Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin, voicing the details of the formation of the State Armament Program for 2011–2020, outlined the prospects for the re-equipment of the Russian Navy.
According to him, one can understand that the basis of the program will be a course towards unification, the basis of the fleet will be the submarine fleet, primarily nuclear submarines.
Currently, the fleet is going through hard times, most of the ships actually die of old age. If you do not start a large-scale renewal of the Navy right now, then in 10-20 years (depending on whether the ships are normally serviced) the Russian Federation will remain even without what it currently has, the last titans of the Soviet era will be written off. The Russian Federation will have, at most, a detachment of ships in each direction - the Black and Baltic seas, the Arctic and Pacific oceans. That is, the maximum that the Navy can do is to scare poachers and catch smugglers. The naval forces will not be able to defend the sea borders of the Russian Federation, the Russian coast, and carry out missions in the ocean.
Unification of the fleet
In fact, the time until 2020 is the years when it is necessary to create the backbone of a new fleet, which will replace the outgoing fleet from the Soviet era. If nothing is done over these years, or only part of the program is fulfilled, then the armed forces of the Russian Federation will actually lose their naval component.
Moreover, you cannot build everything in a row, you need to create the core of the fleet, systematically laying down whole series of ships. Judging by the details of the State Armament Program for 2011–2020, today the main development trend of the Russian Navy is the maximum unification of new projects of ships and submarines, achieved through the use of standardized power plants, weapons systems, combat information and control systems, electronic weapons, etc..d.
This approach, adopted by all the leading maritime powers, should reduce the cost, simplify and, as a result, accelerate the construction of the fleet, and in the future facilitate its maintenance and maintenance in combat readiness, will allow in the foreseeable future to overcome the negative trends that took place back in Soviet times.
The irrational variety of projects of warships designed to perform similar tasks will be done away with, the ships will be unified and will be able to perform the widest range of combat missions - air defense, anti-submarine warfare, fighting enemy ships, and supporting land forces from the sea.
It should be noted that a similar approach was created back in the 80s in the USSR, it was then that they began to develop promising weapons and equipment, which will now be used on new warships of the Russian Navy. Presumably, if it had not been for the collapse of the USSR, then such ships would have begun to be massively built back in the 90s.
Submarine fleet
The submarine fleet will remain the backbone of the Russian Navy. First of all, we are talking about the nuclear fleet - with ICBMs, multipurpose submarines.
By 2020, the fleet should include 8 Project 955 nuclear submarines with Bulava missiles. With more than 700 nuclear warheads, these missile submarines will form the backbone of Russia's strategic nuclear forces for the next few decades.
The core of the nuclear multipurpose fleet will be the Project 885 Yasen nuclear submarine. The lead boat of this type, Severodvinsk, was launched in the summer of 2010. These very expensive but powerful nuclear submarines should replace three types of submarines in the next 15 years - Soviet-built projects 671, 945 and 949A (15 units in total). Currently, another nuclear submarine of the Ash project is being built at the shipyards, in 2011-2018. 6 more "Ash trees" will be laid, construction of another 2-4 "Ash trees" is possible by 2025. The project is very expensive and complex, but there is simply no time to create a simpler and cheaper nuclear submarine. Therefore, the construction of "Ash" will continue in parallel with their improvement.
The basis of the diesel fleet will be the improved versions of the famous "Varshavyanka" - project 636M submarines. The lead boat of this type for the Black Sea Fleet was laid down in August 2010. They will replace the old Varshavyanka.
There is also a project 677 "Lada". The lead submarine of this project - "St. Petersburg", launched back in 2004, became part of the Navy only 6 years later. According to available information, the main problems of these submarines lie in the sonar equipment and the power plant. Therefore, we decided not to risk it and build the modernized "Varshavyanka", the fleet needs submarines right now. But the fine-tuning of the Lada project will continue. Diesel submarines are planned to build about 10 units by 2020.
Surface fleet
Almost all of the surface fleet needs to be replaced, about 90% of old ships. Only a small proportion of ships can be upgraded to extend their service life.
The command of the Armed Forces, apparently, decided not to risk it and began to restore the Navy from the simplest ships (small and relatively cheap), and then move on to larger, more complex and expensive combat units. So, the corvette of project 20380 "Guarding" entered service, the 1st corvette was launched, 3 more corvettes were laid. A total of 35 units are planned to be built in ten years.
Following the corvettes, the construction of ships of the ocean zone began - these are frigates of Project 22350, the first domestic large ships created in the post-Soviet era. The keel-laying of the lead ship of this project - "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov" - took place on February 1, 2006 at the St. Petersburg shipyard "Severnaya Verf", launched on October 29, 2010. In total, it is planned to lay and build 10-12 units by 2020. But the construction is being delayed, so it was decided to build in parallel with the new frigates a series of ships of Project 11356, already mastered by the domestic industry on export orders for India. They should be unified with the ships of the new generation in terms of equipment and main weapon systems, which will reduce the differences between them to a minimum. It is assumed that in the next 10 years about 5-6 ships of Project 11356 should enter service.
After frigates and corvettes, more powerful ships will be built - destroyers of a new generation. A project is being created for a ship with a displacement of about 10,000 tons, it is also supposed to be equipped with universal launchers common for the entire surface fleet, a standard combat information management system and other standardized equipment.
At the same time, all surface ships and nuclear-powered multipurpose submarines will have to be unified in terms of their main armament, which in the near future will become a single shipborne missile system "Caliber", using weapons of various types and purposes.
Together with the destroyers, they will build universal amphibious ships. If a political decision is made, then the core of the fleet, consisting of nuclear submarines, non-nuclear submarines, corvettes, frigates, destroyers, landing ships, will be strengthened by modernizing heavy missile cruisers and creating new Russian aircraft carriers.
Ship of project 11356.
Mistral
A total of 4 ships of this type are planned to be commissioned. At the same time, together with the ships, the French will supply us with modern control and navigation systems, which are of interest to both the Russian military and representatives of the defense industry.
The ships will be used not only as amphibious assault or helicopter carriers, but also as command and staff ships that control the formation, distribute targets between subordinate combat units and coordinate their actions in real time. Russian helicopters will be placed on them; to ensure the possibility of operations in the northern latitudes, the project will be finalized. These ships will increase the capabilities of the Russian Navy to conduct combat operations within the framework of the "fleet against shore" concept. The Soviet fleet developed within the framework of the concept of "fleet against fleet", this was its certain insufficiency. It was only in the 80s that the design of the UDC of project 11780 began, which in its capabilities approached the American counterparts.
Such ships are also necessary for operations against pirates, for rescue operations, for example, for the export of their citizens from another country.
The question of responsibility
The plans for the renewal of the fleet, adopted by the leadership of the country and the Armed Forces, are on the whole reasonable and realistic and have every chance of successful implementation.
But there is one "but" - 20 years of devastation and total theft have corrupted managers at all levels, from foremen at enterprises to industry leaders. In order to force the disbanded people to do a Cause of strategic importance - the survival of our Motherland and people depends on it - the most severe control is necessary. Measures of "switching to another job" are not enough - the methods of Peter the Great and Stalin are needed. This is a question of the survival of the Russian civilization. We need a new fleet and a well-armed and trained army, otherwise the Russian Federation and its elite will be swept away by the storm of the Great War.
Launching of the frigate "Admiral Gorshkov".
