MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/. Ship-based unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be designed for the needs of the Russian Navy’s naval aviation, the Russian naval aviation chief, Maj. Gen. Igor Kozhin, said Monday.

"One of prospective directions for specialists of leading design bureaus is research and design aimed at creating an unmanned ship-based aircraft," Kozhin said, without giving any details or timeframe of the research.

He said the naval aviation’s aircraft will be modernized and replaced with newer models in the coming years.

"In particular, the carrier-based fighter aviation units will get MiG-29K and MiG-29KUB fighter jets in 2017-2020. The fleet of naval aviation combat helicopters will also be seriously renewed. The Ka-29 helicopters currently in service will be replaced by the newest Ka-52K reconnaissance and combat helicopter," Kozhin said.

Both the MiG-29K (single seat) and MiG-29KUB (double seat) aircraft are the "4++" generation multi-role fighters intended for air defense missions. They can destroy targets at sea and ground with high-precision guided weapons day and night, in any weather conditions.

The Ka-52K Katran attack helicopter is a ship-based version of the baseline Ka-52, initially designed for basing on French-built Mistral-class helicopter carriers.