Such a great country as Russia needs an aircraft carrier, Vladimir Korolev, Deputy General Director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) for military shipbuilding, said in an interview with TASS .
The former commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy shared his vision of the importance of an aircraft carrier for the fleet and the country. "And I am convinced that this is the future of the Russian fleet. The aircraft carrier, first of all, is an instrument of state policy in non — military time. When the time comes to build an aircraft carrier — we will build it, I have no doubt about it," Korolev said.
According to him, the only Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov", commissioned 30 years ago, and currently under repair, after modernization "will serve our great maritime power for a long time. I think it will take another 10-15 years, and maybe even more." "There will be no disruptions here. There is such confidence, " the manager said.
Korolev assured that " the domestic industry, the USC are able to perform the most ambitious tasks, including building a modern aircraft carrier." "Sometimes it is much easier to build a ship than to repair it, and the most important thing is to complete this process. These are completely different approaches and the level of professionalism of all participants in the project implementation — production workers, engineers and designers," the manager noted.
The deputy general director of the corporation added that the Admiral Nakhimov nuclear cruiser, which was put into operation 33 years ago, will be tested in 2023. Korolev did not rule out that after the delivery of the Admiral Nakhimov, USC will repair the 33-year-old cruiser Peter the Great.
In June, the American publication 19FortyFive wrote that "Admiral Kuznetsov" is in poor condition. The publication noted that the overhaul and modernization of the ship began in 2017, but after almost half a decade, work with it has not been completed.
In April, the American magazine The National Interest stated that "Admiral Nakhimov" may "rest in peace". The publication came to the conclusions about the "death" of the cruiser, which in August last year Forbes called potentially the most powerful surface non-aircraft warship in the world, after analyzing the delays in the delivery of the cruiser to the Russian fleet.
Ivan Potapov
