Article Posted on : - Jun 10, 2009

A file photo of Admiral Kuznetsov at sea in the late 1990s.

MOSCOW (PTI): After the completion of the Gorshkov upgradation for India, Russia will gain enough know-how to built aircraft carriers and plans to construct nearly half-a-dozen such ships to project might of its once-formidable navy.

At least three such carriers were to be built, for the Northern and Pacific Fleets, and depending on the financial situation, their number could be increased to six.

Russia will finish drafting plans for a new aircraft carrier for its Navy by 2012, Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Popovkin recently said.

By that time, Russia is expected to complete the upgradation of Gorshkov for the Indian Navy and would have accumulated the experience and know-how to build aircraft carriers, which after the Soviet collapse had gone to Ukraine's Nikolayev Shipyard.

On the Indian money Russia hopes to train its aircraft carrier crews and is commencing the construction of ground facility in Yeisk on Sea of Azov coast for training pilots as the Soviet-era NITKA training facility for naval pilots is also now in Ukraine's Crimea.

"We are planning to resolve all the issues in 2010-2011, and after that we will make a final decision. At this point it is necessary to determine all technical specifications of the ship and the means of achieving them," Popovkin said.

"Simultaneously, we have to decide on the strategic uses of aircraft carriers in the future," he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti. So far, the Russian Navy has only one aircraft carrier, the 55 thousand tonner Admiral Kuznetsov, built in 1985. It has a crew of 1,500 and capability to carry more than 50 aircrafts.

Head of the warships department of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Vice Adm Anatoly Shlemov had earlier this year said that Russia's new-generation aircraft carrier would most likely be nuclear-powered, and have a displacement of up to 60,000 metric tons.

According to "Novy Region" news agency the new carrier with a price tag of USD 4 billion would serve as a seaborne platform for new-generation fixed-and rotary-winged aircraft, in particular a fifth-generation fighter set to replace the Su-33 multirole fighter aircraft currently in service, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Unlike in the past, the new aircraft carrier would not be armed with cruise missiles, which were not part of its "job description."