nuclear-news

But the Kremlin for years has celebrated scale models of future flattops, all without spending any money to actually design or build the vessels.The longer the Russian navy waits, the less likely it is that a new carrier directly will replace Kuznetsov when the aging, unreliable ship finally decommissions.

A defense-industry source said the Kremlin had begun a technical assignment for a future nuclear-powered carrier under program name Project 11430E Lamantin, TASS reported in July 2019.

But the Russian navy’s own commander-in-chief, Nikolai Yevmenov, told reporters there was no firm deadline for funding or construction. “There will be, of course, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier but not in the short-term perspective,” Yevmenov said.

……..Russia’s entire annual military budget rarely exceeds $70 billion. Only a small fraction of that typically pays for ships.

The high cost of a replacement vessel perhaps explains why the Kremlin is determined to keep Kuznetsov in service as long as possible. The Russian navy plans to dry-dock Kuznetsov starting in 2020 and conduct extensive repairs on the 1980s-vintage vessel………https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/russian-navy-get-nuclear-powered-aircraft-carrier-answer-nyet-67022