The country which had its only aircraft carrier docked for five years, and all of its aircraft carriers developed in the USSR, boasted that it was developing a promising electromagnetic catapult for aircraft carriers.
The minister of defense of the russian federation Sergei Shoigu revealed preparations to establish an experimental and training range for naval aviation. It is expected to be used as testing grounds for new naval aircraft, ship-based aeronautical equipment, arresting gear and those earlier mentioned electromagnetic catapults. Pilots and technicians will also be trained there.
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The location of this complex is not disclosed, but most likely it is all about the "NITKA-2" facility in Yeysk, Krasnodar Krai, or perhaps a new one will be created. Given the russian defense ministry's special love for investing in large-scale construction projects, they might prefer the second option after all.
However, all these statements regarding the new "land-based aircraft carrier" do not stand against reality. First, russia needs to start with the aircraft carrier itself, because all that the russian federation currently has are models of two "Lamantin" projects, with a displacement of 65 to 70 thousand tons and about 60 aircraft, and also the "Shtorm" project – 100 thousand tons and up to 90 aircraft respectively.
Considering the fact that "Admiral Kuznetsov" uses a springboard instead of catapults, this imposes certain restrictions on the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft.
For comparison, let’s take a look at the newest US Gerald Ford-class aircraft carrier which features an electromagnetic catapult. Unlike steam catapults, which were traditionally used on American aircraft carriers, it allows the aircraft to be accelerated more smoothly without critical loads on the structure.
The cost of creating its own aircraft carrier in the russian federation was estimated at 4 – 5 billion dollars a few years ago, and they did not allocate the required funds in the fleet building program till 2027. But even this amount for the ship itself is only the beginning, because there are no modern planes for it. And to create a carrier-based fighter or adapt the Su-57, the production of which was stumbling even before February 24, is a more difficult task.
In fact, all that the russian federation has at the moment is only a decision to build an aircraft carrier at the "Sevmash" shipyard, which has no experience in building large-tonnage ships and generally specializes in submarines, which is symbolic of the only logical future waiting for this russian aircraft carrier.
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