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Kuznetsov has not really seen better days. She was floated to late to see the might of the Russian military power, built in the decline she was floated and commissioned when the Russian Federation had to claw its way out of the corpse of its mother the Union of soviet socialist republics.

The Russian Navy has had to work to keep Kuznetsov despite times when realistically the political pressure to sell her off with her sister must have been high. This means that she had to have been kept afloat with ingenuity, resourcefulness, and Duct tape lots and lots of duct tape. Right now Kuznetsov, is old but she is still the only operational Russian aircraft carrier.

Kuznetsov may lack a lot of modern goodies but she can still put up a fight. In order to get her operational and modern she needs both a operational air wing and a up to date information system. So why the aircraft before the ship?

One the aircraft are ready now. Had the Russians waited for the ship the Indians might have closed there order the line would have shutdown and then it would have meant massive delivery delays. As Mig or Sukhoi had to reopen there lines or worse as the Russians had to negotiate for J15s. Timing is everything and by buying from the Line opened for the Indian order the Russians got the birds at a lower price, ready for flight and modernized with numbers. Add to this that the SU33s are a dwindling recourse the line closed long ago and specialized parts for them like wings and tails have to be drying up.

Two the Indian carrier proves the prototype. With the Russian contactors now having cut there teeth on the Indian boat the Russians have a proven track to put Kuznetsov though they also have an idea of what to improve and how to do it. The Indian carrier is the Russian roadmap and it allows for the Russians to conduct and test new systems and applications without having to suffer from delays and overruns on there rubles.

remember those long delays in delivery? Well I would bet you; that when Kuznetsov goes for her refit she will have far less as the lessons and problems of her Indian cousin will be applied. Now there may still be issues the two are not identical.

Now at this point some may also say "well why not ask the Chinese too? Surely they have solutions for Kuznetsov from Laiong." to which I would say no. The CV16 was sold tot the Chinese as is.. Or rather was. She was a complete hull but not plumbed or engine-ed or out fitted the Chinese bought a Hull and built there own guts. In the case of the Indians they bought a existing ship and had her gutted and rebuilt in the case of Kuznetsov the latter is more pertinent. That's not to say that the Russians might not make changes like those on Laiong. For example removal of the missiles is a option I think would be smart.

Well , they say that price of refitting Gorshkov into Vikramaditya was about 2/3 to 3/4 of building new carrier with similar size but with better aviation facilities . Therefore , maybe it would be better for Russia to give Kuznetsov some limited life-extending overhaul , and to save money for one new mid-sized carrier from lets say 2018. I know they have boasted about building large nuclear powered vessels similar to what US has , but I doubt they have resources for that .

Jeff Head said:

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That is fan art and far from reality. The model seen in the wind tunnel is one of the perspective model being tested at TSAGI....and more likely the one we are likely to see in the future.

Regarding Kuznetsov, he (not she) was to go in for a complete modernisation starting 2013-2014 after the Vikramaditya had freed up the workforce for the carrier. But it is the events in Med and Syria that have made change of plans and now Kuz is suppose to carry on his duty in the Med.

Kuznetsov is likely to continue deployment in the area till the first of the Pr.22350 Admiral Gorshkov class and Pr.11356 Admiral Grigorovich class doesn't arrive. Six of the ships are under construction and 2 each of these class will most likely be entering service in 2014. My belief is that by 2015 four of these ships will be deployed in the med to strengthen the Russian naval fleet.

The events in Syria and the order for MiG-29K have made the operationalising the MiG-29K and pilots for carrier aviation the priority over the planned big modernisation. Even though a modernised carrier would have been better, the move prioritizing the need for developing a full strength deck aviation with new gen fighters look like a good move.

Bose said:

That is fan art and far from reality.

The model seen in the wind tunnel is one of the perspective model being tested at TSAGI....and more likely the one we are likely to see in the future.

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Well Bose, the picture supplied in my post was the picture that came with the Forbes article. If you take the time to go to that link, read the article, and look at the picture there, you will see this picture there and it is clearly marked as "Concept Art."

It was never meant to be a final design, or necessarily representative of it...it is also not something Forbes would have pulled off of some fan boy site.

Now, the actual decision on the design is still some distance off and is understandably likely to change...even over the wind tunnel model you posted. The actual aircraft is even much further away.

I appreciate your post and the picture of the wind tunnel model...but that earlier post was simply a link to a good article on Forbes where they were speaking to the Russian intentions and clearly stated that the pic you referenced was concept art.

Jeff Head said:

Well Bose, the picture supplied in my post was the picture that came with the Forbes article. If you take the time to go to that link, read the article, and look at the picture there, you will see this picture there and it is clearly marked as "Concept Art."

It was never meant to be a final design, or necessarily representative of it...it is also not something Forbes would have pulled off of some fan boy site.

Now, the actual decision on the design is still some distance off and is understandably likely to change...even over the wind tunnel model you posted. The actual aircraft is even much further away.

I appreciate your post and the picture of the wind tunnel model...but that earlier post was simply a link to a good article on Forbes where they were speaking to the Russian intentions and clearly stated that the pic you referenced was concept art.

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I understand that the pic came with the article and the same person had earlier created inaccurate PAK-FA concept based on F-22 and was widely circulating on the net as PAK-FA. So in this case I just wanted to post the pic of a model that was actually being tested by the Russians for their project. Thats all. Sorry if you got offended, but that was not at all my intent.

it looks to me like the model and the artist concept have alot in common the double tails swing wings engine placement blended wing the key differences being longer wings, angled tails, and a more traditionally shaped nose.

TerraN_EmpirE said:

it looks to me like the model and the artist concept have alot in common the double tails swing wings engine placement blended wing the key differences being longer wings, angled tails, and a more traditionally shaped nose.

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Yes...many of the basic features are very similar as you stated.

As one who worked in the aircraft industry (albeit many moons ago on the A-7 aircaft design) you go from concetpual ideas and artwork, to testing of conceptual designs, to settling on a lot of design features and beginning to build models to test on (and a lot of this can now occur with CAE/CAD models where the element properties are programmed in and even the FEA run against them), to an initial design and testing, to a technology demostrator (if new techs are involved) to prototypes and their testing, to the competition (if there is one) and fly-offs, and finally to the intial production design if you should win the order. Changes and modifications enter in at every stage of that process. It is not unusual for the prototypes and then production aircraft to depart pretty far from the original conceptual art and designs.

We will just have to see what happens with the Russian design...just like we will with the US design...which itself has already gone through a number of shifts and changes in concept art by the companies planning on bidding on it.

That wind tunnel model, it reminds me just a bit of that H-X/H-18 model.

People will soon start claiming Russia copied China now.

Vilyuchinsk, Kamchatka, 10 december

Oscar II and Akula with Delta III.