US newspaper: Russia needs a nuclear aircraft carrier but has no funds to build it

USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. Photo: AP

The publication said that Russian media reported in May 2019 plans to build a 70,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, with research and development (R&D) work on the first Russian nuclear-powered aircraft carrier set to begin in 2023.19FortyFive noted that “very few details have been released since then,” so the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier project can be considered dead.

The publication recalls that Moscow has repeatedly sought to develop aircraft carriers comparable in capabilities to those of the US Navy. The article notes that in the 1980s, Russia considered the possibility of creating an aircraft-carrying cruiser with a nuclear reactor under Project 1153 (codename "Eagle").

According to 19FortyFive, this ship will be a significant improvement over the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's only operational aircraft carrier./.