The aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov will be repaired somehow

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has only 55 billion rubles to repair the ship. These funds are not enough for its serious modernization.
24.04.2018
Kommersant
Origin source
The Ministry of Defense signed with the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) a contract for the repair and modernization of the only aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov in the Navy. Works for two years will be conducted at the Murmansk 35th Shipyard, a subsidiary of the Severodvinsk Zvezdochka. According to "Kommersant", the cost of work will be about 55 billion rubles. This amount is not enough to conduct a radical modernization of the ship: due to lack of funds, the defense department will limit itself to repairing the boiler turbine plant and replacing the radio-electronic weapons.

Yesterday, USC confirmed that the contract with the Ministry of Defense for the repair and modernization of the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov was signed. Works will be held at the 35th shipyard in Murmansk, the company is a subsidiary of the Severodvinsk Zvezdochka, which is part of the USC structure. The corporation and its enterprises do not disclose either the amount of the contract, the deadlines for its execution, or the amount of work that needs to be done.

"In total, about a thousand people are planned to be employed on the cruiser, first of all employees of the branch of the 35th ship repair plant and the head" Zvezdochka ". As required, competent specialists can be recruited from other branches of the Ship Repair Center, "the Zvezdochka press service told.

In April, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said that work on the only Russian aircraft carrier should be completed in 2020, and the cruiser should return to service in 2021. Thus, the repair and modernization of the Murmansk branch of "Zvezdochki" takes about two years. Several sources of Kommersant in the shipbuilding industry are skeptical about the reality of performing the work within the deadlines set. The end of work in 2020 and Andrei Frolov, the editor-in-chief of the "Export of Arms" magazine, are unlikely to lead to the conclusion of examples of "not the most difficult", nevertheless prolonged work on the nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Nakhimov and the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko.

According to Kommersant's information, the contract price is 55-62 billion rubles. This amount of funding interlocutors "Kommersant" call "more than modest" and not enough to conduct a major upgrade of the ship. According to Kommersant sources, the power plant will remain boiler-turbine. "In Russia, no gas turbine power plants are needed for the power required for such a ship. It would be possible to purchase an installation of American production, but the political situation does not allow this. In addition, the funds for the acquisition is clearly not enough, "- says the source" Kommersant "in one of the specialized scientific centers. Instead of changing the entire power plant, the boilers in its composition will be changed. Also at the "Kuznetsov" will be installed a new radio-electronic weapon with an extended range.

According to Kommersant, the missile complex Granit will be left on the cruiser. Previously, it was proposed to replace it with a more modern complex "Caliber", but this would have to cut off part of the hull of the aircraft carrier, which would increase the laboriousness of the works and their duration. Some industry experts believe that "Granite" should be removed from the ship's hull in order to free up space for additional aviation units. "For all of Kuznetsov's service, Granit has never been used. Why is it needed, if the leverage of the shoulder is much further? "- argues the interlocutor of" Kommersant "in the industry. Andrei Frolov believes that the military will defend the presence of the missile system on the aircraft carrier because of the reduction in the number of carriers of missiles in the fleet.

Officials

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