"Reset" - Russian submarines outfitted to break thick Arctic ice.

"Reset" - Russian submarines outfitted to break thick Arctic ice.(RBTH).

By 2016, Russian submarines will have the ability to cut through thick, Arctic ice without damaging the ship’s housing during rapid surfacing, thanks to a new design that puts advanced technology on the boats.

The new technology for the submarines will allow subs to quickly surface for Arctic missions or to rescue the crew in case of an accident, according to the Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering in charge of the new submarine design.

Current submarine design does not allow the ship to break the ice to emerge quickly without damage to the housing. Igor Kurdin, the former commander of the nuclear submarine Yekaterinburg and the chairman of the St. Petersburg Submariners' Club, said that to exit the boat on a surface covered by ice, there are two ways: surfacing without at a very slow speed or, as an extreme case, on-the-go breaking the ice with the ship’s housing.

"Surfacing on-the-go is fraught with injuries to the housing, sliding devices, sonar system and torpedo tubes. Today cases of ice breaking on-the-go are unknown, but surfacing without speed is a regular maneuver often used,” Kurdin said.

Before surfacing in normal mode, the boat "hangs" in the water, and then begins to rise very slowly - the rate of several centimeters per minute, he said. To ensure a safe ascent while moving, the wheelhouse and the bow of the boat have to be strengthened, since these parts take the blow.

 The new additions will have management software that searched for the thinnest area of ice, as well as an apparatus that works to clear the housing of ice fractures from the deck as the ship rises. Kurdin said that missile silos, the most important strategic parts of the submarine, are often enclosed by ice while surfacing, so the new design should solve this problem.

"Surfacing from the ice is done for only one purpose - for the application of nuclear missile attack from a surface position. This is done only in the Arctic regions. After surfacing when people come on deck, the whole deck is in huge blocks of ice," Kudrin said.

All 'Moderate & peacefull' Iran’s missiles; supersonic, continentals.

All 'Moderate and peacefull' Iran’s missiles; supersonic, continentals.(Mehr).

With Iran’s military deterrent capability, any military attack on the country debated in the media, an examination of the country’s missile technology reveal that Iran’s missile could reach southern Europe regions and more than 70 percent of Asian regions.

This capability has created leverage for Iran during Genève nuclear talks and defense of Iran’s nuclear rights.

Mehr News reported that Iran’s military and defense capability is the most important pivots of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s strategy in dealing with threats. The missile capabilities are deemed as the most important deterrence factor of military attack.

The Sejil (meaning baked clay) is a two-stage, long-range solid-propellant, surface-to-surface missile (SSM) produced by Iran’s Defense Industries of the Defense Ministry.Read and see the full 'collection' here.

7 days in Iran.

7 days in Iran.By Scott Peterson

How a possible thaw with the West is viewed in Iran – on the factory floor, at Friday prayers, and in government suites.

Scott Peterson has made more than 30 visits to Iran since the mid-1990s. But following the disputed election of 2009, which resulted in months of political unrest, few journalists have been able to report from inside the country. Yet changes are now under way, with the surprise election of centrist President Hassan Rouhani in June, and a new interim nuclear deal agreed on with six world powers in Geneva in November. This is a diary of Mr. Peterson's first seven days back in the Islamic Republic, after 4-1/2 years away.Read the full story here.

'SURPRISE' - Iranian Parliament Mulling Bill to Require Gov’t to Enrich Uranium to 60%.

'SURPRISE' - Iranian Parliament Mulling Bill to Require Gov’t to Enrich Uranium to 60%.(Fars).

Iranian lawmakers are studying a bill which will require the government to enrich uranium to the purity level of 60 percent, a senior MP announced on Saturday.

“Given the method that the other negotiating side (the US in particular) has adopted during the nuclear negotiations, the legislators are working on a bill which will require the government to increase the level of uranium enrichment to over 60%,” member of the parliament’s Energy Commission Seyed Mehdi Moussavinejad told FNA.

Noting that the double-urgency bill will be presented to the parliament’s Presiding Board soon, he said, “Our country enjoys the necessary potential for enrichment over the 20% grade.”The lawmaker explained that “we need to enrich uranium more than 60% to supply fuel for our ships”.

The decision was taken after Washington breached the recent Geneva deal between Iran and the world powers by blacklisting a dozen companies and individuals for evading US sanctions.
“By imposing new sanctions, the US has breached the Geneva agreement,” Moussavinejad said.

Iran announced in April that it could start enriching uranium to the purity level of 50 percent if its research community declares a need to nuclear-fueled submarines, but meantime underlined that it is not enriching uranium over 20 percent of purity at present and has no such plans for future now.

“For now we have no plans for enrichment above 20 percent,” Former Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereidoun Abbasi said at the time, and added, “But in some cases … such as ships and submarines, if our researchers have a need for greater presence under the sea, we must build small engines whose construction requires fuel enriched to 45 to 56 percent.”
“In this case, it’s possible we would need this fuel.”

Meantime, the Iranian nuclear chief stressed that the country does not have any plan at present to work on enrichment levels above 20 percent, and reminded that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has never reported enrichment activities at 50 percent of purity level in Iran, “because there has never been such a thing” in Iran.

This is not the first time Iran announces that it enjoys the technical know-how to enrich uranium to purity levels above 20 percent. Abbasi had first announced in July 2012 that Iran is in possession of the technical knowledge to produce the nuclear fuel needed for trade vessels and submarines.

“We have the capability to produce nuclear fuel for ships and submarines,” Abbasi said, and added, “But currently no plan to enrich uranium beyond 20 percent of enrichment is on our agenda.”

The AEOI has no difficulty to move towards such systems and technologies, once it becomes a matter of basic need and the government makes a decision about it, Abbasi stated.
Also in July 2012, a senior legislator had declared that some MPs were discussing the plan to use nuclear fuel in Iranian vessels, and urged the government to enrich uranium to the needed levels to be used in such nuclear-powered ships.
“The government should enrich uranium to the needed level to supply fuel for the ships,” member of the parliament’s Industries Commission Allahverdi Dehqani told FNA at the time.

“Given the western states’ sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which include an embargo on the supply of fossil fuels to Iranian vessels, the Islamic Republic will replace the fossil fuel with nuclear fuel to counter the sanctions so that Iranian ships would not need refueling for long-distance voyages,” he added.
“The government should enrich uranium to the necessary levels to supply fuel for such ships since we cannot cut our trade relations with other countries due to the western sanctions,” Dehqani said.

Iranian military officials had also earlier informed that the country is designing a nuclear-fueled submarine.
In 2012, a senior Iranian Navy commander stressed Iran’s high capabilities in designing and manufacturing different types of submarines, and announced the country’s move towards manufacturing nuclear-powered submarines.

Speaking to FNA at the time, Lieutenant Commander of the Navy for Technical Affairs Rear Admiral Abbas Zamini pointed to the navy’s plan to manufacture super heavy nuclear-powered submarines, and stated, “Right now, we are at the initial phases of manufacturing atomic submarines.”

He noted Iran’s astonishing progress in developing and acquiring civilian nuclear technology for various power-generation, agricultural and medical purposes, and said such advancements allow Iran to think of manufacturing nuclear-fueled submarines.


Admiral Zamini further reminded that using nuclear power to fuel submarines is among the civilian uses of the nuclear technology and all countries are, thus, entitled to the right to make such a use.