Russian Defense Ministry vow to completely re-equip Black Sea Fleet in two years

06.03.2009
The Russian Defense Ministry plans to completely re-equip the Black Sea Fleet and the troops of the North-Caucasus Military District by 2011, Vladimir Popovkin, the deputy defense minister, announced on Thursday.

Popovkin said that the ministry, after a thorough analysis of the results of the South-Ossetian conflict, had come up with a set of measures meant to strengthen the troops of the North Caucasus Military District and the Black Sea Fleet, with a view to substantially increase the rate at which the armed forces are being refitted with a clearer idea of future perspectives.

Plans are to complete construction of Lada-type diesel submarines with a hydro-acoustic complex, to modernize Varshavyanka-class diesel submarines, increase the rate of construction large new-project landing ships and the Bal-U mobile coastal missile complex. The acquisition of Bastion coastal missile complexes for divisions of the army will also be completed, as well as the purchase of antiship cruise missiles and reconnaissance helicopters.

The Russian Ground Forces will see an acceleration in the modernization of multiple rocket-launching systems; the development of new intelligence-gathering systems; the completion of the modernization of Mig-29 and Su-25 jetfighters; Mi-28H helicopters; the purchase of new Su-27SM and Su-30MK-2 fighter planes and Ka-52, Mi-28H, Mi-24M, and Mi-8MTB5 helicopters; and finally the purchase of Pantsir-S surface-to-air missile systems.

Military experts have met the announcement with skepticism. "2011 sounds absolutely wild, if he had said by 2020, it will not be here soon and the general would not have had to account for the feasibility of the announced plans. But in two years!" the RBK Daily cited Alexander Khramchikhina, an expert at the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, as saying. Anatoly Tsyganok, another expert with the Center for Military Prognosis, also questioned how realistic were plans to re-fit the oldest Russian fleet, where the youngest ship has served for 17 years, in just two year.

The Black Sea Fleet is an operational-strategic division of the Russian Navy operating in the Black Sea. It is considered to have been founded on May 13, 1783, when a fleet under the Azov Flotilla and the command of Vice Admiral F.A. Klokachev entered the Akhtiarskaya Bay. In the more than 200 years of its existence the Fleet has taken part in a multitude of wars, including the Russian-Turkish war, the war against France, and the Great Patriotic War (WWII). The Fleet has scored many glorious victories in its history, such as the battle near Tendra, the battle of Sinop 1853), the defense of Sebastopol (1854-1855, 1941-1942), and others. During WWII, the Fleet conducted 24 landing operations, sank 835 enemy ships and boats, and disabled another 539. The collapse of the Soviet Union had a stinging effect on the Fleet: by a bilateral agreement signed between Ukraine and Russia in 1995 and 1997, the Fleet was used to create the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy. Most of the Black Sea infrastructure is located on Ukrainian territory and is frequently the subject of accusations and fiery disputes between Russia and the Ukrainian leadership, which is keen to accuse the Fleet of violating the signed agreements.

The Black Sea Fleet took part in the war against Georgia in 2008. The headquarters of the Fleet is located in Sebastopol. Here are some bases: Novorossiysk, Sebastopol, under construction in Novorossiysk and Ochamchir (Abkhazia). Vice Admiral Alexander Kletskov has been at the command of the Fleet since July 17, 2007. The Fleet has a contingent of 25,000, more than 50 combat ships, including antisubmarine ships, landing ships, diesel submarines, missile boats, and mine sweepers.