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Navy commander wants fleet of aircraft carriers

Photo: mil.ru

Russian Head Navy Commander, Vladimir Vysotskii, says he wants a new fleet of aircraft carriers to operate in the country’s Northern and Pacific Fleets by the middle of the century.

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The construction of the vessels are to be started in year 2012 or 2013, the Navy Commander revealed to the press early this month. The main problem for Mr. Vladimir Vysotskii however might not be the money, but the lack of capacity in the country’s shipyards, researcher Oleg Andreev writes for the Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Currently, Russia has only one aircraft carrier in operation. However, the “Admiral Kuznetsov” leaves the port of Severomorsk in Murmansk Oblast no more than once a year, and then only to demonstrate Russian ambitions. The retired Russian aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” has been sold to India, and currently undergoes upgrades in the northern shipyard of Sevmash It remains a timely question why the Russian Navy wants more aircraft carriers. The huge vessels function as attack vessels, meant to operate on the world seas. Today’s Russia however has no such clear global military ambitions. The aircraft carrier dream of Mr. Vysotskii could therefore be understood as a desire to return to the former superpower status of the Soviet Union. The plans might also be hampered by a number of practical problems. The Russian shipyards are about to be fully booked with other kind of construction orders. Over the next decades, Russia plans to build a major number of new vessels and maritime installations, both military and civilian. There might simply not be space for any aircraft carriers.