 |
| Why Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov Aircraft Carrier No Longer Sails During This Time |
International Military - On July 31, 2022, President Vladimir Putin made a speech regarding Russian Maritime Affairs. This is in line with Russia's ideals as a great country, namely the hope of having a navy that is seen by the world.
The way to make this happen is to have more warships and aircraft carriers. Moreover, Russia is the only superpower that does not have a capable navy.
Russia is on a different level with the United States, even China. Because Russia does not have a capable warships. What's more, one of the proud Russian warships sank in April 2022.
The Russian-owned ship known as the Moskva was hit by a Neptune missile attack, Ukrainian coastal forces, The Guardian reported. And in the end the ship Moskva sank in the Black Sea. The Russian Maritime Doctrine campaigned by President Putin is indeed against the United States and its allies.
 |
| Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov Carrier Aircraft |
Currently, Russia has only one aircraft carrier in a worrying condition. While the United States itself has 11 aircraft carriers and 9 Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD). And to achieve its maritime ideals, Russia does need to build more aircraft carriers. The effort was seen cynically by naval experts because the country did not have a good shipyard.
Quoted from Breaking Defense, back when the Soviet Union disbanded. Their shipyard responsible for building the aircraft carrier is located in Ukraine. Which means, Russia needs to retake the shipyard. Not to mention with Western economic sanctions, Russia is increasingly difficult to build warships. Then, what about the fate of the only Russian aircraft carrier?
This ship is in fact more often serviced than in action. The aircraft carrier named Admiral Kuznetsov began undergoing repair and modernization efforts in 2017.
Quoted from Defense Security Asia, the ship was serviced at a shipyard in Murmansk. Authorities there hope work on repairing Admiral Kuznetsov will be completed next year. However, due to undisclosed reasons, the return of the Russian Navy aircraft carrier has been postponed to 2024. "We hope that the ship can return to service in 2024", they explained.
The ship, which is categorized as a "carrier carrier" was first built in 1982. And the ship was commissioned only in 1995, 13 years after the ship's construction began. In Murmansk, the repair and modernization of Admiral Kuznetsov was carried out by the state agency, the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
 |
| Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov Carrier Seen under repair at a shipyard in Murmansk |
Russia's national news agency TASS reported that the navy had found several sources of damage to the ship. And that's why, the release date of the carrier was pushed back to 2024. Whereas previously, Russia had revealed that Admiral Kuznetsov would return to sail this year, 2022, but in fact it didn't.
The poor carrier has gone through a long journey with many obstacles. In 2009, he sailed in Turkey and suffered a massive fire that later left one crew member dead. Shortly after, a month later, Admiral Kuznetsov had another incident.
At that time there were 300 tons of oil spilled in Irish waters caused by Admiral Kuznetsov who was refueling. Then another incident in Syria, when two fighter jets operating with Admiral Kuznetsov crashed while trying to land.
Due to the many unfortunate events that happened to the aircraft carrier, it received repairs and modernization which began in 2017. And apart from the damage it suffered, corruption also contributed to the ship's delay in action.
Quoted from 19fortyfive, in March 2021, Yevgeny Zudin, general director of the No. Shipyard. 10 in the case Polyarny. He was arrested on suspicion of stealing 45 million Rubles or about 600,000 Dollars. The money will in fact be allocated for the repair of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.