Prospective Russian Carrier to Lay Down before 2020 – Vysotsky

09.02.2012 Prospective aircraft carrier for Russian Navy will be constructed after 2020, and its technical project will be developed by 2014, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky told RIA Novosti.

Presently, Russian Navy operates only one aircraft carrier – Admiral Kuznetsov.

"The ship will be laid down before 2020 and completed right after 2020. Technical design of the new carrier will be developed within two years, i.e. by 2014", the Navy CinC said.

He emphasized that the future ship would not be a classis aircraft carrier. "It will be one step ahead. The ship will have to operate in all environments and be universal", Vysotsky said.

He explained that a present-day aircraft carrier, in fact, operates only in two environments, "sea and air (aviation), at most, lower orbital grouping".

"But we want to move on. There is space, there is underwater environment, there is sea surface with unmanned and piloted vehicles. In other words, we want to make an integrated platform capable to perform wide range of missions almost everywhere", Vysotsky said.

The admiral noted that aerospace capability would be the key component, since dominance in air and space is determinant for sea supremacy.

"Such works are in progress, although there is no qualitative approach to this matter so far", pointed out the admiral.

As for him, if the construction starts today, that would be either improved Admiral Kuznetsov or underdeveloped Enterprise (CVN65, USN) or Minsk and Kiev (former Soviet aircraft-carrying cruisers). "This is what they offer today. But we need to make a breakthrough", stressed Vysotsky.