This site is not intended to provide any technical specifications of Russian equipment; such a staggering task is well beyond the original scope of this project. Instead, I have provided links to other pages around the web that do make an attempt to describe the technical details of ships, weapons, and equipment.

SHIPS

Naval Technology, which bills itself as "the website for the naval industry," provides several excellent pages devoted to the warships of the world. Included are first-rate presentations on the following Russian classes:

• Project 941 Typhoon-class SSBN
• Project 1143.5 Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier
• Project 956 Sovremenny-class destroyer
• Project 11540 Neustrashimy-class frigate
• Project 636 Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine
• Project 877EKM Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine

Foxtrot-class diesel submarines seem to be popping up everywhere as tourist attractions these days (the latest example arrived in Southern California, to be displayed next to the Queen Mary). One of the oldest Foxtrot "floating museums" is located at the Thames Barrier in England -- see the unofficial web site here. In addition, I believe that a British CD-ROM developer is preparing a "virtual tour" of this Foxtrot using Apple's Quicktime VR technology.

Military Parade has run a number of special features devoted to particular ship classes, which often include cutaways and employment diagrams of one sort or another. Among them are:

• "Amur Family Submarines" - An overview of this newest class of fourth-generation SSK
• "Project 636 Diesel-Electric Torpedo Submarine" - Official details on the Kilo-636 design
• "Pyotr Veliky Nuclear Missile Cruiser" - the fourth and final Kirov
• "Neustrashimy class escort ships" - Project 11540 frigate, with a lot of detail on the weapons fit (which appears to be changing with the second unit in the class)
• "Novik - Successor of Legendary Warships" - Coverage of the ceremonial keel-laying of the new Novik-class multipurpose frigate
• "Aircraft Carrying Ships of Russian Navy"- A historical look at Soviet and Russian aircraft carrier programs, including an awful lot of good information that I missed in my short 1996 overview on the same subject.

WEAPONS

Two more Military Parade features:

• "Shipborne Missile Launchers" - A general discussion of the design and construction of those distinctive external missile launch containers that dominate the decks of major Russian surface combatants.
• "Gun Armament of Russian Navy Ships" - An overview of the various naval guns gracing today's designs.

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