While we see much more aggressive force projection from Russia in recent years, their modernizations efforts of their only Airplane Carrying Cruiser the Admiral Kuznetsov have been lagging.

Will Russia abandon the retrofit and build a new carrier instead? Please let us know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe!

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0:00 - Intro
0:30 - Kuznetsov Planned Return after Refit
1:20 - Shipyard Incident and Delays
2:30 - Modernization Outcome
3:00 - Summary


You might want to checkout: Will The U.S. Gerald R Ford-class Carrier Stay The Best? [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8zmmOcsoXs ]

Perhaps no aircraft carrier has been as mocked or as troubled as Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's only carrier and the sole ship of its class.

The Admiral #Kuznetsov aircraft carrier of project 11435 will complete the overhaul and upgrade in 2023 and will rejoin the #Navy in the end of the year, Vice President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Vladimir Korolev told TASS at the Navy salon.

The avionics, flight deck with the ski jump, electric equipment, the power plant will be replaced. The carrier will receive a new fully domestic takeoff and landing control system. The airpower will remain the same. The carrier will have no attack weapons, it will be armed with Pantsir-M antiaircraft complex.

Following the sinking of one of the world’s largest dry docks on October 29 2018 in a shipyard in the far northwest part of Russia, officials have finally admitted that they were unable to continue work on Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, no timely and viable solution to continue retrofitting work on the #Russian Navy’s flagship emerged which caused additional unforeseen delays.

The Admiral Kuznetsov was commissioned in 1990 and last underwent a two-year refit between 1996 and 1998. The Russian Navy’s 55,000-ton flagship has never been deployed for longer than six months and famously had to be
followed by an oceangoing tug boat during all of its sea voyages due to the carrier’s poor reliability and questionable performance during a recent deployment to Syria in 2016.

The refit has increased the carrier's aircraft capacity from 24 to 26 fighter jets and as many as 12 helicopters. The modifications also aim to upgrade the electronics and propulsion system and likely will remove the P-700 missiles. Russia has also put effort into replacing or modernizing the aging Su-33, as it is really only capable of aerial warfare with limited ground-attack options. The MiG-29K, a naval version of the MiG-29, is expected to have a larger role in Russia's future carrier air wings. The carrier could also carry the Ka-52K Katran attack helicopter.

When fully operational, the carrier, like the Russian navy's other legacy platforms, will likely be used to show the flag and demonstrate Russia's naval status — even as the fleet continues to shift its focus to small, missile-laden vessels and submarines.