Does Russia need aircraft carriers? • Russia today Posting in CHAT: Russia This November marked 10 years since the transfer of the aircraft carrier Vikramaditya (translated from Sanskrit as “Almighty”) to the Indian Navy, which came out of the shares of OJSC PA Sevmash (Russia). The aircraft carrier was converted from the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral of the Soviet Fleet Gorshkov of Project 11434. According to Sevmash General Director Mikhail Budnichenko, the biography of the largest shipbuilding plant in Russia includes work on the aircraft carrier. "Vikramaditya" became a historical milestone, a significant project of modern domestic shipbuilding. Thus, on November 16, 2013, a solemn ceremony of handing over the ship (aircraft carrier Vikramaditya) to the Naval Forces of the Republic of India took place on the territory of Sevmash OJSC. The ceremony of handing over the aircraft carrier was attended by the then Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral Viktor Chirkov, General Director of Sevmash Mikhail Budnichenko, General Director of RSK MiG Sergey Korotkov. The contract for the transfer of Vikramaditya to the Indian Navy became the largest in the history of military-technical cooperation between Russia and India. Along with Russia's participation in the creation of a flight simulator for the Indian Navy in the state of Goa, the total value of contracts associated with the cruiser has reached five billion dollars. For a long time, Vikramaditya remained the only aircraft carrier of this class in the Indian Navy. The former “Admiral of the USSR Fleet Gorshkov” has a displacement of 45,500 tons, a length of 257 meters and a width of 53.2 meters, with a crew of 1,600 people. It is equipped with four steam turbine engines capable of reaching speeds of up to 32 knots. The aircraft-carrying capabilities of the Almighty are assessed very modestly by modern standards. “Vikramaditya” is capable of carrying up to 16 carrier-based fourth-generation multirole fighters MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB, as well as 10 Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopters. The aircraft carrier is armed with the Israeli Barak air defense system and AK-630 anti-aircraft guns. MiG-29K Vikrant will replace Vikramaditya The purchase of Vikramaditya from Russia was enough for the next aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy to be of purely Indian origin. On August 4, 2021, the first Indian-built aircraft carrier, Vikrant (Brave), set sail for the first time from Cochin (India) for factory sea trials. The total cost of building the ship is estimated by Indian sources at $4 billion, and experts believe this does not include design. The aircraft carrier is in many ways equivalent to the Vikramaditya. At the same time, Indian designers, however, decided to put an end to the Soviet legacy, initially positioning the Vikrant as an aircraft carrier, not an aircraft-carrying cruiser. The general characteristics of "Vikrant" are close to the characteristics of "Vikramaditya" ("Admiral Gorshkov"). According to the latest data, the ship has a standard displacement of just under 40 thousand tons and a total displacement of more than 45 thousand tons. The length of the ship is 262 meters, the greatest width is 62 meters, the draft is 8.4 meters. However, this is where the similarities between the new Indian aircraft carrier and its Russian-Soviet prototype end. First of all, the Indians abandoned the steam turbine plant and boilers that “glorified” the Vikramaditya’s twin brother, Admiral Kuznetsov, in his famous “smoky voyage.” Unlike Russian/Soviet ships of this project, the main power plant of the Vikrant is a gas turbine. It consists of four General Electric LM2500+ gas turbines operating through two Elecon gearboxes on two shafts. Full speed is 30 knots, economic cruising range is about 8,000 miles. The full-time crew is 1,645 people, including the air group. The ship uses the same Soviet springboard for launching aircraft and was originally supposed to carry an air group consisting of MiG-29K/KUB fighters, Navy Tejas, RLDN Ka-31 helicopters and anti-submarine helicopters (up to 26 fighters and 10-14 helicopters in total). Aviation equipment, including arresting gear, is Russian-made. However, at the last stage, the Indian side decided to replace the Russian MiGs as part of the air group with French Rafale aircraft. The helicopter group will be represented by Ka-28, Ka-31, HAL Dhruv and Westland Sea King. Aircraft carrier "Vikrant". © wikipedia “Admiral Kuznetsov” Currently, the world’s aircraft carriers are a fairly small group of warships, the purpose of which is to control the coast of the alleged enemy with the help of an aviation group located on board. According to their purpose, aircraft carriers are divided into two groups: ships with multi-role fighters with a displacement from 11 to 106 thousand tons (small, medium and large) costing up to 4.5 billion dollars and inexpensive multi-role anti-submarine helicopters. . telecom operators, which we will also mention in our review. As of 2023, the world's aircraft carrier fleet includes 22 ships of this class, belonging to eight countries such as Russia, USA, China, France, UK, India, Italy and Thailand. Naval powers such as Japan or Spain do not have attack aircraft carriers, and their navies are limited to helicopter carriers, often with the function of landing on the deck of fighter jets. Currently, Russia has in operation (currently undergoing major repairs) the only aircraft-carrying cruiser. This is the "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov" (previous names in order of assignment: "Soviet Union", "Rigo", "Leonid Brezhnev", "Tbilisi"), which is the flagship of the Russian Navy and Northern Fleet. The ship was built in Nikolaev at the Black Sea Shipyard. Launched on December 4, 1985. On October 4, 1990, it was named after Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov. With the dream of a real aircraft carrier Until now, Russian engineers have already developed several options for a promising “floating airport” for the Navy. There are currently three aircraft carrier designs under consideration. On May 18 of this year, Vladimir Pospelov, a member of the board of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation, said that when preparing a new state arms program for 2024-2033, it will be necessary to assess the feasibility of creating such ships, as well as their cost. One of them is “Storm” - a project of a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser (TAKR/TAVKR), developed at the Krylov State Research Center. The ship is designed to perform various tasks in the far ocean zone. It will be able to hit enemy ground and sea targets using its own weapons and aircraft of the airborne aviation group; in addition, it will be able to provide air defense with airborne air defense systems and air group assets, and ensure combat operations. stability and air defense of naval groups, as well as ensuring landings. According to the project, the length of the ship will be 330 m, width - 40 m, maximum draft - 11 m. Transportation will not exceed 100 thousand tons. The aircraft carriers of the Storm project will receive an ice class and will be adapted for operation in cold latitudes. The ship will receive two “islands”, deck superstructures to accommodate observation posts, a command bridge, electronic equipment and communications equipment. The aircraft carrier will be designed with a conventional power plant, but it can be replaced with a nuclear one. It is assumed that these will be RITM-200 nuclear reactors, which were previously tested on the icebreaker Arktika. The ship's flight deck will have four launch positions and will be equipped with two traditional springboards (slopes) and four electromagnetic catapults. Airplane landing will be ensured by one air finisher. It is expected that the air group will include from 70 to 90 units of equipment. These are heavy multi-role fighters Su-57K; long-range radar detection aircraft Yak-44; Multirole fighters Su-35SMK. In total, up to 5,000 crew members will serve on the aircraft carrier. The estimated cost of the ship will be 350 billion rubles. Construction of an aircraft carrier may take 8-9 years. Su-57K;© Bondik-kids.ru Aircraft carriers - advantages and disadvantages It is no secret that modern aircraft carriers are more of a weapon of peace enforcement. This is evidenced by the current presence in the Mediterranean Sea of the US Navy flagship aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and American AUGs. However, as Reedus previously wrote, in Russia recently the voices of opponents of the construction of an aircraft carrier have been growing louder. The arguments presented are quite serious. There is an opinion that Russia is a great maritime power. In fact, this is far from the case. On the contrary, this is a classic land country, the territory of which will be defended primarily by ground forces, rather than aircraft carriers. Russia's military doctrine is purely defensive in nature, therefore, according to experts, it does not need other weapons at sea, and it simply cannot afford it. In addition, the aircraft carrier has always been a good target for anti-ship cruise missiles, and it is impossible to ensure 100% safety for it and its accompanying ships. No less controversial is the statement about the usefulness of the only Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser, Admiral Kuznetsov, during operations in Syria. Experts argue that land-based aircraft played a decisive role in this conflict, not the aircraft carrier, which also lost two aircraft in Syrian waters: a MiG-29K and a Su-33. Today there is a lot of talk about nuclear aircraft carriers, but…
