ADMIRAL KUZNETSOV AIRCRAFT CARRIER (Severomorsk), February 9. /TASS/. Russia will use the experience of its aircraft carrier’s voyage to Syria to develop new tactics for employing naval task forces in the World Ocean, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolyov said on Thursday.
The Russian naval task force led by the sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has returned to its home base in Severomorsk in northwest Russia after its anti-terror operation in Syria.
"The tactics used in the voyage will also be analyzed by us. We’ll develop new approaches to employing aircraft carrier naval task forces in various parts of the World Ocean," the Navy chief said.
The Russian Navy command will analyze all the positive aspects that were practiced at sea for the first time, Korolyov said.
"Each subsequent voyage of a warship means an analysis and we’ll analyze not only the warship’s operation at sea but also the issues of timely preparing for a voyage, as well as the process of the warship’s employment. This also applies to deck-based aircraft, warships and vessels of the aircraft carrier naval task force," the Navy chief said.
The Russian Navy will also adjust "some plans of the employment of forces, including the tactical level of specific warships and groups," he said.
"We’ll make adjustments to our training programs in naval educational institutions, beginning with our schools and colleges and even, perhaps, the Nakhimov naval school and the Naval Academy and our institutes," the Navy chief said.
The aircraft carrier-led task force comprising the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the heavy nuclear-powered missile battlecruiser Pyotr Veliky, the large anti-submarine warfare ships Severomorsk and Vice-Admiral Kulakov and support vessels set off for the Syria voyage on October 15, 2016.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported on November 1 that the naval task force had arrived in the Mediterranean Sea. Over the two months of their operation, the deck-based aircraft performed 420 sorties, including 117 at night, and destroyed more than 1,000 terrorist objectives in Syria. At the same time, during this voyage, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov lost two deck-based aircraft, a Mikoyan MiG-29K and a Sukhoi Su-33, whose pilots ejected to safety.
The Admiral Kuznetsov and the Pyotr Veliky returned to their home base in Severomorsk on Wednesday. They have anchored in a roadstead in the Kola Bay. Earlier, deck-based Su-33, MiG-29K aircraft and Kamov Ka-52, Ka-29 and Ka-27 helicopters made a flight from the aircraft carrier to their home aerodrome.
The naval task force performed such a large-scale mission with the combat employment of naval aviation for the first time in the history of the Russian Navy.