Do it yourself
Our shipbuilding research centers and design bureaus have developed projects for a new aircraft carrier, a destroyer and a large landing craft, as well as a whole range of civilian marine equipment - from drilling ships to oil and gas platforms for work on the Arctic shelf. Their launch into production will allow almost completely to abandon imported analogues.
Three months ago, in the largest Russian research organization in the field of civil shipbuilding and military shipbuilding - the Krylov State Research Center (KGNC) - was replaced by the general director. The place of Anatoly Aleksashin, who retired, was taken by Vladimir Nikitin, who until recently headed the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk, where almost the entire submarine nuclear fleet of our country was built and repaired. Now the new head of the KGNC will have to develop the existing scientific and technical reserve and create a new one for the implementation of two state programs at once - military and civil, including for the development of the Arctic zone of Russia. And there is something to develop. Most recently, the KGNTs completed the design of a small icebreaker and defended its technical design. Just recently, the center received an export passport for one more new development - an aircraft carrier with a displacement of almost 100 thousand tons, which are already interested in India and China. Vladimir Nikitin spoke about what projects the Krylov Center is working on and what tasks it faces and our shipbuilding industry, in an interview with Expert.
Vladimir Nikitin, General Director of KGNTs, considers the lack of modern construction sites for large tankers and gas carriers to be the main problem for our shipbuilding industry.
- What are the challenges you put in front of industry leaders?
- The main task is the improvement and development of the scientific and technical reserve in all the most important areas of military shipbuilding and shipbuilding. This is necessary in order to ensure the technical appearance of the naval weapons and marine technology at the highest world level. At the same time, it is also necessary to conduct thorough and omnidirectional monitoring of scientific and technical directions in order not to miss anything significant and valuable. The solution of these tasks is possible through the correct and optimal interaction of the scientific and technical council of our center with leading enterprises in the industry.
- How will the development strategy of KGNC change?
- The strategy will not undergo any fundamental changes. We, as before, will focus on forecasting the development trends of the world military shipbuilding and civil shipbuilding, creating an advanced scientific and technical reserve. Nevertheless, adjustments are possible and even necessary. For example, it is already clear that much more attention will have to be paid to such problems as the full electric propulsion of ships, mathematical modeling using supercomputer technologies, an increase in the volume and number of research directions for new composite materials, and import substitution.
- What promising projects in military shipbuilding are currently being implemented by the KGNC?
- Of course, the most important work in this area, performed by our center in cooperation with other enterprises of the industry, are the advance projects of multifunctional aircraft carrier and squadron destroyer ships. According to the main characteristics, they will not yield to the best foreign ships. For example, an aircraft carrier project 23000E “Storm” with a displacement of 95 – 100 thousand tons will be equipped with an integrated command and control system. This ship is able to host a multi-purpose air group that includes up to 90 aircraft for various purposes, including strike fighters and helicopters. Two take-offs and two electromagnetic catapults are provided for their take-off, and an aero-finisher for landing. This was achieved, including through the special shape of the hull. It is designed to reduce the water resistance by almost 20 percent. In this case, the take-off of aircraft and helicopters on such a ship will be possible even in a storm.
As for the destroyer, then it is a question of the 23560E “Flurry” project. This ship with a displacement of 15 – 25 thousand tons will be able to solve a wide range of combat missions, including strategic ones. For this purpose, it is provided for its equipment with a powerful armament complex for various purposes and the possibility of basing two multi-purpose helicopters.
- When can we expect the appearance of these ships in the metal? And what is the export potential of these projects?
- In the case of a positive decision on the inclusion of these ships in the shipbuilding program before 2050, we can expect them to be built for the 2025 – 2030 years. They differ from foreign analogues by an optimal hull shape, which ensures a reduction in hydrodynamic resistance, the presence of a balanced fleet of aircraft, and the original design of power plants and other systems. The new aircraft carrier differs in principle from the previous domestic aircraft carrier ships. In fact, this is the first domestic classic aircraft carrier.
There are no technical obstacles to the construction of these ships. Domestic shipbuilding is almost ready for the implementation of these projects, there are no import dependence problems in them. Their export potential is huge. You can talk about the presence of interest in at least four countries.
- In our Navy there are not only full-fledged aircraft carriers, but also large aircraft-carrying amphibious assault ships (BDK), such as the French Mistral, which France does not want to deliver to us. Can we create them ourselves?
- This opinion is erroneous. Domestic military shipbuilding, in particular the Neva PKB, has experience in designing such ships. Several such projects have been developed. Therefore, difficulties in the construction of such ships on domestic projects does not exist. Without a doubt, our shipbuilding science and industry are able to design and build the most modern aircraft carriers, as well as ships of the Mistral type. Moreover, recently heading the Naval Shipbuilding Directorate, Vladimir Tryapichnikov, at the laying of the BDK “Pyotr Morgunov”, said bluntly that in the next five years the construction of large amphibious assault ships will be deployed, several times superior to those already existing and under construction. Their appearance is already formed. These ships will be able to carry on board a reinforced battalion of marines and several helicopters for various purposes. So the new generation of our large amphibious ships will definitely surpass the French Mistrals. Our center, for its part, is ready to perform the appropriate amount of scientific and experimental research.
- What are the main trends in the world military shipbuilding?
- The main trends are based on the theory of the so-called network-centric wars at sea. They are well known and associated with the design and construction of multifunctional, unified on the concept of military platforms: surface and underwater. Another trend is the creation and adoption by the military of a multitude of uninhabited aircraft, uninhabited underwater and surface vehicles, which can perform not only reconnaissance missions, but also be carriers of various weapons.
- Now the priority of the development of the country has become the Arctic. This and transport corridors like the Northern Sea Route, and the production of hydrocarbons on the shelf. What kind of vessels, platforms and similar equipment we need to create in order to effectively develop the Arctic?
- Creating an appropriate marine technology for the Arctic is one of the main directions of the state program "Development of shipbuilding and technology for the development of offshore fields in the 2015 – 2030 years." The stage of marine exploration in the Arctic seas requires the creation of geophysical vessels and exploratory drilling tools adapted for operation during the period of prolonged navigation. This is very important, since the “ice window” in the Arctic on a significant part of the promising license areas ranges from two to five months. The use of traditional seismic survey vessels providing 3D exploration when using multiple seismic mowers in ice conditions is in principle impossible. Therefore, it requires the development of exploration technology, effectively working on the basis of alternative methods.
As for drilling ships and platforms, it is necessary to ensure their operation during the period of melting ice and the beginning of freeze-up in order to complete the drilling of exploration wells during the field season to the required design elevations. Further. According to the results of geological exploration, oil and gas companies are moving to the arrangement and practical development of the Arctic fields. This will require operational platforms and support vessels operating year-round. Considering the significant differences in operating conditions (water depth, ice loads), the number of required sizes of offshore platforms and the ships serving them is already in the early stages of development in dozens.
There are virtually no developments of marine technology in the world in such difficult conditions that required us to solve complex scientific and technical problems from scratch. We have developed conceptual designs of ships and other marine equipment for specific fields. For example, we have a draft of a new drilling vessel with various types of power plants for operation in the Arctic in the deepwater areas of the continental shelf. It can operate in areas remote from supply bases. There is a conceptual design development of a self-elevating floating drilling rig for drilling on the shallow shelf, where the depth is from three to 21 meters. It is supposed to be used in the ice-free period in the southeastern part of the Pechora Sea, in the Kara Sea near the Yamal Peninsula and in the Ob-Taz Bay. We also have a project of an air-cushion drilling rig for drilling at a depth of 3,5 kilometers.
- That is, there is no need to worry about drilling in the Arctic. And what about the transportation of hydrocarbons?
- The solution of the transportation problem involves the creation of marine transport and technological systems for the export of products from offshore and onshore Arctic oil and gas fields. The basis of such systems are large-tonnage vessels - tankers and gas carriers, as well as Arctic icebreakers, ensuring uninterrupted year-round pilotage of such vessels. We have begun the first stages of designing new nuclear-powered icebreakers - offshore, which provides for the operation of offshore fields located in harsh ice conditions in shallow water, and an icebreaker-leader with more than 110 megawatts designed for navigating ships in the most difficult ice conditions in the eastern Arctic. All this creates good prerequisites for the implementation of a comprehensive plan for the development of the Northern Sea Route.
As for the practical development of the Arctic zone of our country, including transit along the Northern Sea Route, it will require the creation of a branched infrastructure that provides for the construction of structures for hydrometeorological, navigational-hydrographic, emergency rescue and other support. We are now commissioning a landscape wind tunnel, which will allow us to solve the problems of refining the architecture of complex offshore structures installed on the shelf at a qualitatively new level, optimizing the location of berths and other hydraulic structures of Arctic ports and bases fleet. Thus, all necessary conditions will be created for the effective use of the unique logistic and transport advantages of the shortest sea route connecting Europe and Asia.
- What kind of marine equipment for the Arctic can we develop and do on a global level? And where do we first need to replace imports?
- Sophisticated marine equipment of arctic use (icebreakers, research vessels of ice navigation, ice-resistant offshore platforms of various types) is a priority for the development of domestic shipbuilding. And in this segment of the world market, Russia has every chance to take a leading position. First, it meets the primary needs of our country. Secondly, it is here that we have created a leading scientific and technical reserve, developed a number of "ice" technologies that have no analogues in the world. Thirdly, the construction of complex, highly-equipped vessels and marine equipment to the greatest extent corresponds to the historically established structure of domestic shipyards. No country in the world has an atomic civil fleet. Almost sixty years ago, life forced us to begin the development of civilian civil shipbuilding and shipping. The entire nuclear power cycle on board the Russian industry does completely: reactors, turbines, generators, cruise engines. And this product is quite competitive. For example, the Central Research Institute SET, a branch of the Krylov Research Center, defeated the German concern Siemens in a tender for the supply of an electric propulsion system worth over a billion rubles for a new atomic icebreaker. At the same time, we feel a lack of competence in the design and construction of marine technological complexes for the preliminary and in-depth processing of extracted resources, in the construction of technological transport ships. Shipbuilding machinery remains a bottleneck. Import substitution is also needed in the field of ship equipment, ship power engineering, and civil engineering instruments.
“But the main barrier preventing us from creating supertankers and gas carriers is the lack of construction sites in Russia. That is, large shipyards with a dry dock are more than 60 meters wide and more than 300 meters long.
- Indeed, the lack of modern construction sites is the main problem of the industry. But she is solved. We hope for the speedy completion of the construction of the new Zvezda shipyard in the Far East, where large tankers will also be built. Another important point is the need for advanced technological re-equipment of the industry, including the shipbuilding enterprises of St. Petersburg. If the Northern Shipyard is modernized and a large dry dock is built, then the capacity of our shipbuilding industry to build large offshore facilities will increase significantly.
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