United Shipbuilding Corporation Director General Alexei Rakhmanov said that Admiral Kuznetsov’s repairs continue and remain on the budget, but will start its trials later than expected.
Russian Navy’s aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” will start its sea trials later than expected due to problems with the supply of repair equipment. This was announced by the General Director of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexei Rakhmanov in an interview with the Russian Vedomosti newspaper, published on Tuesday (May 25).
“The contract ends in 2023. But we will go into testing a little later than scheduled due to a number of technical problems associated with the supply of repair equipment – steam turbine units produced by the Kirov-Energomash plant. – said Rakhmanov.
In April 2018, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation signed a contract with USC for mid-life repairs and modernization of the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov until 2022. On December 12, 2019, a fire broke out on the carrier during repair work in Russia’s Arctic port in Murmansk. The combustion area was 500 sq. m, the fire was extinguished on December 13. Two people died and fourteen suffered injuries from the fire and smoke inhalation. Fire-related damage aboard Admiral Kuznetsov is estimated at US$1-1.5 billion.
Admiral Kuznetsov
The Project 11435 aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov entered service in 1990. It displaces 58,000 tonnes and has a length of 304.5 meters. The aircraft carrier has a capacity of 200,000 horsepower and develops a speed of up to 30 knots. Apart from the air task force of 24-26 fighter jets and 12 helicopters, the Admiral Kuznetsov is armed with anti-ship and air defense missile systems.
The warship is equipped with a ski-jump and two aircraft elevators. It has a crew of 1,300 while the air group’s personnel numbers 660 men.
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