The fleet is stormy: UDC "Surf" will not go to sea soon. Large landing ships of the Russian fleet

Flat deck, island-type superstructure and Ka-52 Katran helicopters. This will be the newest Russian large landing helicopter carrier Lavina. The Navy plans to receive two ships of this series as part of the new state arms program until 2025. According to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov, they will replace the Mistrals that France never delivered in our fleet. Earlier, the general director of the Nevsky Design Bureau, Sergei Vlasov, and the head of the shipbuilding department of the Navy, Rear Admiral Vladimir Tryapichnikov, announced that the Krylov Center had formed the appearance of a large landing ship of the new project, which is code-named Avalanche. Unlike the Project 11711 large landing ship of the Pyotr Morgunov type, which the Navy is currently receiving. The ship, more like the French Mistral, is a bare "carrier deck" for basing Ka-52K attack helicopters and Ka-32 anti-submarine attack helicopters plus a powerful air defense system based on the marine version of the Pantsir-S complexes. The ship will be able to deliver 60 light armored vehicles and at least 20-30 main battle tanks to the shore. If there is no way to get to coastal zone, this will be done using four project 11770M landing craft or two project 12061M. Avalanche exists only in the layout. According to its characteristics, this ship has a displacement of 14 thousand tons. It has a length of 165 m. It can accommodate up to 12 attack or anti-submarine helicopters. In the hold - up to 60 armored vehicles and at least 500 marines. It was shown for the first time at the forum-exhibition "Army-2015" as part of the exposition of the Navy. Against the backdrop of the new aircraft carrier "Storm", the nuclear destroyer "Leader", the ship went almost unnoticed. Although it was he who, out of the whole trio of newcomers, was considered by the fleet command as the main contender for inclusion in the weapons program. And precisely because Paris did not give back the large landing ships of the Mistral type, paid for and built with Russian money. But there is no evil without good.
“We have quite serious studies on a new-generation universal landing ship,” Valery Polovinkin, adviser to the general director of the Krylov State Scientific Center in St. Petersburg, told the Zvezda TV channel. - We have gained useful experience in the construction of aft parts for Mistral - the main ships in terms of basing and deploying a helicopter group. So we are ready to offer the customer a more versatile ship.” Ka-52 helicopters are already a perfect weapon in their own right. And "Katran" is not just "adapted" to be based on the ships of the Navy. To do this, the helicopter has a shortened wing, a blade folding system and an air conditioning system designed for use in a humid marine atmosphere. This is the first helicopter in the world capable of using anti-ship attack missile systems- cruise missiles Kh-31 and Kh-35. Before that, they were placed only on carrier-based MiG-29K/KUB fighters. That is, the Kamov machine, recognized as a flying tank on land, becomes a real destroyer of ships at sea. And provided that the R-77 (RVV-AE) air-to-air missile can be installed on the Katran in the future, the helicopter will be able to master all types of operations both at sea and in the coastal zone.
For understanding: the uniqueness of the Kh-31 missile lies in the fact that it is actually a reduced version of the 3M-80 Moskit anti-ship supersonic missile, which is in service with the destroyer 956 of the Sovremenny type project. The missile has supersonic speed, flies almost above the sea surface at a height of 3-5 m, which makes it impossible to detect by means of radar, and delivers a 100-kilogram high-explosive rocket to the target. warhead. Or maybe nuclear. The X-35 is also based on ships or Bastion coastal mobile complexes. Its feature is in the passive homing head. During the flight, the missile does not “scan” the space in search of a target, but receives a signal from the target, actually conducting the entire flight in the “radio silence” mode, which is why the missile (like its partner X-31) cannot be detected by radar. At one time, the Americans even wanted to buy the X-35. In the United States, they planned to put guidance heads from the X-35 on their own AGM-84 Harpoon missiles. Another feature of the X-35 with the "U" index is that it is capable of hitting not only ships, but also ground targets.
Unlike the Mistral, the Avalanche is also a well-protected ship. The project provides for the creation of a powerful system on it air defense through placement the latest complexes"Pantsir-M" and artillery mount AK-176MA. The latter is the latest product of the St. Petersburg machine-building plant "Arsenal". The gun is controlled by a digital guidance system.
An arsenal of 152 76-mm shells is located in the artillery cellar under the gun mount. Automation and means of supplying ammunition allow you to shoot at a rate of up to 125 rounds per minute. Thanks to the barrel cooling system, it is possible to fire a long burst, up to 75 shots. When firing at surface or coastal targets, the effective firing range is 16 km. Pantsir-M is known to us more by its land version. Although at the May 9 Victory Parade on Red Square, we actually saw its “wetted” version for the first time. It was shown on the Arctic two-link tracked all-terrain vehicles DT-30 Vityaz. Compared to its land-based counterpart, the marine ZRAK has a doubled range of detection and destruction of targets. The locator sees everything that happens in the air and on the water at a distance of up to 75 km, and the anti-aircraft system hits targets at a distance of up to 40 km.
As experts explain, a traditional marine locator consists of a huge antenna canvas-sail rotating on the roof of the wheelhouse. The new Pantsir radar on the Avalanche will be a continuation of the wheelhouse superstructure, on three sides of which flat antennas will be placed. Each of them consists of a plurality of transceiver modules combined into one whole, along which an electron beam scanning the space moves in a fraction of a second. It detects air and surface targets, selects them, directs weapons and can still work as a means of electronic suppression.
In April 2014, the Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the supply of 32 serial Ka-52K helicopters. In total, by 2020, under the state armaments program, the army should receive more than 120 such helicopters. Actually, according to these parameters, as well as knowing the number of Katrans ordered by the Ministry of Defense, one can easily imagine what grouping of Avalanche-type ships the Navy plans to deploy in the near future. The series is more than serious, which speaks of the new geopolitical views of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense on ensuring the security of our state.

UDC-helicopter carrier pr. "Priboy" will be equipped with everything necessary for use in most operations of the Navy

Events related to the "freeze" of the contract for the universal landing helicopter carriers "Mistral" by the French side were acquired in Last year completely stupid and unfortunate. Already in the autumn-winter of last year, it was approximately clear that this project could be put an end to, but the French continued to invent various "myths" and play for time, which confused our military departments and negotiators.

This could not continue for a long time, especially since a powerful and status superpower is participating in the negotiation process, which has established itself as a trustworthy and stable party both in the arms market and in any other areas, such as the economy and energy. Why does Russia, which launched such ships as the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky and the aircraft-carrying missile cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov, need an empty French dock hull, which still needs to be re-equipped and finalized for a long time to the proper condition that meets the needs of the Russian Navy? So the command of the Navy began to look for ways to solve the problem.

Considered a lot of various options for a promising amphibious assault ship, which should become worthy alternative for the fleet and even more to meet our conditions of use and needs. One of these options was the possible modernization of the BDK project 1174 "Ivan Rogov", but structurally this ship is more intended for the internal transportation of light and heavy armored vehicles and troops, the deck is not able to fully ensure the use of helicopter aviation. The front and rear parts of the deck are separated by a large superstructure across the entire width of the ship, which in difficult meteorological conditions will pose a certain danger to landing and taking off helicopters.

A solution was required that is most suitable for the use of helicopter aviation in various conditions, i.e. - a compact superstructure at the side and the most spacious deck. results design work to create the first visual aid of a promising ship, which was the model presented on June 16 at the exhibition of the Army-2015 forum, was not long in coming.

UDC-helicopter carrier pr. "Priboy" will be equipped with everything necessary for use in most operations of the Navy

The universal landing ship of the Priboy project, developed by the Nevsky Design Bureau, is a product with an exclusively Russian element base, which combines all the features of the Soviet-Russian shipbuilding, as well as the most modern trends that appeared at the end of the 20th century - early XXI century and provide for a decrease in radar visibility due to the original design of the superstructure.

The superstructure itself has a width of no more than 8 meters and a length of about 30 meters, all corners of the superstructure provide for a minimum number of right angles, due to which its RCS should have very small values, comparable to the RCS of small patrol boats. Recently, it is the reduction of the radar signature of the architecture on the deck of a ship that has been given special attention by shipbuilders.

The ship will be much smaller than the French "Mistral" , its length is approximately 165 meters, width 25 meters. The Russian Navy absolutely does not need huge landing helicopter carriers, since current opportunities attack helicopters The Ka-52 and Ka-52K have stepped far ahead, and no more than ten such combat helicopters are enough to ensure combat stability in a naval theater.

So, the modern Ka-52K will be able to perform a complex list of anti-ship tasks through the use of X-31A and X-35U anti-ship missiles, in addition, a lighter modification of the radar with the Zhuk-AE AFAR is being developed for helicopters, which will also be able to work on air targets within a radius of up to 80 km; it is likely that the air-to-air missile R-77 (RVV-AE) will be unified with the Ka-52K in the future, and helicopters will be able to master all types of operations in the sea and coastal zone.

Such a radical improvement in the concept of using helicopters can become an important part in providing a “closed airspace” over the coastal area, where UDC surf will carry out the tasks of landing armored vehicles and troops on enemy territory. Now the Priboy project provides for the transportation and use of 8 attack helicopters from the deck of the ship, but after the full completion of the design work, these figures may change. Also, Ka-27 multi-purpose helicopters can be placed on the surf deck. It is worth considering that such helicopter-based naval strike systems are not being developed in any country. Western Europe, nor in the US.

The compactness of a ship with a displacement of 14,000 tons is not limited to small length and width. The draft of the ship will be only 5 meters, for the Mistral - 6.3 m, for the Ivan Rogov - 7 m. Such a draft gives the UDC of the far sea zone many advantages of maneuvering in waters, bays and straits, where shallow water is often observed (the ship will be able to enter such seas as the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov almost without restrictions). Draft indicators are most important for helicopter carriers and UDC from a tactical point of view, because sometimes, at the time of the operation, it is necessary to approach the enemy as close as possible, and shallow water can prevent a ship from doing this deep draft; attack helicopters they often have a combat radius of no more than 400 km, due to which the enemy on land may remain out of reach of attack helicopters.

UDC pr. "Priboy" will have a cruising range of about 11,500 km, cruising speed 15-16 knots, and the maximum is 20 knots, which is no different from the Mistral. Only on an economical course, the Mistral has an almost 2-fold advantage in range up to 20,000 km. The autonomy of the "Priboy" will be 2 times higher than the performance of the "Mistrals" (the duration of the autonomous campaign is more than 2 months).

A rather important criterion can be considered the landing capabilities of dock chambers and armored holds for transporting heavy and light armored vehicles, landing craft, as well as fully equipped marines or landing. Here, "Priboy" is also no different from foreign products such as "Hyuga" and "Mistral". The ship is able to take 60 units of light armored vehicles and at least 20-30 main battle tanks into the internal compartments, as means of operational landing, in the conditions of the impossibility of approaching the coastal zone of the UDC, the ship is provided with 4 landing craft pr. 11770M or 2 pr. 12061M.

One of the most important indicators of the versatility of this ship in front of the western ones is the equipment of a bow landing device and a 25-35 meter strong gangway, which, before landing, is pulled out from under the upper deck by hydraulic drives, all in the tradition of the old, good and reliable Soviet school of shipbuilding!

The small size of the UDC "Priboy", as well as a decrease in radar visibility, are also provided for the possibility of using this ship as a command and staff ship of the KUG / AUG of the Russian Navy. It is known that at the time of the “star raid” of enemy anti-ship missiles, the active radar homing head captures a more radio-contrast target, i.e. a larger and more visible ship, and the radar signature of this ship will not be greater than that of the frigate EM pr. 956. But there is also a smarter WTO with TV and IR-GOS, for example, AGM-84E or such products as the NLOS tactical missile, in which case it will obviously be necessary to fight back. To this end, "Priboy" is equipped with at least 3 combat modules of the "Pantsir-M" multi-channel shipborne SAM.

anti-aircraft rocket-gun complex"Pantsir-M" / "Palitsa" is a naval modification of the land-based SAM "Pantsir-S1" and inherited its similar firing characteristics. ZUR 57E6E has a radio command system for controlling coordinates, which are transmitted to the onboard computer of the missile from optoelectronic and radar equipment detection and target designation on the combat module. For missile guidance, radar and optical transponders are used in the tail of the missile, which allow the fire control system on the combat module to most accurately correlate the coordinates of the interceptor missile and the target to bring the missile to the target.

The flight speed of the SAM is 1300 m / s, the range and the interception ceiling are 15 and 20 km, respectively. Max Speed the hit target is about 3650 km / h. The guidance speed is 100 degrees / s, thanks to which even PRLRs flying into a neighboring support ship that have broken into the near line of defense can be intercepted.

Radar channel "Palitsy" is represented by a "Phazatron" multifunctional radar with phased array 1RS2 and SART 1RS1-1E, in which a "friend or foe" radio interrogator is installed. Autonomous optical direction finder - a two-channel TV / IR sighting device capable of capturing HARM-type PRLR from a distance of 14 km, cruise missile AGM-86C - 13 km, and anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" - about 9-11 km. The multifunctional radar and optical direction finder are capable of capturing 2 air targets, realizing the simultaneous firing of 4 air targets, while up to 10 targets can be fired per minute. The performance of the KZRAK "Pantsir-M" together with 2x6 30-mm AP exceeds the performance of the KZRAK dagger by almost 2 times.

On the UDC "Priboy" project, 2 "Pantsir-M" modules are installed in niches along the edge of the starboard side of the ship, as well as in the front part on the edge of the port side, it is possible to install another module in the rear niche of the side. Thus, the Priboy air defense system can simultaneously fire at 12 attacking missiles, and up to 30 dangerous objects can be fired per minute. In fact, this UDC can be both a command and staff ship and a short-range air defense ship of a small naval formation.

Today, only one helicopter carrier, the Japanese Hyuga, has similar air defense parameters, on which the Japanese-Dutch FCS-3A radar and the latest export version of the RIM-162 “ESSM” air defense system are installed.

The command of the Russian Navy expresses hopes that in the coming years at least 4 ships of the Udaloy project will be laid down, which will be able to partially make up for the lack of modern amphibious, strike and anti-ship marine systems in the Russian fleet.

/Evgeny Damantsev/

The Russian Navy plans to receive two promising landing ships by 2025 as part of the new state armaments program June 30, 2017, 14:58

The design and construction of two helicopter carriers, the basis of the air group of which will be Ka-52K Katran sea helicopters, has already been included in the draft new state armament program until 2025. It is planned that the first one will appear around 2022 and will cost about 40 billion rubles (taking into account all stages of development, construction and testing).

The new landing ships will have a diesel-gas turbine plant, in which the diesel is the main engine, and the turbine is needed to boost power. In addition to the Katrans, the ships will be based on the Ka-27, Ka-29 and Ka-31 (radar patrol helicopter, another designation is Ka-35. - Approx. TASS).

As he said at the VIII International Maritime Defense Show (IMDS-2017) in St. Petersburg CEO Nevsky Design Bureau Sergey Vlasov, a new generation landing ship being created for the Russian Navy, is at the stage of pre-project study and several variants of such ships have already been created.

"Paratroopers" are different. Maybe a helicopter carrier, maybe a universal landing ship, a landing helicopter-carrying dock ship. I believe that, most likely, it will be a universal landing ship - something similar to the Mistral, but of a slightly different look Sergey Vlasov

General Director of the Nevsky Design Bureau

The appearance of a promising "paratrooper" will be chosen by the customer. Appearance will be completely new compared to the traditions of classical military shipbuilding. Also, according to the annual report of the Nevsky Design Bureau, a variant of a promising landing ship intended for the Arctic has been developed.

According to Vladimir Pepelyaev, head of the department for the advanced construction of ships at the Krylov State Scientific Center (KGNTS), "if a decision on construction is made in the near future, then by the end of the year the center, together with the Nevsky Design Bureau, will be able to complete work on the preliminary design, and the bureau can begin designing the ship."

Shipbuilding potential

According to the chief's adviser General Staff Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Admiral Igor Kasatonov, helicopter carriers will be universal ships for which there are tasks.

The fleet needs them. Now infrastructure is being developed on Kotelny Island, in the Pacific Fleet closer to the north. Therefore, there will be more than enough tasks for helicopter carriers Igor Kasatonov

Advisor to the Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Admiral

Kasatonov says that the decision on the displacement of these ships has not yet been made, there will be several options for projects. Of these, according to the admiral, they will choose the best option for further study.

USC enterprises have begun to work on this project: there is a backlog in terms of projects, there is an understanding of all basic technologies. USC has sites on which it is ready to build such a ship: Severnaya Verf after modernization, as well as the Baltic Shipyard and Sevmash, which has rich experience in building large surface ships Igor Ponomarev

vice president of USC

Military expert Alexander Mozgovoy believes that, unlike aircraft carriers, helicopter carriers can be built by our modern shipbuilding industry.

This can also be done at the Baltic Shipyard, which gained additional experience building the aft parts of the Mistral. Therefore, this is a feasible task for the domestic shipbuilding industry. Another thing is how much time and money it will take. Alexander Mozgovoy

military expert

Model of the universal landing ship "Priboy"

At the same time, the expert talks about another problem - priorities. “We are now, as they say, on the edge - in the coming years, almost all Soviet-built ships will have to be written off as obsolete. They are not just morally, but physically obsolete. It will be dangerous to release them into the sea,” he concludes.

And of course, I would like to see the construction of frigate-class warships from surface ships in the first place, the construction of submarines- they are clearly not enough Alexander Mozgovoy

military expert

Universal "Surf"

For the first time, the model of the universal landing ship (UDC) "Priboy" with a displacement of 14 thousand tons was demonstrated back in 2015 at international forum"Army". The conceptual design of this ship was developed by the Krylovsky Research Center. Its specialists assure that their concept is superior to the French ships of the Mistral class.

During the work on the project, we applied non-traditional technical solutions for the most optimal performance of the tasks of landing troops from this ship. They apply both to the shape of the case and to the radio-electronic equipment. Our project provides for, for example, other propulsion units than those of the Mistral, with other capabilities Vladimir Nikitin

General Director of KGNTs, Doctor of Technical Sciences

About "Mistral"

Russia and France signed an agreement in 2011 to build two Mistral-class helicopter carriers for the Russian Navy. The first ship was supposed to be handed over to Moscow in 2014, but in 2015, amid worsening relations with the West and the imposition of anti-Russian sanctions, Paris refused to hand over the ships. Later, the helicopter carriers were bought by Egypt, and Paris returned about €1 billion to the Russian side.

The Krylov Research Center notes that the "Priboy" was created taking into account the peculiarities of the Russian conditions for the operation of such ships in the fleet. The concept has not changed since the first presentation in 2015, but at the request of the customer, certain additions can be made to the design of the ship. According to the general director of the KGNTs, this concerns the use of a bow ramp or the placement of missile systems.

The promising "Priboy" is intended for receiving, transporting by sea and landing, in cooperation with other forces of the fleet, troops and equipment on an unequipped coast during a naval landing operation.

In addition, it will be able to provide maritime military transportation, participate in the setting of defensive mine and net barriers, as well as sonar buoys for positional underwater surveillance systems. The ship is supposed to be equipped with a gas turbine main power plant.

It will be armed with the Klinok and Pantsir-ME anti-aircraft systems, as well as the A-190 100 mm artillery mount. It consists of two boats of the "Cerna" type or four of the "Dugong" type.

Marine anti-aircraft missile and artillery complex "Pantsir-ME"

As at IMDS-2017, the marine version of the Pantsir will be able to hit targets at a distance of up to 20 km. It will be able to shoot down various objects, including drones and aircraft, as well as missiles of this complex can be used against ships. According to the developers, main feature complexes in that shelling of the target is possible first missile weapons, then in the dead zone of an anti-aircraft guided missile, if for some reason the target is not hit or not hit enough, it is possible to hit an anti-ship missile.

In addition, the Priboy will be equipped with a 76 mm universal artillery mount, a general detection radar, a navigation system, an electronic warfare subsystem, an integrated communications system, and a station for detecting underwater sabotage forces and assets.

The ship can accommodate 12 helicopters for various purposes. Ka-52K "Katran" helicopters will become the perfect weapon for ships. They are "adapted" to be based on ships of the Navy. To do this, they are equipped with a shortened wing, a folding blade system and an air conditioning system designed for use in a humid marine environment.

About "Surf"

Displacement - 23,000 tons, length - 200 m, width - 34 m. Full speed - 20 knots, economic - 14 knots, cruising range - 6000 miles, autonomy - 30 days. The crew of the ship is 400 people, while it will be able to accommodate another 500 to 900 marines, 50 infantry fighting vehicles and 10 tanks. The service life of the ship is designed for 50 years

Recently, the Mistral story has quietly faded from the news. In general, it is understandable. Read details litigation boring and uninteresting. But the more time passes, the more often various details emerge, like pieces of a puzzle that add up to an extremely curious picture.

And now there is another new piece. Assistant to the President of Russia for military-technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin announced the success in negotiations with France. He promises to complete the preparation of the agreement for signing within a month. The exact amount of compensation has not been announced, but apparently it will be about a billion euros. The French are trying to bring it down below a billion. Like, such a figure will be "easier to operate." Apparently this is like a figure on the price tag, ninety-nine kopecks looks somehow more comfortable than one ruble. However, Russia is unlikely to agree to anything less than nine hundred million. These are expenses already incurred by us, also refundable. So we didn't throw money away. And this is good.

And even better, finally, confirmation began to appear that the story with the Mistrals was not started at all out of an empty whim. Even if we leave aside everything that Russia won geopolitically with this contract (and there in itself is quite a lot), we managed to get access to the badly needed modern technologies shipbuilding. Including the military. Only very naive and technically illiterate people can think what to build big ship there is a trifling matter, which with one left, anyone can. Something like, I read the book "Programming for Dummies" and wrote my own in the morning operating system, steeper than Windows. In reality, things are very different. It is not enough to buy a licensed ACAD, you still need to learn how to fully use it. It is best to do this with a recognized master. It is not cheap, the master takes expensive for his studies. But in general, the result is worth it for a circle, because it costs several times less than an independent path of trial and error. The cost of a mistake is too high. So the order of two DVKs is just the very payment for the right to learn.

UDC type "Mistral" in the port of St. Nazar

Apparently, the study of Russia has clearly gone for the future. Firstly, the Nevsky Design Bureau developed its own project of a universal landing ship. UDC "Priboy" has a displacement of 14 thousand tons, length - 165 m, width - 25 m, speed - up to 20 knots, cruising range - up to 6 thousand meters. nautical miles, autonomy - up to 60 days. It is capable of carrying up to 500 paratroopers and 40-60 units of military equipment, as well as 8 Ka-52 and Ka-27 helicopters. Although in terms of displacement, the Priboy is smaller than the Mistral (14,000 tons versus 21,300 tons), it is not inferior to it either in range or landing capacity, and even surpasses it in autonomy.

In general, such a normal platform for an expeditionary company of the Marine Corps. No mistake, just companies. Since when operating in isolation from the rear base, it is not enough to have only a soldier with a machine gun. Someone has to repair his weapons, deliver ammunition, provide communications and intelligence. Therefore, for one direct soldier, there are usually at least two "auxiliary" people. And they also need to be placed somewhere. Therefore, it turns out that 500 paratroopers does not mean five hundred infantry.

Model UDC "Priboy", Nevsky Design Bureau

But that is not all. Secondly, in addition to the Surf, the French desert wind also brought to life the Avalanche. At the military-technical forum "Army-2015" in Kubinka, the Central Research Institute. Academician Krylov presented their project of a universal landing ship. The displacement is 24 thousand tons, 3 thousand tons more than that of the Mistral. Details about the Avalanche UDC are still less known. Armament: naval anti-aircraft complexes"Pantsir-ME" and gun mounts AK-176M and AK-630M-2 "Duet". 16 helicopters: combat Ka-27, transport-combat Ka-29 and attack Ka-52K. 6 assault boats type 03160 "Raptor". Landing capacity up to 500 people or 50 armored vehicles. In essence, this is almost a complete analogue of the Mistral, adjusted for differences in approaches to the composition of the landing group.

So, apparently, the issue of mastering experience can be removed from the agenda, and the French, as they say, "take money." If at the Mistrals Russia built only aft sections at its shipyards, then here we will do everything completely ourselves. It remains only to find the answer - why does the Russian fleet need ships of this class at all. And here is something to think about.

Model UDC "Avalanche", Central Research Institute. Academician Krylov

Based on the current state of affairs Russian Navy do not have now and will not have in the near future the tasks, the solution of which requires universal landing ships. UDC generally represent something like a large floating barracks capable of bringing an autonomous paratrooper unit even to hell in the middle of nowhere and ensure his landing there and the conduct of full-scale hostilities. The landing forces of Russia were created and sharpened for tasks of a much smaller size. Therefore, the landing fleet was built according to completely different principles. The main one is the landing scheme "from shore to shore". Those. paratroopers are loaded onto a ship that brings them to the landing site and delivers them directly to the shore. While the UDC scheme implies that the landing force is delivered from the ship to the shore by an intermediate link - landing craft, usually accommodating up to an infantry platoon. Or a couple of armored personnel carriers. Or one tank. The difference in schemes leads to fundamentally different tactics of the landing itself and a completely different organization of the entire operation as a whole. Therefore, it is impossible to simply take and integrate a ship of a different class into our familiar system.

Landing of an armored personnel carrier of the Marine Corps from the board of the landing ship of the Russian Navy

However, the fact that such sums were "paid" for the development of large shipbuilding technologies, and completely domestic projects at first glance, we don’t need ships at all, it makes us think. Work of this kind is not carried out from the bay-floundering. These are private companies that can afford to experiment on a whim. Therefore, the country's leadership is already thinking about creating a full-fledged ocean fleet. It must be assumed that the fact that we do not see any need for it now does not mean at all that it will not appear in the medium term. And what should happen for Russia to need landings on very, very distant shores?

Heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Peter the Great", Russian Navy

In my opinion, this is possible only in one case, when its current hegemon, the US Navy, disappears from the Ocean. Of course, the NATO countries, as it were, still have their own fleet, but even in the best case they are only able to put up an auxiliary group with limited capabilities. So only the US Navy "holds the sea". I mean, they are currently in control. But if we allow for a moment, suppose the ruin of America, or some other serious crisis, fraught with its weakening (even if in the form of an exit of individual states from general federation), then the picture is formed ... The American fleet will inevitably leave the Ocean, and nature does not tolerate emptiness ...

The statements recently made in the Russian media by representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the United Shipbuilding Corporation that our fleet ordered the design and construction of 2 universal landing ships (UDC) of the new Priboy project indicate that Russia has begun independent creation of aircraft carriers.

Initially, during a period of rather ill-conceived spending of budget funds and their abundance due to oil windfalls, the Russian Navy ordered two amphibious assault ships in France (the Mistral project). In 2015, the delivery of the already finished first Mistral was disrupted due to problems foreign policy the French side - European shipbuilders returned the money paid, and Russian specialists dismantled the installed instruments and systems domestic production. Also under new type UDC deck version was developed combat helicopter Ka-52K "Katran" - now the machine is being tested and will be mass-produced from 2019. As a result, the new helicopter will only be based on new aircraft-carrying ships of the already Russian project - "Priboy". Plus, another promising machine will appear on their deck, which will replace the Ka-27/29/31 family (one of the previously featured names of the Ka-65) - its design is also already underway.

What will the new aircraft-carrying ship with a displacement of about 24,000 tons look like? According to available open data, the Priboy project is the development of the Nevsky Design Bureau. The 180-meter ship with a flight deck up to 30 meters wide will be equipped with a new Russian gas turbine power plant. It will be capable of deploying up to 500 paratroopers (up to 50 units of military equipment) over a distance of up to 5,000 nautical miles (more than 9,200 km). The maximum design speed of the "surfs" is 22 knots. In addition to the ship's air group of 16 combat, anti-submarine and landing helicopters, the ship will be able to land amphibious assaults using 6 boats of project 11770 and / or project 02510. The new Russian UDC will have its own armament of 1 universal 100-mm artillery mount A-190, 3 anti-aircraft missile systems"Broadsword", 2 anti-aircraft missile systems "Pantsir-M".

Shown publicly for the first time in 2015, the layout of the UDC (PHOTO) looks generally standard for ships of this type. The military expects to receive the first "Priboy" in 2024, the second - in 2025 or 2026. The implementation of this project fully fits into the previous Soviet time the logic of creating your own aircraft carrier fleet: first, helicopter carriers were built, then aircraft carriers (though with cruiser weapons - aviation "supplemented" main caliber ships of project 1143/11435 - anti-ship missiles). As can be seen from numerous publications in the specialized media, Russia is now making an "entry" into the construction of aircraft carriers through the creation of amphibious assault helicopter carriers. The construction of full-fledged aircraft carriers is predicted precisely for the period after 2025 (when both Priboys will already be part of the fleet, and real experience will be gained in the development and construction of new domestic large aircraft-carrying ships).

In any case, after the destruction of the USSR in our country, finally (without unreal statements to the public) a reasonable approach was taken to the development of such a component of the Navy as aircraft carriers. The deadlines are realistic, and the main thing is to ensure their implementation. Moreover, the Priboy project will seriously tighten up the current Russian shipbuilding industry, which is reviving after many years of crisis and stagnation, in terms of technology and quality.