Russian Navy Announces Names of Two Upcoming Carriers to be Laid Down This Year

Following reports that new shipyards in Crimea would lay down the keels of new new light carriers in 2020, the Russian Navy has announced the intended names of the two warships - the Sevastopol and the Vladivostok. The warships will be over twice the size of any surface warship built by the country since the Soviet era, after which the loss of the Black Sea Shipyards in Ukraine seriously undermined its capacity to lay down anything larger than a frigate. The Soviet Union had previously built a number of heavyweight surface warships, including destroyers, cruisers, helicopter carriers, medium carriers and even nuclear powered supercarriers - the last which were laid down but not completed due to the state’s collapse. 

Russia’s two new carriers are expected to displace approximately 25,000 tons each and be around 220 meters long, and will fulfil a comparable role to the Mistral Class which the Russian Navy had initially sought to acquire from France. Mistral technologies were subsequently acquired through a deal to outfit the carriers for the Egyptian Navy, which purchased the ships from France. Russia reportedly plans to deploy Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters from the carriers, and is currently developing vertical takeoff capable fighter jets which can deploy from the warships. The fighter program will reportedly continue where the Soviet Yak-141 program left off, with the Soviet Union having been a pioneer in vertical takeoff technologies which Russia has inherited. A lighter class of carrier of under 20,000 tons was previously proposed under the Novskoe carrier program - but rejected by the Russian Military. Two more classes of carrier, including a medium carrier displacing approximately 40,000 tons  and a heavy carrier or supercarrier displacing over 80,000 tons, are currently planned. The former will also deploy vertical takeoff capable jets, while the latter will deploy conventional fixed wing aircraft.