The program of building new ships for the Russian navy faced serious problems. One of the results of the Ukrainian crisis was the termination of military-technical cooperation with Ukraine, including in the field of ship power plants. Due to the lack of the required units, the construction of several new ships of two projects at once may be disrupted.
On May 20, RIA Novosti reported that the Severnaya Verf plant (St. Petersburg) was forced to curtail the construction of new corvettes of project 20385. According to Marketing Director Leonid Kuzmin, the reason for this decision was problems with the supply of a number of important components. The project 20385 uses some equipment that was planned to be purchased from foreign companies. Due to recent events in the international arena, the supply of the necessary products has stopped. Currently, the construction of two corvettes of project 20385 is underway at Severnaya Verf. In view of the need to complete the construction, the search for the necessary equipment of domestic production is underway.
L. Kuzmin noted that the replacement of imported components will be unequal. In addition, there are some issues to be resolved. The result of this situation may be a reduction in the series. The management of Severnaya Verf believes that the thundering and Agile corvettes under construction may turn out to be the last representatives of the series. They will be completed using the available stock of imported components and domestic products, while the fate of the rest of the order ships will be different.
Model corvette project 20385. Photo Bastion-karpenko.ru
According to reports, it was originally planned to build eight project 20385 corvettes. Due to existing problems, the construction of such ships will be terminated. However, the fleet will not be left without new corvettes. It is alleged that the new ships will be built according to project 20380. Such ships have a number of differences from the "Thundering" and "Agile", the main difference being the use of only domestic components.
On May 21, RIA Novosti published an interview with Oleg Shumakov, General Director of the Yantar shipyard. From this material, some details of the current situation in military shipbuilding became known, as well as the state of project 11356. At present, the Yantar plant is building six frigates of project 11356 in the interests of the Black Sea Fleet. For political reasons, this project also faced a shortage of necessary components.
According to O. Shumakov, the situation with the frigates is as follows. The Yantar shipyard is completing the construction of the lead ship of the series. The frigate "Admiral Grigorovich" went for trials. If the work does not run into serious difficulties, then in August the ship will be handed over to the fleet. The second ship, the Admiral Essen, is currently undergoing mooring trials. It is planned to be handed over to the customer at the end of the year. "Admiral Makarov" is scheduled to be handed over to the Navy in March next year, but its construction has faced some problems related to the supply of equipment.
Under construction frigates pr. 11356 (left to right): "Admiral Butakov", "Admiral Makarov" and "Admiral Istomin". Photo Forums.airbase.ru, user oleg12226
The situation with the fourth, fifth and sixth ships of the series is much more complicated. The Yantar plant currently does not have the necessary set of units, primarily engines. For this reason, the construction of three frigates will probably take longer. At the same time, O. Shumakov noted that the Ukrainian enterprise Zorya-Mashproekt had already built the necessary units for the fourth ship of Project 11356, but for political reasons it could not transfer them to the customer.
To resolve the situation, the Yantar plant prepared a package of documents for filing a claim. The Ukrainian company, in turn, notified the Russian partners of the impossibility of continuing to fulfill the contract for reasons of force majeure. As a result, the contract for the supply of engines has not been terminated, but its execution has so far been suspended for an indefinite period.
In connection with the current situation in the field of shipbuilding and the course of import substitution, some work is being carried out at domestic enterprises. According to the general director of Yantar, NPO Saturn, which has extensive experience in this area, can develop new gas turbine engines for ships. However, it will take some time to create a project and set up production. O. Shumakov estimated the delay in the delivery of the ships at about two years.
In late May, the problems with the construction of new ships were confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. He recalled the impossibility of obtaining ship engines produced at Ukrainian enterprises. At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that an import substitution program is currently being implemented, the purpose of which is to master the production of all necessary components at Russian enterprises. So, in the case of Ukrainian-made components, we are talking about 186 types of products, which will now have to be manufactured independently.
Currently, within the framework of the current import substitution program, Russian enterprises are preparing to master the production of gas turbine power plants for ships. In accordance with current plans, the production of such products will begin by the end of 2017, and in the 18th the industry will switch to full-scale serial production of new engines.
Under construction frigate pr. 11356 "Admiral Essen". Photo Bastion-karpenko.ru.
On June 3, D. Rogozin clarified that the problems with the supply of imported products concern only some ships. The construction of the rest of the equipment for the Navy continues as planned. The Deputy Prime Minister primarily had in mind the frigates of Project 11356. At the same time, as it is now known, political disagreements also hit the construction of corvettes of Project 20385.
It should be noted that some details of equipping the ships under construction with Russian-made engines are already known. Back in early May, the chief designer of the Kolomna plant, Valery Ryzhkov, in an interview with the Flotprom portal, revealed some details of the upcoming import substitution. According to V. Ryzhkov, the company is adapting its developments for use on ships of the project 20385. Thus, the corvettes "Gremyashchiy" and "Provorny", as well as the ships of the project 20380 planned for construction, will receive domestic engines of Kolomna production.
Later it became known that Severnaya Verf ordered eight main power plants of the 1DDA-12000 type to the Kolomna plant. These products are built according to the CODAD scheme (diesel-diesel unit) and are equipped with two 16D49 engines with a capacity of 6 thousand hp each. In addition, the unit includes RRD-12000 reverse gear drives and a number of other equipment. New ships of projects 20385 and 20380 will receive two such installations.
The main power plants of Kolomna production will have to replace the units ordered from the German company MTU. Due to the imposition of sanctions against Russia, such an order became impossible. The way out of this situation was the order of domestic units.
There is information about the use of Kolomna products. Two installations 1DDA-12000 will be installed on the corvettes of the project 20385 "Thundering" and "Provorny" (serial numbers 1005 and 1006, respectively). The remaining units will be used in the construction of the ships of the project 20380 "Zealous" (No. 1007) and "Strogiy" (No. 1008). All four corvettes are being built by the Severnaya Verf plant. According to the existing plans, all the necessary units will be delivered in 2016-17. In the 3rd quarter of next year, the Kolomensky Zavod will commission the installations for the ship "Gremyashchy", in the 4th quarter - for the "Zealous". In June 2017, the engines will be delivered for order No. 1008, and "Agile" will have to wait for the power plant until September 17th.
Power plant 1DDA-12000. Figure Bmpd.livejournal.com
Thus, the construction of ships of project 20385/20380 will be noticeably delayed, but the fleet will still receive them. What the consequences of such a replacement of the main power plants will be is still unknown. It cannot be ruled out that the use of new engines will affect the various characteristics of the corvettes. Nevertheless, in this case, the Russian Navy will still receive new ships, albeit with less high performance. The alternative in this situation is a complete stop of construction and, as a result, the absence of new ships in the fleet.
The situation with the lack of necessary foreign engines for corvettes of projects 20385 and 20380 has been partially resolved, although it will take some time to produce its own power plants. The situation with power plants for Project 11356 frigates looks much more complicated at the moment. Domestic gas turbine engines for such ships will appear no earlier than 2017, which will lead to a noticeable shift in the timing of their delivery to the fleet. It should be noted that the construction of the fourth and fifth ships is proceeding according to the schedule. Thus, the new frigates will most likely have to stand idle for several years in an unfinished state.
The fourth frigate of Project 11356, Admiral Butakov, was laid down on July 12, 2013. By the end of last year, the construction of the building was completed and it was equipped with various units and systems. As far as can be judged from the available information, at present, the continuation of construction is hampered only by the absence of a power plant. The delivery of the necessary Ukrainian-made products is disrupted, which is why the approximate timeframe for the continuation of work and the launch of the ship has not yet been determined.
The fifth ship in the series should be the Admiral Istomin, laid down on November 15, 2013. The construction of the building has already been completed and its saturation is underway. In April, information appeared about the suspension of work in the engine room. The installation of various units in the engine room can begin only after the problem with the main power plant has been resolved. To continue the work, you need to know which units will be installed in the engine room, to clarify their dimensions, etc. Thus, the construction of "Admiral Istomin" in the foreseeable future may stop due to problems with the engine room.
The sixth frigate of Project 11356 has not yet been laid down. Nevertheless, preparations for construction are already in full swing. In addition, the name of the ship - "Admiral Kornilov" became public knowledge. Due to problems with the supply of imported components, the customer, represented by the Ministry of Defense, decided to suspend the construction of the sixth ship in the series. The prepared units and structures were temporarily mothballed due to the impossibility of starting construction.
From the latest reports from enterprises, the Ministry of Defense and the press, it follows that the construction of new ships of two types, depending on the supply of foreign components, is likely to be suspended for some time. The problem with engines for ships of projects 20385 and 20380 was partially solved due to power plants of Kolomna production. Now it is required to deal with the problems of frigates of project 11356. In the context of the latter, at the moment only the possible delivery times of the required units of domestic production are mentioned.
Corvette "Guarding" - lead ship, project 20380
The current situation in military shipbuilding looks extremely bad. But it may look even worse in light of the proposals of the past. Back in 2009, a program was launched to localize the production of ship power plants. The successful implementation of such a program made it possible by the mid-tenths to abandon the purchase of engines and other units of foreign production. Nevertheless, the implementation of the plans was associated with a host of problems. As a result, at the moment, shipyards are still dependent on foreign suppliers, and the construction of some types of ships may completely stop indefinitely.
If all the updated plans can be implemented on time, then new ships of several types, which will serve in the Northern, Black Sea, Baltic and Pacific fleets, will be able to begin service only in 2017-18. Nevertheless, in such a sad situation, you can find positive moments. First, the Russian Navy, albeit with a delay, will receive new ships. The second plus of the situation is that it is an excellent incentive for the industry. To fulfill all existing orders, Russian enterprises will have to catch up and master the production of the necessary power plants. Thus, there is still reason for optimism, but the results of the current situation will become known only in a few years.
