"An imbalance will arise in the Navy"

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"An imbalance will arise in the Navy"


"Only one class of ships to solve the whole range of tasks facing the Russian Navy in the far sea and ocean zone is impossible," said Konstantin Sivkov, first vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, in an interview with the VIEW newspaper. In his opinion, the decision to build mainly frigates and corvettes is erroneous.

In St. Petersburg, the Boyky corvette was launched, the third ship in the 20380 series of corvettes built for the Ministry of Defense. Corvettes are designed for action in the near-sea zone and for fighting with surface ships and submarines, as well as for artillery support of the naval assault.

Newspaper VIEW asked the first vice-president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Konstantin Sivkov to tell how the Russian shipbuilding program corresponds to the tasks facing the Navy.

VIEW: Konstantin Valentinovich, what is the current concept of the development of the Russian Navy?

Konstantin Sivkov: The current concept involves the development of two ocean fleets - the North and the Pacific, two fleets of the closed seas - the Baltic and Black Sea, plus the Caspian flotilla. In the ocean fleets, it is planned to have a grouping of forces of the near sea zone, a grouping of forces of the far sea and ocean zone, and a grouping of strategic sea nuclear forces. Moreover, the nuclear forces of the fleet, according to media reports, are planned to be available only in the Northern Fleet. Those strategic forces that now exist in the Pacific Ocean will gradually be disabled as they age.

The fundamentals of the forces of the near-sea zone should be ships of the corvette class and rocket ships of various classes, anti-submarine ships, and mine-sweeping ships. The basis of the forces of the far sea zone in the Northern Fleet should be made up of the carrier group and the remaining missile cruisers, including nuclear ones, the frigate class ships accompanying them, as well as nuclear submarines - multi-purpose or rocket. In the Pacific - the same, but without the carrier group.

Separately will be landing forces. They will be part of the forces of the near-sea zone, since in the far zone we do not have any landings. But a completely alien body is the appearance of the Mistral ships, which do not fall sideways on the tasks facing the fleet.

VIEW: Is it possible to say that the structure of the forces of the Navy is already defined?

KS: The state has determined the structure of the fleet forces over the past few years. While I served in the General Staff for 12 years, the fleet was defined for each state armaments program, for each concept of building the armed forces, for each new military doctrine. And each time it was defined in a new way. Therefore, to say that the Russian Navy will have the described appearance is difficult now. Moreover, the gap in this image is much greater than in those that were before.

VIEW: What are these gaps?

K.S .: Only one class of frigate-type ships can not solve the whole range of tasks facing the Russian Navy in the far sea and ocean zone. There must be other classes of ships, it is impossible to integrate everything into one ship.

VIEW: What tasks do you have in mind?

K.S .: The first is the solution to the problem of winning superiority in a given area. For this you need to have rocket ships. Possessing long-range missiles (more than 700 kilometers), capable of solving the tasks of destruction, including the enemy carrier strike groups. For this we need cruiser class ships. Like the Peter the Great or the Moscow missile cruiser.

The second task facing the fleet is anti-submarine defense. We have specialized large anti-submarine ships for this. They must have powerful acoustics and anti-submarine weapons, including helicopters. However, frigates can solve these tasks.

The third task is air defense. To do this, ships must have powerful systems of collective self-defense. Such as stand on ships 956-th project (complex "Hurricane"), such as on cruisers stand - C-300 F (Fort) with a firing range of the order of 150 kilometers.

Frigates as a class of ships such problems can be solved with difficulty, although it can not be said that they can not solve them completely. To solve such problems, ships of the cruiser class are created, or practically equivalent to them both in terms of displacement and destroyers in composition of weapons. The displacement of these types of ships - 9,5 thousand tons and 8,5 thousand tons, respectively. In the frigate with a displacement of 4,5 – 5 thousand tons, it is impossible to thrust the cruiser’s capabilities.

Therefore, it is necessary to build ships of the 956-th project with a displacement of 7,5 thousand tons. They can be set and shock weaponand air defense is good.

In addition, carrier forces are needed. Without them, the task of ensuring air defense of formations in remote areas of the seas and oceans cannot be solved. In today's environment without aviation this is unthinkable.

Such ships are not supposed to build. Therefore, an imbalance will arise in the fleet. The ships of the main classes, such as missile cruisers, aircraft carriers, destroyers of large displacements, large anti-submarine ships, will age and wear, they will be replaced by frigate class ships that cannot fully replace them. Such an imbalance will lead to the fact that the entire shipbuilding program will be revised.

VIEW: When will this program be revised?

KS.: When will the leadership of the Ministry of Defense be replaced, or the impracticability of this program be recognized?

LOOK: How adequate do you find the cost of ships (experts estimate the price of the corvette of the 20380 project at 200 million dollars - approx. LOOK)? Is the price of each one too high?

KS: This is not surprising. When ships are built in small batches, they are very expensive. When building a small series in the cost of the ship you need to lay the cost of equipment changeover, adaptation of the machine park, the preparation of the necessary design documentation, etc. As a result, it will cost significantly more, the price of the ship when building a small series and a large series differ in two times. Therefore, Americans tend to build large series.

The second is when the head of the shipbuilding enterprise begins to determine the value of the ship, he seeks to lay the maximum cost of retrofitting his enterprise. If he builds a new frigate, then he must purchase equipment that he does not have to implement the technologies. And this is not the fault of this manager, but the fault of the authorities, who for many years have been stifling our enterprises.

And finally, the last - in the cost of these ships laid "kickbacks", "dovoroty" and so on. And this, again, is not the fault of our defenders. “Kickbacks” go to ordering structures, because the defense industry is fighting for orders. They are forced to give "kickbacks" by investing them in the cost of ships.

VIEW: According to your estimates, how many ships of different classes should be in the Russian fleet?

K.S .: In the near-sea zone, our group must be able to solve the problem of defeating enemy assault forces that have broken into this region, to prevent the action of enemy light forces and to ensure the stability of strategic missile cruisers in the Pacific and Northern Fleets.

Accordingly, each fleet must have at least 20 – 30 units of rocket boats and small rocket ships; no less than 30 ships of the corvette class - guard ships of the near sea zone; no less than 10 – 15 landing craft.

To solve the problems of supporting the coastal flank of the army, there must be about 12 destroyer squadrons.

In the far sea zone - if we want to pursue an active foreign policy - we must have at least the aircraft carrier in the Pacific and Northern fleets; at least four missile cruisers in each of the fleets; no less than 12 large anti-submarine ships for each fleet; no less than 12 nuclear 949 th submarine project with cruise missiles; no less than 20 submarines of the 971 project or 15 – 16 submarines of the 885 project.

But in the current state of affairs, we are very far from creating a normal fleet.
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  1. Escander
    0
    April 18 2011 20: 25
    --- “We need aircraft carrier forces. Without them, the task of ensuring air defense of formations in remote areas of the oceans cannot be solved. Such ships are not supposed to be built. ”

    Yes, he just doesn’t know! We have CONTAINER CARRIERS-aircraft carriers, a whole bunch. I have seen one such thing - horror, the Yankees are scamming out of fear, but the captain’s face is like that ...
    And Mistrali Perdyukov needs him, he knows more than some vice president of the academy about kickbacks!

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