The Russian Navy is looking for a replacement for its only and outdated aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov”. However, the proposed options for the new aircraft carrier, including a concept from the Nevsky Design Bureau in St. Petersburg, not very serious. This is the conclusion made by David Ax in an article for the American magazine Forbes.
According to the author, the version of the new aircraft carrier proposed by the Nevsky PKB for the Russian navy “very interesting”, but not serious”. Ex notes, that Russian designers have prepared a very good graphic representation of the aircraft carrier, in which the superstructure is located in the bow of the ship, not in the middle, how it's done “worldwide” (read – USA). On the picture, the author of, there is not even a picture of a pipe for a supposedly non-nuclear power plant, and the location of the pipes determines the layout of the flight deck.
In this way, he writes, the graphic is not a serious design thought. But even the absence of a detailed design does not matter., since the Kremlin will still not allocate any serious funds for the construction of a new aircraft carrier.
The author quotes the words of naval analyst Eric Wertheim, the author of the handbook “Battle fleets of the world”:
The Russian defense industry has a long history of innovative thinking and design work. But she's equally famed for the hype surrounding new projects and systems., which are unlikely to ever be implemented and go into service
The project of a new aircraft carrier from the Nevsky PKB awaits the fate of other aircraft carrier concepts, proposed to the Russian fleet, eg “Manatee” displacement 90 thousand tons, writes Ex.
The Russian government does not approve a multi-year and expensive program for the design and construction of a new aircraft carrier. Instead, it spends hundreds of millions of dollars renovating an obsolete “Admiral Kuznetsov” 80-x years of construction.
The Russian shipbuilding industry never fully recovered after the collapse of the Soviet Union, therefore, she cannot build a new aircraft carrier, for that there is no limit to the fantasies of Russian artists, the author concludes. If Russia builds a new aircraft carrier, then only in the future.
used photos:AO “Nevskoe design bureau”
