http://www.popularmechanics.co...uznetsov-downgraded/

By Kyle Mizokami
Oct 12, 2017
336
Russia's sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov, or Admiral Kuznetsov for short, is set to spend half a decade in the shipyard getting much needed upgrades. Unfortunately, Moscow has slashed the upgrade budget for Kuznetsov, providing only half the originally promised funds. How this affects the aging carrier's future prospects remains to be seen.

According to The War Zone, the Russian government is allocating only half of the 50 billion rubles —or $866 million dollars—it originally stated it would set aside for a Kuznetsov refit. The original refit budget was already modest for an aircraft carrier with Kutznetsov's problems, and it remains to be seen just how much the Russian Navy can do with a mere $433 million dollars.

Kuznetsov needs a lot of work. Construction on the ship began in 1981, back when Russia was part of the Soviet Union, in what is now Ukraine. The ship was finally commissioned in 1990, shortly before the breakup of the USSR, and was inherited by Russia. Neglected in the post Cold War years, the ship underwent only one refit, from 1996 to 1998. Kuznetsov rarely went on the globe-spanning patrols carriers are famous for. Between 1991 and 2015, it completed six such patrols.


Getty ALEXEY PANOV/AFP
The ship is old and decrepit, and a hazard to its crew. In 2009 off the coast of Turkey, a problem with the electrical system led to a fire that killed one crewman. The ship's propulsion system is unreliable, its steam boilers prone to breaking down so frequently an oceangoing tugboat always accompanies it on long distance voyages. In February of 2012, Kuznetsov broke down in the Bay of Biscay and had to be towed by the tug Nikolay Chiker. Chiker is Kuznetsov's silent partner, never far from the aging Russian carrier but never visible in photographs.

According to The Diplomat and Defense Industry Daily, the five year refit was supposed to incorporate improvements including replacement of four of the ship's eight turbo-pressurized boilers and an overhaul of the remaining four. The flight deck is scheduled to get a new deck coating and aircraft arresting gear. The shipyard will remove the carrier's giant P-700 Granit missiles, improve its air defenses, and enlarge and improve the aircraft hangar. The ship will also receive upgrades related to "electronic warfare, communication, intelligence, navigation, and combat control." Russia hopes the refit will allow the carrier to stay in operation for another 25 years.

The collapse Kuznetsov's funding is part of an overall reduction in Russian expenditures for defense. After years of increases the Russian defense budget has contracted three years in a row, with spending falling eight percent between 2016 and 2017. Russia's economy has been stuck in recession, partly as a result of falling commodity prices and Western sanctions over the 2014 annexation of the Crimea. If Moscow's economy picks up again, Kutznetsov could get the full upgrade. For now, the Russian Navy will have to choose what of the planned upgrades to proceed with and what to cancel.

The Russians only have ONE carrier? Wow. Do they have anything that can launch aircraft on the open ocean, maybe like those ski jump things Britain had?

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
The Russians only have ONE carrier? Wow. Do they have anything that can launch aircraft on the open ocean, maybe like those ski jump things Britain had?

The Russians have no other carriers or similar vessels. The Kuznetsov itself is a "ski jump" design.



Russia's other aircraft carrier, the Admiral Gorshkov, was even older. It was sold to India, where it's currently in service as the Vikramaditya.



Russia has built no new carriers since the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Soviets had planned for several newer carriers, a couple of which were in various stages of construction when the Soviet Union fell. One was scrapped, and the other more complete hull was sold to China, where it was completed by the Chinese and commissioned as the Liaoning

You start to wonder how effective aircraft carriers are in modern warfare. England doesn't have any functioning ones. Russia only had 1 that was never reliable. With missle technology launched from either subs or destroyers, are aircraft carriers and their aircraft as necessary as we once thought>

Now that the flow of funds from the DNC and Clinton Foundation for Russian intel have stopped, these luxuries like modern carriers are a thing of the past.

Yevgeny is the more intimidating Kuznetsov.



It's amazing the money and power Russia has lost. Are they even still considered a superpower any more?

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
You start to wonder how effective aircraft carriers are in modern warfare. England doesn't have any functioning ones. Russia only had 1 that was never reliable. With missle technology launched from either subs or destroyers, are aircraft carriers and their aircraft as necessary as we once thought>

Enough that China, India, the US, the UK, Italy and even Turkey (assault ship/light carrier) are building them. Russia has plans for a new big deck carrier, but it's a long term project. I wouldn't count Japan out of the game either with the completion of the enormous "helicopter carrier" they just built.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
You start to wonder how effective aircraft carriers are in modern warfare. England doesn't have any functioning ones. Russia only had 1 that was never reliable. With missle technology launched from either subs or destroyers, are aircraft carriers and their aircraft as necessary as we once thought>

Great Britain has two QE2 class carriers coming on line: The Queen Elizabeth is currently undergoing sea trials and Prince of Wales is still under construction.

Italy has the Cavour which was launched in 2004. The Trieste is under construction to be on line by 2022.

India's next carrier currently in the design phase.

China has an active carrier building program with an interest in blue water operations.

Lot's of money being wasted around the world if aircraft carriers are no longer necessary. (Otto, you beat me to it!)

Oh Jimmy123, da shrimp boat cap'n is waxing poetic about the military's requirements?

Bahaha, love it when an armchair historian lets us know what we should be doin'!

Please, do tell us. Please.

The Chinese one looks pretty nice. I would get a bid from them to do the upgrade. Nothing like a new coat of paint to brighten things up.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Oh Jimmy123, da shrimp boat cap'n is waxing poetic about the military's requirements?

Bahaha, love it when an armchair historian lets us know what we should be doin'!

Please, do tell us. Please.

I'm sensing a yacht of sarcasm.

Just so you don't loose focus, there are other things carriers do besides launch aircraft during war. Back during the tsunami in Indonesia we sent a carrier. The stupid French (the ones without carriers) complained about it. Our response was we had on an on board hospital, fresh water generators, and the ability to launch and recover helios in volume. Maybe the most effective thing that can be moved. Even some of our democrats didn't understand (like the frenchies).

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
Back during the tsunami in Indonesia we sent a carrier. The stupid French (the ones without carriers) complained about it.

Come again?

Meet the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, flagship of the French Navy. They are the only nation besides the US to field a nuclear-powered carrier. And they've been putting their carrier to good use in various military operations recently in the Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan. They had planned to build an even newer carrier, but that project was cancelled/postponed recently, in favor of upgrading the existing carrier.

In fact, while the new generation of British carriers are being built, the currently carrierless Brits have partnered with the French to use their aircraft carrier for overseas operations.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:Back during the tsunami in Indonesia we sent a carrier. The stupid French (the ones without carriers) complained about it.

SMH

As RougeJSK pointed out, France has a nuclear aircraft carrier AND is the only other nation besides the US that can project naval power. Not even the British or, Chinese can claim such. Check Operation Serval...who's operation was that? Over how much space and what equipment was used?

Yeah, the French may have some odd habits and the butt of a few jokes but, their military today isn't something to laugh at. Their politics on the other hand, that's something else...

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Oh Jimmy123, da shrimp boat cap'n is waxing poetic about the military's requirements?

Bahaha, love it when an armchair historian lets us know what we should be doin'!

Please, do tell us. Please.

I'm not telling anyone what they should be doing. I'm just questioning how effective they are in today's military climate. It was a rhetorical question. But I guess since the military can't navigate a destroyer anywhere without getting run over, perhaps the pilots are their only source of defense!

Yes Great Britain has 2 coming online, but as far as I know don't have any planes that can fly off of a carrier anytime soon. As far as I know just the US and the French currently have carriers and I guess Italy has one.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
As far as I know just the US and the French have carriers.

You're correct that the US and France are the only navies to have true modern fleet carriers with significant power projection capabilities.

Russia has a fleet carrier, as discussed in the OP, though it's an old design and has some serious deficiencies. So they have limited power projection capabilities.

The Chinese and Indians have fleet carriers too, but they're also older designs, and these navies lack the capability to use them on anything but localized operations. No real ability to project power across the globe in sustained operations. Brazil had a similar carrier that was decommissioned a few months ago.

Italy has an smaller carrier, similar to the various US amphibious assault ships. It's mainly designed for helicopter use, but also capable of launching V/STOL aircraft like the Harrier and F-35B.

The US, the UK, China, Turkey, and Italy all have newer carriers currently under construction. And the US, France, Brazil, China, India, Russia, Singapore, and South Korea all have planned carriers set to begin construction in the future.

Several other nations, including Australia, Spain, the UK, Egypt, South Korea, and Japan, have ships that are technically classified as aircraft carriers, but they're smaller craft designed around helicopter operations, not fleet carriers for fixed-wing operations and power projection.

I never realized that, barring ICBM's, Russia could only really project power to where they could drive or were given a friendly air base. That's sort of a big hole if you are trying to take over the world.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Yes Great Britain has 2 coming online, but as far as I know don't have any planes that can fly off of a carrier anytime soon.

They're using F-35Bs. They've already received a small quantity of these aircraft for training, with more set to be delivered shortly. The UK's F-35B units are expected to be ready by the time the first carrier is operational.

Have drones and UAVS marginalized carriers?

I guess if our carriers are obsolete, we need to ask why there are always 2-3 of them deployed and why the Navy has to buy more airplanes since they are wearing them out on deployments as it is, from all the flight hours and arrested landings they are making.