Russian modernization plans for the three aircraft carriers to be deployed for force projection as western nations are getting more aggressive. Once thought to be retired, the only soviet carrier Admiral Kuznetsov will be in dry dock and refurbished, also modernized to serve for another decade.
Kremlin To Bolster Its Navy
After the Ukraine conflict blew up in February, with NATO banging war drums and driving a record income from oil, the Russian Defence Ministry's plans for the Soviet carrier are unclear, reported Military Watch.
Upgrades like electronics, sensors, overhauled propulsion, close-in weapon system, and Zircon hypersonic missiles will be added to replace the old Soviet P-700 on the carrier.
Aside from the carrier that will be ready by 2024, two new light carriers will be deployed by the middle of the decade, and they are under construction in Crimea.
These light carriers are the Sevastopol, and the Vladivostok displaces from25,000 to over 40,000 tons. Called assault ships with Ka-52 gunships as main attack craft, with vertical landing capable fighters developed from 2010 still not completed.
Russia has not built cruisers or destroyers since the cold war, but the two light carriers with the carrier will project force. Except for the escorts and other assets available.
Modernization on the Kuznetsov and the two light carriers are starting construction in 2020; they will be commissioned by the second part of the decade.
How capable these ships are and if the supercarrier will get the Zircon missiles as the Russian modernization plans are implemented for its coming aircraft carriers needed as force projection.
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Deploying ships that will rely on the newer ship with short-range frigates and heavier destroyers and cruisers is not sure.
The Russian Navy is currently split into four fleets and a single flotilla; none of them has open ocean access. Not all fleets like the Caspian Flotilla are too isolated and small, but the Black Sea Fleet and Baltic Fleet might get the carriers.
These two fleets are hemmed in by NATO members, and using frigates and corvettes is better; coastal defense like Bastion is useful. Locations the carriers will operate in will be of limited use as they are more vulnerable to land-based planes, unlike in other theatres.
Then the carriers will be under the Pacific Fleet and the Northern Fleet for their later deployment. These Russian fleets will be crucial for the Kremlin.
Russian Navy in the Pacific, the Arctic
In the middle of 2010 when assault carriers, this time, called the Mistral Class, were built in France with two bigger ships in shipyards in Russia. They will be sent to the Kuril Islands in the Pacific, which Tokyo claims.
Another is the Arctic Fleet will strengthen Moscow's presence in the cold region, as NATO wants to challenge Russia there. The upcoming carriers adapted for ops in the Arctic.
The arctic and the Pacific must have a stronger force with ships and aircraft, especially carriers. Mistral class was suspended when facilities were made for carriers instead.
Admiral Kuznetsov will benefit from the support of Liaoning and Shandong in East Asia, which are more advanced. The Russian carriers could be fixed and maintained at a Chinese ship dock, with help from Beijing to upgrade the ships.
Russian modernization plans for aircraft carriers are crucial to operating as far as the Pacific and Asia for force projection against NATO and the QUAD.
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