The repair of the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov is proceeding according to schedule, head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexei Rakhmanov told reporters on Wednesday.
In August, in an interview with Interfax, Rakhmanov said that the Admiral Kuznetsov was planned to be handed over to the Russian Navy after repairs in 2024, the ship would serve for at least a quarter of a century.
“We are working, doing everything that depends on us. We are moving according to plan,” Rakhmanov said on Wednesday about the repair of the aircraft carrier.
“As always, any repair, if you start doing it, is always rich in surprises. The steamer is not new, it looked like it worked. We start to get into certain sections, it turns out – to weld here, change there, strengthen and so on”,
In August, Rakhmanov told Interfax: “Decisions have been made on the ship, which I cannot comment on, but I will note that after repairs, the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier will serve for at least 25 years.”
“We must hand over the ship to the military in the first quarter of 2024. As a result of fault detection, a significant part of the equipment required replacement or repair at the factory. These are objective difficulties, there were also subjective ones,” Rakhmanov said in that interview.
“Admiral Kuznetsov” in February 2017 returned to Severomorsk from a campaign in the Mediterranean Sea, during which, for the first time in the history of the Navy, the combat use of carrier-based Su-33 and MiG-29KR fighters was carried out in Syria. According to official data, “Admiral Kuznetsov” lost two carrier-based fighters during the campaign. Accidents occurred during the landing approach, the pilots ejected.
The state contract with the Zvyozdochka ship repair center for the restoration of technical readiness and modernization of the aircraft carrier was signed by the military in April 2018.
In December 2019, a fire broke out on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, which was under repair at a plant in Murmansk. According to preliminary data, the fire broke out during welding work. It was quenched for days. As a result of the fire, two people were killed and another 14 were injured. Rakhmanov told Interfax that the fire caused damage to the aircraft carrier in the amount of 500 million rubles.
The heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser was laid down on the slipway of the Black Sea Shipbuilding Plant in 1982. The ship can carry over 50 aircraft. It was officially reported that in the course of the modernization, Admiral Kuznetsov would receive a marine version of the Pantsir air defense complex, new boilers, pumps, and new flight and communication systems.
On the ship, as officially reported, there will be additional repairs to the main turbines of the power plant.
