Coming Soon: Russian-Built Super Aircraft Carriers for India?
This video shows you that
Coming Soon: Russian-Built
Super Aircraft Carriers for
India?.
Early this year, a
Russian group proposed to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for
India. The notional carrier would rival the supercarriers of the
U.S. Navy in size and capability. Why did the
Russians make such an offer, and what might the
Indians make of the deal?
Russian interest in a supercarrier began during the
Soviet period. Lacking the extensive worldwide bases that the
United States Navy enjoyed, the
Soviets could potentially benefit even more than the
Americans from nuclear power, which reduced
the logistical overhead for a carrier battle group.
Events intervened, and the
Soviet carrier fleet never materialized. The four Kievs rotted (until one became
INS Vikramaditya), while the Russians commi$$ioned
Admiral Kuznetsov and allocated her sister to
Ukraine, which sold the hulk to
China. The big (eighty-thousand-ton) nuclear carriers never left the slip, although the lead ship of the class (
Ulyanovsk) reached 20 percent of completion before scrapping. Reportedly, China intends to construct two of its new carriers to a modified Ulyanovsk design.
The Shtorm class represents a new step in Russian carrier design. At roughly one hundred thousand tons, the Shtorms would compare roughly with the
U.S. Nimitz- and Ford-class ships.
It will carry advanced sensor and defense systems, eschewing (at least at this
point) the anti-surface weaponry that has characterized previous Russian carriers. The ships would presumably be built at Sevmash shipyards, the only remaining Russian shipyard capable of managing such ships. Even then, Sevmash would require considerable expansion and modification to handle the giant carriers.
However, numerous problems remain.
Russian shipbuilders have not constructed an aircraft carrier since the
1990s, and have never built a ship the size of the Shtorm.
The Russian economy has gone deeply south in the last few years, forcing the Kremlin to carefully prioritize its defense commitments. Moreover, as many
American commentators have noted, the supercarrier as a platform has multiple vulnerabilities.
History of the Relationship:
And this makes a sale to
India attractive. Put simply,
Russia cannot afford to devote scarce resources to the construction of a nuclear aircraft carrier, unless it has a partner with sufficient financial wherewithal to make the project worth it.
China’s shipbuilding industry has progressed to the point that it no longer requires Russia’s assistance. Only India both wants carriers and can afford them.
India has jumped into carrier aviation with both feet. To replace the ancient
INS Viraat, India acquired INS Vikramaditya (the former
Admiral Gorshkov) from Russia in
2013. India is currently building
INS Vikrant, a forty-thousand-ton carrier similar to
Vikramaditya in size and capability. India’s next carrier, provisionally named
INS Vishal, may enter service in the middle of next decade. It appears that the Russians want the Shtorm project to fill in for
Vishal.
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