Soviet/Russia Carrier Development

The debate over conventional, large-deck aircraft carriers should be familiar to even the most casual Western observer of defense matters. Its advocates claim that it is a priceless tool of power projection, offering matchless flexibility which cannot be achieved by any other means. Its critics argue that it is a pricey anachronism, a relic of outdated World War II thinking which offers little, if any, substantive advantage over lower-cost alternatives. These issues have time and time again been raised in the United States and in other Western countries, particularly in times of shrinking defense outlays.

What is not as clear to the casual observer is to what extent that very same debate took place within the Soviet Navy. The closed society that characterized the Soviet Union through most of its existence generally served to hide much of this discussion, which for the most part was limited to subtly worded sniping among high-level officers in the professional literature. Furthermore, the extremely high priority placed upon defense spending (the most recent, post-collapse estimates are truly astounding) seemed to run counter to the notion that budgetary debate would play any significant role in determining force structure. Yet, with the new transparency of Russian society, it is becoming increasingly clear that the debate over aircraft carriers is not unique to the West at all; indeed, it never has been.

The somewhat ironic conclusion is that despite the high-profile public controversy in the United States, this debate has had far less substantive impact on the USN's aircraft carrier program than the equivalent, silent clash of views has had on the Russian Navy's program. The USN got its fleet of supercarriers; the Soviet (and now the Russian) Navy was forced to accept a series of design compromises consistently falling short of Navy goals. Although there were the expected dissenters in Navy uniform, the final objective of the Russian Navy's carrier program was never meant to be the little Kievs. Today, even the vaunted Admiral Kuznetsov, though it does represent a monumental leap forward in Russian carrier aviation, is a rather anemic vessel when compared to the original design -- which was drafted over twenty years ago.

This short paper will trace the history of postwar Soviet and Russian "aircraft carriers", from the early Moskva-class helicopter carriers to the cancelled Ul'yanovsk nuclear-powered supercarrier. In light of the recent December 1995 deployment of the sole remaining Russian aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, to the Mediterranean, a familiarity with the history of the program may help to dispel some of the rumors and misconceptions about Russian seagoing aviation.

A word on terminology: throughout this paper, the term "aircraft carrier" is used as a generic term. This reflects my personal preference for USN terms; in Russian usage, the correct form is "aviation cruiser", or "aircraft-carrying cruiser". The choice of wording is more than a semantic issue. According to the 1936 Montreaux Convention, passage of "aircraft carriers" through the Dardanelles is prohibited. This poses a rather serious problem for Soviet/Russian aircraft carriers, which traditionally have been constructed on the Black Sea -- and having all one's aircraft carriers bottled up in the Black Sea is of very marginal utility indeed. The choice of designation, therefore, had important diplomatic consequences.

There may also be another, more subtle reason for this choice of terminology. According to Soviet doctrine, aviation cruisers were intended not to serve as the centerpiece of naval strike capability (as the USN regards its own carriers), but as a supporting element for other naval operations. These included the concept of "pro-submarine warfare", in which surface task groups would seek to disrupt enemy ASW activity. This supporting role would seem to make a separate, "special" designation of "aircraft carrier" vaguely inappropriate.

France agrees to transfer technology to Russia under proposed warship deal
France will transfer warship technology to Russia if a deal is agreed over DCNS-manufactured Mistral ships, French Prime Minister François Fillon said on 9 December. The announcement would appear to remove a major obstacle to a potential deal; the two sides have been locked in negotiations over the level of sophisticated technology Moscow would receive in any such agreement

[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com - 10 December 2010]

mumuchi wrote:wa sebenarnya hairan gak, apasal si russian ni nak sangat tech transfer kelas mistral..bukan depa ada capabilities ka?

France agrees to transfer technology to Russia under proposed warship deal
France will transfer warship technology to Russia if a deal is agreed over DCNS-manufactured Mistral ships, French Prime Minister François Fillon said on 9 December. The announcement would appear to remove a major obstacle to a potential deal; the two sides have been locked in negotiations over the level of sophisticated technology Moscow would receive in any such agreement

[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com - 10 December 2010]

A word on terminology: throughout this paper, the term "aircraft carrier" is used as a generic term. This reflects my personal preference for USN terms; in Russian usage, the correct form is "aviation cruiser", or "aircraft-carrying cruiser". The choice of wording is more than a semantic issue. According to the 1936 Montreaux Convention, passage of "aircraft carriers" through the Dardanelles is prohibited. This poses a rather serious problem for Soviet/Russian aircraft carriers, which traditionally have been constructed on the Black Sea -- and having all one's aircraft carriers bottled up in the Black Sea is of very marginal utility indeed. The choice of designation, therefore, had important diplomatic consequences.

mumuchi wrote:ini dia..Admiral Gorshkov ex-baku



lepas masuk RIN jadi INS Vikramaditya

dewafrost wrote:Admiral Gorshkov adalah ubahsuai dari Kiev class, masih lagi dalam proses pembikinan



plan view...



gambaran model asal...



line drawing...

untuk admiral gorshkov class niii, hanya menempat kan sejumlah 20 buah pesawat MiG-29K sahaja dan beberapa buah helikopter kamov...

superhornet wrote:

mumuchi wrote:ini dia..Admiral Gorshkov ex-baku



lepas masuk RIN jadi INS Vikramaditya

Ooo nie dier tapi kalau tak silap projek tu masih lagi sangkut kan sebab tu USkalau tak silap ada ofer USS kitty Hawk kat india ( super carrier tu ) first time wa dengar US ofer kat negara luar tu sebab dah decom ..