Russian shipbuilding: 2016, a year of transition
The year 2015 was characterized by few admissions to active duty and barely more stakes, which contrasted after a much better year 2014. In addition to this pitfall were added the repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis which led to the breakdown of military-technical cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, as well as uncertainties linked to the deterioration of the economic situation. While industrial and budgetary questions remain, 2016 will nevertheless see a slight rebound in the tempo of the Russian shipyards. Will this relative improvement be sustainable?
Even though improvements can be seen in relation to the decade 2000, it is nevertheless true that the pace of construction and delivery of the units remains too irregular. Although there are exceptions (SSK of Project 0636.3), there are still too many delays, especially for surface ships and certain submarine programs (SSGN of Project 885 in particular). This has recently led the Russian Defense Minister to demand that OSK (the Russian shipbuilding consortium) comply with all its contractual commitments. Russia's shipbuilding industry is still struggling to meet its import substitution targets, especially in the high-tech sector. Two approaches are currently being considered to offset the closure of western shipbuilding sources: to include Rostek in the ship design and construction cycle, and to increase the share of civilian buildings in the worksite load schedule. The integration of the Russian conglomerate for high technology would thus aim to promote the attraction of foreign technologies and know-how in shipbuilding by creating synergies. The second track has a double interest: through the construction of civilian ships of high tonnage, the shipyards gain experience while being able to import the technologies necessary to honor the contracts. Sevmash (Severodvinsk) recently announced that it wants to raise the civil contract rate from 10% currently to 50% by 2030. Sevmash, whose load plan is filled until 2025, probably anticipates a better breakdown Of state orders on other construction centers. Finally, Russian industrialists seem to have succeeded in overcoming the challenges of maintaining and repairing Ukrainian gas turbines (without having developed a native gas turbine). We had an article on this subject in March 2016; Frigate Yaroslav Mudriy (Project 11540, Baltic Fleet), after having undergone long repairs on its propulsion system, took off last October for a long cruise which led to the waters of the Baltic Sea. Caribbean. The repairs, carried out by the industrialists Novik (Moscow) and Kuznetsov (Samara) seem to have held.
Cargo holds and active service admissions in 2016
Submarines
In 2016, Russian shipyards will have delivered 2 submarines. SSK B-268 Velikiy Novgorod and B-271 Kolpino (Project 0636.3) were delivered by the Admiralty Shipyard (St. Petersburg) on 26 October and 24 November 2016. The B-271 Shipyard to close the command of 6 SSK passed by the Russian Mindef for the Black Sea Fleet. The long-term completion of this order confirms the good health of the Russian shipbuilding sector in submarines. The batch of 6 submersibles was built with an average of just over 31 months per unit (the "record" being held by the construction time of B-265 Krasnodar: 21 months). The outlook for the Admiralty Shipyard is good as it will be responsible for the construction of an additional 6 SSKs for the Pacific Fleet. The first lay-off must take place in autumn 2017 with SAAs scheduled for the period 2019-2021.
Two nuclear submarines have been laid down by Sevmash (Severodvinsk) this year: SNLE Kniaz Pojarsky (Project 955A, scheduled for 23.12) and SSGN Perm (Project 885A, 31.07.2016). The Yasen series (Project 885) is still experiencing so many delays: the launch of the second, the K-561 Kazan, announced in December 2016, will take place instead in 2017. On the other hand, Better, although there are also delays. The launch of the Kniaz Pojarsky - the 8th and final submarine of the BLEI-type SNLE series ordered to date - was scheduled to take place in December 2015 with an ASA planned in 2020. The calendar has now slipped from Less) one year.
Outlook for 2017:
- the launching of the SNLE Kniaz Vladimir, the first modernized Boreï (Project 955A).
- launch of the K-561 Kazan and possibly that of the 3rd Yasen unit, K-573 Novosibirsk.
- hypothetical launch of the Khabarovsk nuclear submarine (unknown project).
- the start of the construction of the 6 Kilo type SSK for the Pacific fleet.
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