Russia to Spend RUR 300 bln for Navy

25.04.2012 By 2020, Russian Navy will receive 23 new types of surface ships and submarines; Defense Industry Development Federal Program provides RUR 292 bln for that purpose, said academician Valentin Pashin, research manager and director general of the Krylov Central Scientific & Research Institute.

According to Pashin, 23 new types of surface ships and submarines will be laid down and delivered to Russian naval mariners. Overall displacement of ships will make 800,000 tons. Major part of tonnage (550,000 tons) will be displaced by new ships, the rest – by those subject to modernization.

"Shipyards are ruled by the Defense Industry Development Federal Program. Only its naval section is financed by RUR 292 bln. This sum is quite enough to modernize production, introduce scientific innovations, and train high-qualified personnel", said the scientist.

As for him, current construction periods of warships and civil vessels are often "noncompetitive, which rises cost of works. For example, a five-year long delay makes cost of shipbuilding works 1.5 times higher. In this regard, we must improve pre-production design engineering works, holding a course not for administrative leverage but market mechanisms".

Pashin appeared at jubilee session of the St. Petersburg Association of Shipbuilders which coordinates the core industry of the Russian "northern capital city" comprising 43 shipyards, research institutes, and design bureaus.

According to Prof. Vladimir Aleksandrov who heads the shipbuilders' association, it is important that "Russian companies buy ships from national yards. For instance, it is unclear why the Europe's largest slipways of Baltiysky Zavod and Admiralteyskie Verfi are not workloaded in full. Indeed, they can build large-tonnage ships - supertankers and LNG carriers, heavy frigates and cruisers".