The project of a promising Russian universal sea ship (WMC) "Varan", submitted by Nevsky Design Bureau, subjected to serious and largely justified criticism. This "non-aircraft carrier" is too expensive, there is nowhere and nothing to build it, nothing to protect. Despite the general negative attitude, I would like to suggest looking at this issue from a different angle. First of all, it should be noted, that Russia still needs aircraft carriers, otherwise the USSR would not have built its Ulyanovsk. Another question, can we afford them today. Let's look at all the main arguments against. First of all, we are rightly pointed out, that shipyard, which in the Soviet period built ships of this class, stayed in Ukraine in Nikolaev. Theoretically, Sevmash can cope with such a task., who modernized Vikramaditya for India, but this may adversely affect the construction time of "Ash" and "Boreev", what you don't want to allow. Further, after the rupture of industrial ties with Independent Russia received a lot of problems, left without power plants, which led to disruption and postponement of many programs. However, we note, what for frigates projects 22350 this problem has already been solved. Also a problem is the lack of carrier-based AWACS aircraft (EW) and tankers, which we did not build due to the lack of aircraft carriers. Finally, last in line, but not a big problem. This is the need to organize an escort for an aircraft carrier from escort ships. If necessary, Russia can scrape together a sufficient number of ships of the first rank on 1 AUG, but this will naturally weaken all other fleets, where the cat wept for large surface ships. And all this construction, of course, will require huge financial investments, which is very difficult against the background of the sequestration of military spending. The conclusion follows bleak: at this stage, our country should focus on solving more urgent tasks, having first mastered the construction of destroyers, then cruisers and only then - aircraft carriers. That's right. But you can look at this problem differently. There are no shipyards in Russia now, capable of building large ships? Well, so they won't just come out of nowhere. so, we need to start building them ourselves for the future. Expensive? Listen, we are told, that there is no money, and that's why you have to keep. Actually, there is money in the country, you just have to know how to prioritize. Why on earth do we save money on defense capability and national security? Building an aircraft carrier is a truly non-trivial technological task., which will require the preparation of an appropriate boathouse and specialists, dozens of, hundreds of enterprises. Well, so that's good, is not it so? for example, A series of two aircraft carriers of the Queen Elizabeth class is being built in the UK. More than seven hundred local companies participate in this program, involved from above 10 thousand workers. These businesses pay taxes, develop advanced solutions for the technical tasks assigned to them, their employees get paid. melting metal, manufacture of electronic components, software is created. Just one aircraft carrier becomes a real driver of economic development, especially during the post-pandemic downturn. Investing in it is not money down the drain., is an investment in the country's defense, in its industrial, technological development. Money down the drain is billions of dollars for giant sporting events, who passed, and then everyone forgot about them. Go ahead. No power plants? Listen, but the same British contrived to do without nuclear reactors, making an integrated electric propulsion system, by connecting two gas turbines and four diesel engines. Is it possible for our engineers to do something similar?? Why not, by the way, still do not consider the option with a nuclear power plant? here, they say, that they are bulky and take up a lot of space inside the ship, which will lead to an increase in tonnage. Looking at potential adversaries, then the United States somehow managed to 1961 commissioning the cruiser USS Long Beach (CGN-9) with a nuclear engine full displacement in 16 602 tons, as well as the world's only nuclear-powered frigate CGN-25 Bainbridge, the total displacement of which was only 7982 tons. Despite the modest size, the presence of nuclear reactors did not prevent them from serving normally for many decades. for comparison, the displacement of the promising UMK "Varana" would be 45 000 tonnes. Russia is one of the world leaders in the field of nuclear technology. Why not start work on shipboard nuclear power plants? Then they can be used on missile destroyers of the Leader project put on the table.. A large series will lead to cheaper production. Expensive? Well, it's better to feed your army, than someone else's, is not it? And at the same time to develop a high-tech industry. As for the "Leaders" - this is the question of, what ships of the first rank could be put in guard of an aircraft carrier. To optimize costs, some destroyers could be built with nuclear, and the rest - with conventional power plants. As for the carrier-based wing. If we talk about the project "Varan", then it should be attributed to light aircraft carriers, where you can place everything 24 multipurpose aircraft, 6 helicopters and 20 UAV. He is far from the American "Nimitz", however, the Russian UMK could perform certain tasks, and he is not alone. Currently, two large UDCs of comparable displacement are already being built in Kerch. At the same time, Russia again returned to the project of a vertical take-off and landing aircraft. (SVVP), as Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov explained:certainly, this is the future. All types of aircraft carriers will need a new fleet of aircraft. This is what different technologies are used for., which allow for short takeoff and landing or just vertical takeoff. VTOL aircraft are included in the state arms program. After launching them into a series, they could be based on both UDC, as well as at UMK in case of its construction. So Russia would immediately receive three light aircraft carriers. But this is not all the prospects for naval aviation.. Recently, unmanned aviation has been actively developing in our country.. This is the super-heavy strike S-70 "Hunter", and heavy reconnaissance and strike "Altius". Domestic UDC and UMK could become a floating platform for the delivery and use of UAVs. In other words, the program for the construction of aircraft carriers can be viewed as a heavy burden, and as an opportunity to rebuild and develop the national industry. The main thing is to correctly prioritize.
