Navigation by touch. Underfinancing of the naval hydrographic service is a threat to the safety of navigation
In March, a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Defense was held, one of the issues of which was “Navigation and hydrographic support of sea routes. Problems and prospects. Head of the Directorate of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Alexander Shemetov, Director of the Department of Financial Planning of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Anna Kondratieva, State Duma Deputy Franz Klintsevich and others spoke at the event on this topic. The meeting was chaired by Viktor Komoyedov, Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee.
Look into tomorrow
It is not by chance that we raise the issue of navigational and hydrographic support (NGO) of sea routes, because it is relevant for military service fleet both in peacetime and in war.
Maritime NGO is a set of activities that is mainly aimed at creating favorable conditions in navigation and hydrographic terms. The concept of wars of the sixth generation is the concept of contactless wars. It is based on the application of new technical solutions in various fields of knowledge. Now it is possible to create a cartographic base of a theater of military operations using the results of Earth sensing, bringing the enemy data to each combatant in a convenient manner. weapons according to his form.
Modern life requires the creation of geoproducts that would display processes and conditions that vary rapidly in time and space with high spatial accuracy. Visualizing them with standard cartographic tools is now very difficult. This is primarily due to the characteristic vector representation of the data on the maps. It should be borne in mind that the process of creating vector maps is long and very difficult. This is tomorrow, but in this tomorrow there are already all advanced states headed by the United States of America. Unfortunately, we are not in it. I would like to assess the current situation and understand how things are in this area.
Viktor Komoyedov,
Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense
An active study of the World Ocean is required.
The urgency of the issue was voiced, but I would like to once again draw attention to the last speech of the Minister of Defense related to the increased attention to the Navy. We can build ships, make new weapons, but if we do not have normal information about the environment, about the oceans, about where the forces operate, then all the money that will be invested in these technologies and weapons is worthless. Today, it is the supporting component, issues related to navigation and hydrographic support, that underlie the decision on the use of forces. And if this is not taken into account, the country will roll into the most recent roles.
Both the USA and China attach great importance to this. Other countries are also actively engaged in the study of the oceans, research, which can not be said, unfortunately, about our Navy and the hydrographic service, which I represent here.
As for the relevance of the issue - a simple example. Just recently, I received information from the commander of the Pacific Fleet: the ship plans to enter one of the ports of the Malacca Strait, but there are problems with the appropriate software and card. In Soviet times, there were no such problems, because cartographic materials were available practically on all ports.
At present, we are forcing and carrying out this task, but without the support of individual structures of the Ministry of Defense, alone getting out of the situation. But once it must end.
Moreover, this year we could not publish the Nautical Astronomical Yearbook. This is the first time in stories, even in World War II there were no interruptions in the publication of it and the tide tables for seafarers. These materials directly affect the safety of navigation, not only the Navy, but all of our civilian ships. But the fact that we have not published, of course, this cell will take someone else, such as the United Kingdom. Our civil seafarers immediately began to purchase the appropriate foreign publications.
The fact that such navigation and hydrographic support of marine activities, briefly here has already been announced at the beginning. The main regulatory legal documents are: the first is the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974, the rules that are written and are given in chapter 5 “Safety of Navigation”, and the second, relating directly to us, is the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, where it is specifically written that the Ministry of Defense exercises powers related to the mapping of the World Ocean in the interests of defense and navigational and hydrographic support of sea routes with the exception of the Northern Orsk route.
There is also the Merchant Shipping Code, in which now outside the agreement with the Navy there is such a provision that the NGOs in the ports and on the approaches to them are entrusted to the Ministry of Transport. However, there was no agreement on this. And here also raises the question of the safety of navigation.
NGO is like a commercially unattractive business and requires an appropriate investment from the state. Without money, this scheme does not work in any country in the world.
This is what we have today with regard to the financing of the Navy’s hydrographic service. In 2010, the last funds were received - 442,4 million rubles. There was no money in 2011 – 2012. What we did in 2010, somehow allows us to more or less exist. But I can say: even now, in order to print tide tables, I attract funds from my sponsors, asking them for 50 thousand rubles to buy paper and publish a table.
In the US, for example, 100 million dollars is allocated only to questions of cartography. In general, in all countries there is a separate budget specific line of financing issues of navigation and hydrographic support. Now, if such a line appeared in our budget, it would be great.
Next position. This is a very important issue that concerns the reform of the Ministry of Defense. We always had such an institute - the State Research Navigation and Hydrographic Institute of JSC “GNINGI”. Unfortunately, today it is incorporated. Perhaps this is the imperative of the time, but due to this separation and the fact that it is part of the Oboronservis holding, we are able to lose the navigational and hydrographic scientific component. GNINGI is the only structure in the country that is working on the development of an ideology for building navigation support for the use of weapons, as well as for the construction of new ships, submarines, and appropriate marine navigation aids. If we lose the institute, then there will be problems.
Naturally, I would like to return it to the fold of the Office of Navigation and Oceanography. I understand that the question is not easy. But it is important that this institution does not go somewhere else, but remains under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.
A very significant issue is the volume of hydrographic works that are carried out in the World Ocean. They are much reduced. If earlier we could fully carry out research everywhere, now, unfortunately, only in coastal areas. And that is not all.
About frames. Today, the average age of people who work in the cartographic industry, to put it mildly, goes off scale in 60 years. Why? Because the youth does not go, the salary is small. A young man for six or seven thousand does not want to work. Currently, we have attracted three graduates, but there is doubt that they will remain with us for a long time. Usually they gain experience and go to commercial structures. Therefore, the problem of financing wages is also necessary to solve, so that people receive decent money for their work.
As for the collection of navigation maps, our collection is the largest. We have maps for general navigation (6780 navigation maps and 620 manuals) and regime maps (closed) used on submarines, very detailed maps of the Arctic Ocean, which provide activities of the Navy as well. Now the collection has lost its relevance in many respects due to the fact that there is no mutual exchange with hydrographies of foreign countries. And we cannot envisage centralized financing, the exchange of cartographic information: they change constantly. We need to buy cards, sell them. That is, there must be a very lively work, but for this it is important that the Central Cartographic Production (CCP) becomes a federal budget institution. In this regard, the Department of Financial Security has an understanding; we have prepared the relevant documents and will go to the Minister of Defense with a proposal to transform this enterprise from a federal public institution (PKU) into a federal budget institution (FBU).
According to the Federal Target Program “World Ocean” we received funds, and the Central Map Production is being renovated. One of the main tasks is the transition from the technologies of the past century, when we first made a paper map, then an electronic one, and a new one — create an electronic map first, and then continue to use it as a basis for making paper maps and, accordingly, for providing a database.
By the way, just recently we received information that India has prohibited entry into its waters for ships and vessels that do not have paper cards on board. This is the question of whether the prospect of paper cartography is fundamentally present.
The means of navigation equipment are not in very good condition, I call it the facade of Russia. Today, he looks, to put it mildly, not very attractive. The Olympics are planned in Sochi, and we cannot allocate funds to bring the Sochi lighthouse to a normal state, including the historic lighthouse.
For the construction of ships. There is a shipbuilding program, but it is also postponed, since the main emphasis is on warships. Most recently, the commander-in-chief signed the act of accepting a small hydrographic vessel in the Far East, Viktor Faleev. We are building ships that will be equipped with modern navigation and survey complexes, which will ensure proper operation in our waters. And in the future, by the year 2020 we plan to build an icebreaking vessel, it will solve problems in the Arctic. The Chinese have such ships already.
And one of the most important issues is the international activity, which deals with the Department of Navigation and Oceanography. We are involved in a number of organizations. This is the most important task, including the acquisition of even elementary data. They can be obtained by having representatives in the committees of Moscow State University and the IAMA. The British and Americans manage almost all the committees of these structures, we cannot afford it, because we hardly make money for business trips to relevant events.
It is necessary to reform the Administration of Navigation and Oceanography, to make a full-fledged enterprise out of it, so that it really sounds in the world, as before, and helped the navigation and geographical support.
Alexander Shemetov,
Head of the Directorate of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, captain of the 1 rank in the reserve
Financing issues can be solved
After the report, I got the impression that there are a lot of questions on this topic concerning the reorganization of the departments. What is FBU and PKU, what are the parts of financing? Of course, these issues and work are important. They must be in the state defense order and planned to be carried out, you can turn them on until 2020. Accordingly, there will be a long-term contract and funds are provided for it. Regarding all other issues, it seems to me that they need first of all to be disassembled more specifically, targeted. As for salary, transfer from one type of budget institution to another - is it necessary? I do not think it makes sense to do this in a different format.
The main task - those positions that are monetary. This is the structure of the state defense order. We need to come up with this important problem once again to the Deputy Minister of Defense, Yuri Borisov. I do not think that there will be any problems with this component.
On wages, I assure you, the Ministry of Defense has a certain order 1010, additional money has been prepared.
The transition to FBU and PKU is also quite a complex and lengthy process, and it is primarily due to the fact that you need to correctly calculate the planned income from extrabudgetary activities. As if FBU is supposed, then it will be a grant, issued for a year, within the framework of which the given enterprise should exist. All other extra-budgetary revenues can be used already in those areas that are needed. But it must be clearly understood that the subsidy is issued for individual items and it is a multiple. Regarding everything that comes out of the budget, a deep financial analysis is needed.
Anna Kondratieva,
Director of the Financial Planning Department of the Ministry of Defense
Look into tomorrow
It is not by chance that we raise the issue of navigational and hydrographic support (NGO) of sea routes, because it is relevant for military service fleet both in peacetime and in war.
Maritime NGO is a set of activities that is mainly aimed at creating favorable conditions in navigation and hydrographic terms. The concept of wars of the sixth generation is the concept of contactless wars. It is based on the application of new technical solutions in various fields of knowledge. Now it is possible to create a cartographic base of a theater of military operations using the results of Earth sensing, bringing the enemy data to each combatant in a convenient manner. weapons according to his form.
Modern life requires the creation of geoproducts that would display processes and conditions that vary rapidly in time and space with high spatial accuracy. Visualizing them with standard cartographic tools is now very difficult. This is primarily due to the characteristic vector representation of the data on the maps. It should be borne in mind that the process of creating vector maps is long and very difficult. This is tomorrow, but in this tomorrow there are already all advanced states headed by the United States of America. Unfortunately, we are not in it. I would like to assess the current situation and understand how things are in this area.
Viktor Komoyedov,
Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense
An active study of the World Ocean is required.
The urgency of the issue was voiced, but I would like to once again draw attention to the last speech of the Minister of Defense related to the increased attention to the Navy. We can build ships, make new weapons, but if we do not have normal information about the environment, about the oceans, about where the forces operate, then all the money that will be invested in these technologies and weapons is worthless. Today, it is the supporting component, issues related to navigation and hydrographic support, that underlie the decision on the use of forces. And if this is not taken into account, the country will roll into the most recent roles.
Both the USA and China attach great importance to this. Other countries are also actively engaged in the study of the oceans, research, which can not be said, unfortunately, about our Navy and the hydrographic service, which I represent here.
As for the relevance of the issue - a simple example. Just recently, I received information from the commander of the Pacific Fleet: the ship plans to enter one of the ports of the Malacca Strait, but there are problems with the appropriate software and card. In Soviet times, there were no such problems, because cartographic materials were available practically on all ports.
At present, we are forcing and carrying out this task, but without the support of individual structures of the Ministry of Defense, alone getting out of the situation. But once it must end.
Moreover, this year we could not publish the Nautical Astronomical Yearbook. This is the first time in stories, even in World War II there were no interruptions in the publication of it and the tide tables for seafarers. These materials directly affect the safety of navigation, not only the Navy, but all of our civilian ships. But the fact that we have not published, of course, this cell will take someone else, such as the United Kingdom. Our civil seafarers immediately began to purchase the appropriate foreign publications.
The fact that such navigation and hydrographic support of marine activities, briefly here has already been announced at the beginning. The main regulatory legal documents are: the first is the Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974, the rules that are written and are given in chapter 5 “Safety of Navigation”, and the second, relating directly to us, is the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, where it is specifically written that the Ministry of Defense exercises powers related to the mapping of the World Ocean in the interests of defense and navigational and hydrographic support of sea routes with the exception of the Northern Orsk route.
There is also the Merchant Shipping Code, in which now outside the agreement with the Navy there is such a provision that the NGOs in the ports and on the approaches to them are entrusted to the Ministry of Transport. However, there was no agreement on this. And here also raises the question of the safety of navigation.
NGO is like a commercially unattractive business and requires an appropriate investment from the state. Without money, this scheme does not work in any country in the world.
This is what we have today with regard to the financing of the Navy’s hydrographic service. In 2010, the last funds were received - 442,4 million rubles. There was no money in 2011 – 2012. What we did in 2010, somehow allows us to more or less exist. But I can say: even now, in order to print tide tables, I attract funds from my sponsors, asking them for 50 thousand rubles to buy paper and publish a table.
In the US, for example, 100 million dollars is allocated only to questions of cartography. In general, in all countries there is a separate budget specific line of financing issues of navigation and hydrographic support. Now, if such a line appeared in our budget, it would be great.
Next position. This is a very important issue that concerns the reform of the Ministry of Defense. We always had such an institute - the State Research Navigation and Hydrographic Institute of JSC “GNINGI”. Unfortunately, today it is incorporated. Perhaps this is the imperative of the time, but due to this separation and the fact that it is part of the Oboronservis holding, we are able to lose the navigational and hydrographic scientific component. GNINGI is the only structure in the country that is working on the development of an ideology for building navigation support for the use of weapons, as well as for the construction of new ships, submarines, and appropriate marine navigation aids. If we lose the institute, then there will be problems.
Naturally, I would like to return it to the fold of the Office of Navigation and Oceanography. I understand that the question is not easy. But it is important that this institution does not go somewhere else, but remains under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.
A very significant issue is the volume of hydrographic works that are carried out in the World Ocean. They are much reduced. If earlier we could fully carry out research everywhere, now, unfortunately, only in coastal areas. And that is not all.
About frames. Today, the average age of people who work in the cartographic industry, to put it mildly, goes off scale in 60 years. Why? Because the youth does not go, the salary is small. A young man for six or seven thousand does not want to work. Currently, we have attracted three graduates, but there is doubt that they will remain with us for a long time. Usually they gain experience and go to commercial structures. Therefore, the problem of financing wages is also necessary to solve, so that people receive decent money for their work.
As for the collection of navigation maps, our collection is the largest. We have maps for general navigation (6780 navigation maps and 620 manuals) and regime maps (closed) used on submarines, very detailed maps of the Arctic Ocean, which provide activities of the Navy as well. Now the collection has lost its relevance in many respects due to the fact that there is no mutual exchange with hydrographies of foreign countries. And we cannot envisage centralized financing, the exchange of cartographic information: they change constantly. We need to buy cards, sell them. That is, there must be a very lively work, but for this it is important that the Central Cartographic Production (CCP) becomes a federal budget institution. In this regard, the Department of Financial Security has an understanding; we have prepared the relevant documents and will go to the Minister of Defense with a proposal to transform this enterprise from a federal public institution (PKU) into a federal budget institution (FBU).
According to the Federal Target Program “World Ocean” we received funds, and the Central Map Production is being renovated. One of the main tasks is the transition from the technologies of the past century, when we first made a paper map, then an electronic one, and a new one — create an electronic map first, and then continue to use it as a basis for making paper maps and, accordingly, for providing a database.
By the way, just recently we received information that India has prohibited entry into its waters for ships and vessels that do not have paper cards on board. This is the question of whether the prospect of paper cartography is fundamentally present.
The means of navigation equipment are not in very good condition, I call it the facade of Russia. Today, he looks, to put it mildly, not very attractive. The Olympics are planned in Sochi, and we cannot allocate funds to bring the Sochi lighthouse to a normal state, including the historic lighthouse.
For the construction of ships. There is a shipbuilding program, but it is also postponed, since the main emphasis is on warships. Most recently, the commander-in-chief signed the act of accepting a small hydrographic vessel in the Far East, Viktor Faleev. We are building ships that will be equipped with modern navigation and survey complexes, which will ensure proper operation in our waters. And in the future, by the year 2020 we plan to build an icebreaking vessel, it will solve problems in the Arctic. The Chinese have such ships already.
And one of the most important issues is the international activity, which deals with the Department of Navigation and Oceanography. We are involved in a number of organizations. This is the most important task, including the acquisition of even elementary data. They can be obtained by having representatives in the committees of Moscow State University and the IAMA. The British and Americans manage almost all the committees of these structures, we cannot afford it, because we hardly make money for business trips to relevant events.
It is necessary to reform the Administration of Navigation and Oceanography, to make a full-fledged enterprise out of it, so that it really sounds in the world, as before, and helped the navigation and geographical support.
Alexander Shemetov,
Head of the Directorate of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, captain of the 1 rank in the reserve
Financing issues can be solved
After the report, I got the impression that there are a lot of questions on this topic concerning the reorganization of the departments. What is FBU and PKU, what are the parts of financing? Of course, these issues and work are important. They must be in the state defense order and planned to be carried out, you can turn them on until 2020. Accordingly, there will be a long-term contract and funds are provided for it. Regarding all other issues, it seems to me that they need first of all to be disassembled more specifically, targeted. As for salary, transfer from one type of budget institution to another - is it necessary? I do not think it makes sense to do this in a different format.
The main task - those positions that are monetary. This is the structure of the state defense order. We need to come up with this important problem once again to the Deputy Minister of Defense, Yuri Borisov. I do not think that there will be any problems with this component.
On wages, I assure you, the Ministry of Defense has a certain order 1010, additional money has been prepared.
The transition to FBU and PKU is also quite a complex and lengthy process, and it is primarily due to the fact that you need to correctly calculate the planned income from extrabudgetary activities. As if FBU is supposed, then it will be a grant, issued for a year, within the framework of which the given enterprise should exist. All other extra-budgetary revenues can be used already in those areas that are needed. But it must be clearly understood that the subsidy is issued for individual items and it is a multiple. Regarding everything that comes out of the budget, a deep financial analysis is needed.
Anna Kondratieva,
Director of the Financial Planning Department of the Ministry of Defense
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