On March 6, 2023, Admiralty Shipyards JSC (St. Petersburg, as part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation JSC) and the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of the Russian Federation (Roshydromet) signed a contract for the construction of the Ivan Frolov scientific expedition vessel project 23680. The vessel designed to fulfill the Antarctic program of the Russian Federation will be operated by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AANI). Delivery of the vessel is scheduled for December 2028. It is planned that the vessel "Ivan Frolov" will replace the current flagship of the Polar fleet, the scientific expedition vessel (NES) "Academician Fedorov" and will remain in service for at least 30 years.
The model of the scientific expedition vessel "Ivan Frolov" of project 23680, the contract for the construction of which was concluded by the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of the Russian Federation (Roshydromet) with JSC Admiralty Shipyards (c) JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation"The new scientific expedition vessel Ivan Frolov is necessary for the smooth operation of Antarctic expeditions.
Our country has 5 year-round stations and 5 seasonal bases on the continent. The current vessel, which delivers polar explorers and cargo to Antarctica, is already becoming obsolete and there is just a little time left to commission a new vessel. "Ivan Frolov" will be a five-in-one vessel: tanker, icebreaker, passenger, cargo and scientific vessel. It will be built by the Admiralty Shipyards - the St. Petersburg shipbuilders have simply huge competencies. As an example, they have built a unique ice-resistant self-propelled platform "North Pole", which is now drifting in the high-latitude Arctic," said Alexander Kozlov, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, who was present at the signing ceremony of the contract.
"We have a fairly extensive work schedule, it is scheduled until December 2028. (...) We have a contract for design and construction. The design will last all this year, we will lay the ship next year," Igor Shumakov, head of Roshydromet, said at the ceremony.
The government decree on the allocation of 39.7 billion rubles in 2023-2028 for the construction of the Ivan Frolov NPP was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin at the end of December 2022.
"Ivan Frolov" will be able to serve the existing Russian stations in Antarctica and the Arctic. The Arc7 ice class vessel will have a displacement of about 25,000 tons and a deadweight of about 9,200 tons. Up to 20 laboratories will be accommodated on board, as well as a hangar for two helicopters and a platform that allows receiving Mi-8, Mi-38 or Ka-32 helicopters. The number of crew and special personnel of the new NES will be 240 people. The NES will perpetuate on its board the name of the famous oceanologist, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ivan Frolov, who headed the AAI for two decades.
The developer of the NES project 23680 is JSC "Nevsky Design Bureau" (as part of USC). This is a universal vessel for the Arctic and Antarctic, providing the existing infrastructure and functioning of polar stations and conducting scientific research, having the RSCM class (*) Arc7 (hull, machinery) [1] AUT1-C EPP ECO BWM (T) HELIDECK-H DE-Tier III Special purpose ship. According to the data of the designer, the vessel has the characteristics:
Maximum length, m - 164.8 Maximum width, m - 26
Side height, m - 13.5
Draft, m - 8.5
Displacement, t - about 25,000
Crew + special staff, people - 240
Deadweight, t - about 9200
Appointment:
- Replacement of personnel of Arctic and Antarctic stations;
- Conducting marine scientific research;
- Unloading on an unequipped shore, ice barrier, solder;
- Material and technical support of polar stations;
- Removal of waste and garbage from the Arctic and Antarctic;
- Monitoring and environmental protection.
Functional features:
- Scientific vessel;
- Passenger ship;
- Helicopter basing;
- Icebreaker;
- Tanker;
- Cargo ship;
- Container ship.
Scientific complex:
- Dry laboratory;
- Wet laboratory;
- Hydrochemical Laboratory;
- Hydrographic Laboratory;
- Meteorological Laboratory;
- Geological and Geophysical Laboratory;
- Gravimetric Laboratory;
- Laboratory for receiving satellite hydrometeorological information;
- Ice research Laboratory;
- Ice Load Monitoring Laboratory;
- Ice research cold laboratory.
Deck scientific equipment and helicopter complex:
- Helicopter basing;
- P-frame height of 8 m;
- Multipath echo sounder;
- Traveling work boat;
- Collapsing crane beam;
- Forward cargo area;
- Aft helipad;
- Hangar for 2 Mi-8, Mi-38 or Ka-32 helicopters.
Cargo capabilities:
- Dry cargo or 100 containers;
- 2 bow cranes 50t x 27 m;
- 2 stern cranes 12t x 27 m;
- Diesel and avitional fuel 5000 tons;
- Technical oils in a barrel 800 units.
Recall that now the flagship of the fleet of AANIA and Antarctic expeditions is the scientific expedition vessel "Academician Fedorov" of the Finnish construction project 758, commissioned in 1987. To replace it, the Akademik Treshnikov NPP of Project 22280 was built earlier at the Admiralty Shipyards, commissioned in 2012, however, due to its smaller size and design flaws, it could not replace the Akademik Fedorov, which left the question of building a new large Antarctic NPP to replace the latter open to the present.
Images of the scientific expedition vessel "Ivan Frolov" project 23680 (c) JSC "Nevsky Design Bureau"
