The interesting fact about this article is that it is the
first time that a Russian design bureau raised the prospect of building new
carriers for the Russian navy. In the past the request for building new
aircraft carriers has been initiated by either the Russian ministry of defense
or the headquarters of the Russian Navy.
Plans for building new carriers are not old. Several years
ago the Russian navy demanded a future fleet with up to 5 or 6 aircraft
carriers, compared to the one carrier the Russian navy is operating today.
Limits in the Russian defense budget however, as well as a priority on land and
air forces, have always been responsible for these plans to be kept on hold.
Since the Russian economy is mainly depended on the export of energy reserves,
being oil and gas, the amount of money available for the government to spend on
building new ships can change dramatically depending on international oil and
gas prices. Since aircraft carriers are among the most expensive weapon systems
available, building a fleet of aircraft carriers is very risky for a country
with an unstable economy.
Nevertheless, the past years have seen an increase in
shipbuilding activity for the Russian Navy with new submarines, corvettes and
frigates entering service. These new ships however are being built not for
expanding the Russian navy but for modernizing it since most of its ships date
back from the last years of the Soviet Union. Still, there are signs that the
Russian navy seeks to expand its fleet. Apart from modernizing mothballed
cruisers from the Kirov class, like the Petr Velikiy (Peter the Great) and
putting these back into service, the most prominent project of expanding the
Russian navy comes with the building of French Mistral class amphibious landing
ships. For the moment 2 of these Mistral class ships have been built, with an
option for 2 more. These ships would expand the capabilities of the Russian
navy in the field of amphibious landing, power projection and humanitarian
assistance.
Furthermore there is the political will by the Russian
leaders to project power on the worlds oceans, a case made clear by the
presence of a large Russian naval task force in the eastern Mediterranean off
the coast of Syria. At the same time Russia faces the prospect of losing power
and influence in the Pacific as both China, Japan, South Korea and the United
States are raising their naval power. Unless Russia can match this increase in
naval power it faces the prospect of becoming a minor player in this geographic
area as it lacks the military power to back up its foreign policy. It is for
this reason that the 2 Mistral class ships are going to be deployed mainly in
the Pacific.
The construction of several aircraft carriers would insure
Russia’s presence and capabilities for power projection on the worlds oceans.
These versatile weapon systems are capable for executing a wide range of tasks
and send important signals, both military as diplomatic, whenever they are
deployed. Russia already operates one aircraft carrier, the aging Admiral
Kuznetsov dating back from the days of the Soviet Union. This ship is in such a
bad shape that in recent years it was always accompanied by a salvage tug in
case of a breakdown. The Russian navy is planning to modernize the Admiral
Kuznetsov by 2017 but it is clear that in the period 2020-2030 a replacement
has to be build if Russia wants to maintain a carrier force.
The important question is what kind of an aircraft carrier
the Russians are going to build. The Admiral Kuznetsov uses a normal propulsion
system and carries a small number of fighter planes compared to the American
Nimitz and Ford classes of aircraft carriers. This situation dates back from
the days of the Soviet Union when Russia’s only shipyard capable of building
carriers was located in the Ukrain. Since the 1936 Montreux convention denies
the passage of carriers through the Bosporus Strait. The Soviets in term
designed large cruisers capable of carrying aircraft to circumvent this treaty.
It was only after the fall of the Soviet Union and the consequent deployment of
carriers at Murmansk with a shipyard at Severodvinsk that the Russians
redesigned their carriers into their present shape i.e. being complete flat top
carriers.
Conventional powered carriers allow for a displacement up to
65.000 tons and a carrier wing between 50 to 60 planes. A nuclear powered
carrier could go up to 85.000 tons, even up to 100.000 ton for the US Nimitz
class carriers. These carriers could deploy a larger carrier wing with up to 70
planes. Also important would be the system used to launch these planes.
American and French carriers use a catapult (CATOBAR system) to launch their
planes, allowing large fighters with a heavy payload to be sent into the skies.
The Russians however use the STOBAR system with a ski-jump to assist the planes
while taking of. The STOBAR system has the disadvantage of only allowing light
weight planes to take off. These light weight planes are unable to take off
with a catapult since the forces of the catapult can snap the plane in half.
Since the Russians don’t have a heavy naval fighter plane, a CATOBAR system on
the new carriers would be useless and it seems unlikely that Russia would start
developing a heavy naval fighter from scratch.
Also a question would be how many carriers Russia would
build in the future. Numbers once ranged from 5 to 6 but were scaled back
towards just 3. Sergei Vlasov opts for building 4 carriers, 2 for the Russian
Northern Fleet and 2 for the Pacific Fleet. This seems as a reasonable number
since Russia’s future areas of operations would be the Artic and the Pacific. 2
carriers in each fleet would allow the constant deployment of 1 carrier at all
times as the other one would be undergoing repairs, modernization and training.
As for the end conclusion we can say that Russia has indeed
plans for a while to expand its ocean going fleet with several carriers.
Although budget problems as well as other priorities kept these plans from
being carried out it is unlikely that Russia want to lose its carrier presence
in the future. The aging carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is in need of replacement
somewhere in the next ten to fifteen years. Once the Russian navy starts
building its carriers it will be important to look what kind of propulsion
system they will choose since this would determine their displacement and in
terms the maximum amount of airplanes carriers. While the Russians don’t poses
a heavy naval fighter one could be developed if Russia chooses to use the
CATOBAR system rather than the current STOBAR system. Also the amount of
aircraft carriers would be important as Russia intents to be the leading power
in the Arctic region as well as securing its position in the Pacific. One can
argue that the Northern fleet will continue to operate an aircraft carrier since
this is the only fleet that has access to both the Arctic region as the
Atlantic Ocean.
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