The blueprint of Russia’s next-generation aircraft carrier will be ready in six years.
The announcement was made by the state shipbuilding company working on the design.
No details have been released yet. Earlier reports suggested it will be nuclear-powered, with a displacement of 80,000 tons. Soviet carriers had a maximum of 50,000 tons.
It is not clear if the ship will actually be built, as the Defense Ministry is deciding whether Russia needs a second aircraft carrier at all. Anyway, the design bureau says, by the time the ministry makes a decision, the aircraft carrier’s price and design need to be blueprinted.
If approved, the new carrier would be part of the Defense Ministry’s decade-long plan to upgrade the Russian military. The program is expected to cost Russia over 23 trillion rubles.
Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, “Admiral Kuznetsov,” was built in 1985.