The Russian Navy needs aircraft carriers with a new architecture. They need to be stripped of strike weapons, but equipped with drones and means to combat them, according to Valery Polovinkin, scientific director of the Krylov State Research Center (KGNTs).
KGNTs is the main developer of the latest ship projects, materials and technologies for the Russian Navy.
This is perhaps the most difficult question that no one can answer accurately. Let me start with a truism - does our country need aircraft carriers? Yes. Does it need aircraft carriers of the architecture we have today? No. In my inner conviction, this class of ships, with drones and means to combat them, is needed and will develop in the near future.
The scientist expressed the opinion that UAVs should represent the main fleet of such aircraft carriers. Protection against them should be determined by the totality of the corresponding defense forces.
The way we used to do it, having aviation on board, installing defense systems like "Granit", is, of course, not serious. The fact is that the combat radius of an aircraft exceeds the missile, and the mass of the carried ammunition is, of course, greater.
Also, the opinion about the unnecessity of strike weapons on board aircraft carriers is held by former Deputy Chief of the Main Staff of the Russian Navy, retired Vice Admiral Vladimir Pepelyaev. According to him, it is necessary to forget the legacy of Soviet specialists, since only airplanes are relevant at present.
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