The United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) plans to transfer the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov to the Russian Navy in 2023. This was announced on September 24 by the general director of the corporation Alexey Rakhmanov.
"According to our contract, all dock work should be completed by the beginning of 2023, everything is fine with this," he told RIA Novosti.
At the same time, Rakhmanov noted that the situation is complicated by some circumstances. So, initially, when signing the contract for the repair and modernization of the cruiser, it was assumed that only one gas turbine unit out of four is subject to unloading and repair, but then it turned out that repairs are necessary for all four units. The work, according to the general director of USC, may take 10-11 months.
If no other defects are found, the Admiral Kuznetsov will be handed over to the fleet as planned, Rakhmanov said.
Earlier, on June 23, Vladimir Korolev, Vice President for military shipbuilding of USC, also said that the repair and modernization of the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov will be completed in 2023. He said that avionics, a flight deck with a springboard, power equipment and a power plant will be replaced.
The cruiser "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov" is under repair and modernization after a fire that occurred on the ship in December 2019. Then two servicemen were killed, 14 more people were injured. A criminal case was opened on the fact of the incident.
The aircraft carrier is the only ship of this type in the Russian Navy. It is undergoing repair and modernization at the 35th ship repair plant in Severomorsk.