Russia may build 115,000-tonne aircraft carriers by 2020
The Russian Navy earlier said the Russian fleet hoped to get a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier by the end of 2030
MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. The Russian industry will be able to build aircraft carriers having a displacement of 110,000-115,000 tonnes by 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock TV news channel on Tuesday.
"When we build new shipyards and a huge dry dock in the Far East, if there is such a contract, it will be possible to create an aircraft carrier having a displacement of 110,000-115,000 tonnes. We will be capable of doing that starting from 2020," Rogozin said.
Russia’s future aircraft carrier will cost "far less" than its US counterparts.
He remarked that contracts for such ships would depend on the needs of Russia’s General Staff, which determines the need for aircraft carriers of that class.
Rogozin speculated that the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East may become a place for building such ships. Work is in progress there to build a 114-meter-wide dry dock.
"We now have no restrictions regarding the tonnage of civil or naval ships we may choose to build there," he said.
The Russian Navy earlier said the Russian fleet hoped to get a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier by the end of 2030. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said the contract for building an aircraft carrier might be signed by the end of 2025. And Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said a sketch project of what may become Russia’s aircraft carrier of the future had been presented to the Defense Ministry.