In early January 2018, referring to its sources in the domestic military-industrial complex, TASS reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense and the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) had agreed that the construction of Russian helicopter carriers would begin in 2020. The construction of new ships for the Russian Navy will be carried out in St. Petersburg at the Severnaya Verf shipyard. The interlocutor of the agency noted that the enterprise has already begun a large-scale reconstruction of production facilities, including the construction of a workshop that will allow the construction of new helicopter carriers and destroyers "Leader", the construction of which will also be entrusted to "Severnaya Verf".
According to the plans, Severnaya Verf will first build two helicopter carriers, after which it will start building nuclear destroyers of the Leader project. Development work on Russian helicopter carriers will begin in 2018, in 2020 it is planned to start construction of the lead ship with delivery to the Russian fleet in 2024, production of the first and only serial helicopter carrier is scheduled for 2022 with its transfer to the fleet in 2026, said interlocutor of the TASS agency. At the same time, TASS notes that they do not have confirmation of this information. It is worth noting that earlier the Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Yuri Borisov told reporters that the first Russian helicopter carrier would appear around 2022.
Earlier, another source of the agency said that promising Russian helicopter carriers will receive a diesel-gas turbine power plant. According to him, the Ka-52K Katran helicopters will form the basis of the air group of the new ships, the delivery of which will be synchronized with the delivery of helicopter carriers to the fleet. The ships will also be able to base the Ka-27, Ka-29 and Ka-31 helicopters.
The first attempt to acquire a UDC
The need to find universal amphibious assault ships in the fleet, which could play the role of the core of expeditionary formations, landing marines at a great distance from their bases (including outside the zone of action of coastal aviation), was fully realized by the leadership of the Soviet Navy back in the 1980s. years. The first ships of this class in the USSR were to be ships of Project 11780. These UDCs managed to get the playful nickname "Ivan Tarava", which they were given for their resemblance to the universal amphibious assault ships of the Tarawa type of the US Navy. UDC project 11780 had a normal displacement of 25,000 tons. The autonomy of navigation was estimated at 30 days, the maximum speed was 30 knots, while sailing at an economical speed of 18 knots, the ships could overcome 8000 nautical miles. The maximum landing capacity of the UDC was estimated at 1000 people, the composition of the air group - 12 Ka-29 transport and combat helicopters. In the anti-submarine version, the ship could take up to 25 Ka-27 helicopters.
UDC model of project 11780
The main lobbyist for the construction of the Project 11780 UDC was not so much the Main Command of the Navy as the General Staff. The Soviet military needed an instrument that would allow them to use force to defend the country's interests in remote regions of the world, even if there were no states friendly to the USSR, or armed pro-Soviet organizations and movements. The characteristics and composition of the equipment of the Project 11780 ships made it possible to use them both as command ships, as well as as part of search strike groups, the main purpose of which would be to destroy enemy submarines.
The collapse of the Soviet Union stopped the implementation of this project, making the construction of ships at the Black Sea shipyard in Nikolaev irrelevant. The ships remained only a project, none of the two planned UDC was laid down. It also affected the fact that ships with a standard displacement of 25,000 tons could only be built at the Black Sea Shipyard in Nikolaev, where it was planned to start building aircraft carriers of Project 1143.5 at the same time. The General Staff attached great importance to the construction of the UDC, and the fleet defended the aircraft carriers. The "struggle for the slipway" that had begun by the supporters of the construction of the UDC was lost.
Second attempt: acquisition of UDC abroad
By the mid-2000s, the economic situation in the country had stabilized. Against the backdrop of high oil prices and economic growth in Russia, they again thought about obtaining significant tools to defend their political interests in various parts of the world. Taking into account not the best position of the Russian industry and the complete lack of experience in building ships of this class, it was decided to acquire the UDC from foreign manufacturers. This is how the famous saga with "Mistrals" began.
DKVD "Rotterdam"
According to the information available today, we can say that the Russian naval leadership considered a number of foreign projects of such ships. The greatest interest was aroused by the South Korean project UDC of the "Tokto" type, as well as the Dutch landing helicopter carrier dock (DVKD) "Rotterdam". Next in terms of attractiveness for the Russian military were the Spanish Juan Carlos I, on the model of which Canberra-type UDCs were also built for the needs of the Royal Australian Navy.
However, the political conjuncture, as well as the negotiability of the French, who agreed to the transfer of technology, led to the fact that the preference of the Russian admirals was given to the Mistral-type UDC project. Initially, Russia hoped to buy 4 ships of this type, two of them were planned to be built in France with the participation of enterprises from Russia, and two more directly at Russian shipyards. As a result, an agreement was signed on the construction of two ships with a total value of 1.15 billion euros, the cost included technology transfer, crew training and education, and the supply of additional equipment, including landing craft.
On June 17, 2011, the contract for the supply of two ships was finally signed. As part of the Russian fleet, the ships were to be named Vladivostok and Sevastopol. In the first half of 2014, training began for Russian sailors in the management and maintenance of UDC data. September 15, 2014 "Vladivostok" with a Russian crew on board went to sea for sea trials. The training of the crews took place against the backdrop of the escalating Ukrainian crisis in 2014, which eventually led to the fact that France refused to fulfill the contract. The sum of money paid for the ships returned to the Russian budget, and the UDCs themselves were sold to Egypt, which in turn purchased helicopters and equipment for them from Russia. The cost of the helicopters and equipment purchased by the Egyptian side is estimated at more than one billion euros.
UDC type "Mistral"
Third attempt: promising Russian-made UDCs
The failure of the attempt to acquire a foreign-made UDC did not diminish the interest of the Russian military leadership in ships of this class. Only now Russia is going to build amphibious assault helicopter carriers on its own, work on their design began almost immediately after it became clear that France would not fulfill the contract. According to Izvestia journalists, two concepts of the future amphibious helicopter carrier are currently being worked out in our country. Within the framework of one of them, it is planned to build a DCVD modeled on the Dutch "Rotterdam" with a displacement of about 14 thousand tons and an air group of 6-8 helicopters, as well as a docking camera designed for 2-4 landing boats. Such a ship should ensure the transfer and landing ashore to a marine battalion with a maximum strength of about 500 people with weapons and equipment.
Within the framework of the second concept, it is planned to build a UDC with a classic aircraft carrier architecture with a through flight deck with a displacement of about 24 thousand tons. Such a ship should receive a larger air group - about 20 helicopters, implementing the concept of an over-the-horizon landing in two waves, with the delivery of heavy weapons and equipment to the coast, as well as parts of personnel on landing boats by sea, and units with light weapons - by air … The number of paratroopers on a ship of this type will have to be more than 900 people.
Both concepts provide for the possibility of using helicopter carriers both as command ships and as floating bases during rescue / humanitarian operations, as well as solving other problems. According to the estimates of the interlocutors of the Internet portal iz.ru in the military department, the needs of the Russian fleet in such vessels are estimated at 6-8 units in the optimal version and 4 in the minimum. In the meantime, it is planned to build a series of only two ships. The two ships will not provide the fleet with the possibility of a permanent presence in the necessary areas, but will allow, if necessary, to form the core of an expeditionary force that will be able to solve tasks in remote theaters of military operations as the need arises. At the same time, the usefulness of amphibious helicopter carriers used as mobile bases intended for the operational deployment of military contingents during local conflicts has been proven many times since the 1960s.
Sketch of a promising Russian UDC
Four such ships in the Russian Navy would make it possible to keep one helicopter carrier at sea at all times, one more - in a state of immediate readiness, the third - able to go to sea for combat service in a few weeks, while the fourth ship could undergo modernization or a long repair. The presence of 6-8 ships of this class would allow the Russian fleet to build up or rotate its forces in a timely manner in those regions where it is required. Back in mid-2015, Anatoly Shlemov, who served as head of the USC Department of State Defense Order, said that the country needed 6-8 helicopter carriers, and the Ministry of Defense estimated the Navy's needs for 4 ships of the Priboy project.
In the meantime, there are plans to build only two amphibious helicopter carriers. So on May 25, 2017, Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Yuri Borisov told reporters that two helicopter carriers were included in the state armament program until 2025, while he did not then specify what projects were in question. Most of the information is known today about the UDC of the Priboy project, the layout of which was first demonstrated during the Army-2015 forum. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that this project is an alternative to the French Mistrals. At the same time, everything on the Priboi will be Russian: an aircraft wing, landing craft, and weapon systems.
It is known that the UDC of the Priboy project will have a displacement of about 14 thousand tons with a draft of 5 meters. The maximum speed of the ship will be 20 knots (cruising about 15-16 knots), the maximum cruising range will be 6,000 nautical miles, and the autonomy of the cruise will be up to 60 days. The ship's air defense is going to be entrusted to the Pantsir-M sea-based anti-aircraft missile and artillery system. The Priboy's take-off deck will be able to accommodate up to 8 helicopters: anti-submarine Ka-27, transport-combat Ka-29 or shock Ka-52K. In addition, the ship will carry on board two Project 12061M Murena landing craft and four Project 11770M Serna landing craft. It is assumed that on board it will be able to accommodate about 500 paratroopers and up to 60 units of various military equipment. According to the declared capabilities, the ship will be close to the landing ships and docks of the Rotterdam type.
Model of a promising Russian UDC
At the same time, experts note that Russia does not yet have serial sea-based helicopters that would fully meet the capabilities of the new ships. For the full use of all the capabilities of modern UDCs, heavier helicopters are needed than the Ka-27 and Ka-29 available in the Russian fleet (can take on board up to 16 soldiers), capable of taking on board up to a platoon of soldiers and more like the European EH-101 (30 soldier) or American MH-47 (from 33 to 55 soldiers) and CH-53 (up to 38 soldiers).
It is known that the Russian Helicopters concern is currently working on the creation of a new family of sea-based helicopters, the work is being carried out under the code "Murena", while the alleged characteristics of this helicopter are still classified information. At the same time, the Ka-52K attack helicopter, which has become a carrier-based version of the well-known army aviation combat vehicle, which showed itself well during the conflict in Syria, is already ready to answer for the fire support of the landing force.
Depending on what kind of helicopter carrier project will be chosen for the Russian fleet - UDC with a displacement of 14 thousand tons or a 24-thousandth UDC, the price of the lead ship will be 30-50 billion rubles. The cost of an air group for a ship of this class may amount to another 20 billion rubles. But even at this cost, amphibious helicopter carriers will still be a fairly economical means of projection of force.
