Official appearance of Russia's new aircraft carrier
Building heavy aircraft carriers to launch ocean-going combat capabilities far out at sea is the dream of Russian Navy leaders.
The heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov is currently undergoing major overhaul and repairs, and is expected to be completed by 2021 at the earliest.
In the long-term development strategy of the Russian Navy, the dream of owning a super aircraft carrier on par with the US has never faded. Even after the Chinese Navy completed the Type 002 aircraft carrier and started working on the Type 003, it is clear that Moscow feels it cannot be any slower.
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| Experimental model of the new aircraft carrier at the Design Bureau of the Krylov State Research Center. |
There are many graphic drawings and models of Russia's future supercarrier that have been displayed in exhibitions, most of which show the ship with a flat deck and equipped with catapults like American aircraft carriers.
However, in fact, the shape of the future aircraft carrier for the Russian Navy has been officially introduced at the Design Bureau of the Krylov State Research Center.
Based on the model, the ship does not have too many breakthroughs compared to the Admiral Kuznetsov: continuing to use a ski-jump take-off runway.
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| Evaluation tests are being conducted by the Krylov Research Center on a model of the new aircraft carrier. |
Finally, it is very likely that Russia's future domestic aircraft carrier will still use conventional diesel engines and not be equipped with a nuclear reactor, making it only play the role of a near-shore combat aircraft carrier.
