new-generation, Almaz-Antey S-400 Triumf air-defense systems later this year. Col.-Gen. Yuri Soloviev, head of the air force special command, says units that protect Moscow will be the first to get the long-range system. Plans call for acquisition of 23 Triumf battalions through 2015, at a rate of two regiments per year. The S-400 is a joint system that replaces the S-300V (known by NATO as the SA-12 Gladiator) in the army and the S-300PMU (SA-10 Grumble) in the air-defense force.
