Prime Minister Vladimir Putin calls for the development of a long-term programme to transform the shipbuilding industry.
It is "absolutely necessary" to develop a naval shipbuilding programme for at least 30 years within a short space of time, Vladimir Putin told a meeting in St Petersburg on Friday. The document should set clear priorities for the sector consistent with the government's financial resources. The Prime Minister is convinced that such a long-term programme is essential to the development strategy of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (OSK in Russian).
Mr. Putin said the situation in the sector was "not bad," noting that output had grown by 74% between January and September. He mentioned the government's decision to allocate 1.9 billion roubles for the Amur Shipbuilding Plant to complete the foreign order (finishing construction and tests of the Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine for the Indian Navy - Vedomosti) and the Defence Ministry's decision to place 3 billion roubles worth of orders with that plant.
The Admiralty Shipyard, where the meeting took place, timed the launching of the Kirill Lavrov tanker, which can slice through thick ice, to mark the event. The tanker features state-of-the-art technologies such as electrical propulsion and an azipod-type screw and rudder unit. The plant's director-general Vladimir Alexandrov told Putin that the plant was building two more Project 667 non-nuclear submarines. The type submarine of this class, called the St. Petersburg, was launched five years ago, but is still under tests. The plant recently signed a contract worth over $2 billion to build six Project 636 submarines for Vietnam.
The programme will be drafted by the Defence Ministry in collaboration with the OSK and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, says a Defence Ministry official. The OSK strategy will be dovetailed with the Federal Targeted Programme for the Development of Civilian Marine Technology up to 2016 (with 92 billion roubles to be provided by the federal budget and 43 billion roubles by off-budget funds), and with the long-term goal of building naval vessels for export as well as for the Russian Navy. The expenditure for their construction has been approved under the state armaments programme until 2015 and exceeds the spending under the FTP, the official says, but the figures will be revised if a new shipbuilding programme is adopted. Another Defence Ministry official notes that the spending on the surface fleet in 2009 will amount to 30 billion roubles, double the amount spent in 2006-2007. The OSK was not available for comments.
The idea of having a 30-year programme for naval development is basically sound, but not very realistic given the lack of economic stability in Russia, says Mikhail Barabanov, the editor of the Moscow Defense Brief. Nor, he claims, does the government have a unified approach to the development of the Navy and its place in the Armed Forces. He continues: "that such consensus does not exist is evidenced among other things by the plans to buy a costly Mistral assault ship from France intended for objectives that are not typical of the Russian Navy: expeditionary missions and interventions in the oceanic zone".
The growth of shipbuilding in January-September was registered, in Mr. Barabanov's opinion, because several ships, including the Yaroslav the Wise patrol vessel were launched. Before 2015, the expert says, the industry will supply the Navy with three Project 955/955A strategic nuclear submarines, one Project 885 nuclear submarine, three Project 677 diesel submarines, a couple of project 22350 frigates, and as many as five project 20380 corvettes, along with several auxiliary vessels. Still, it will not provide enough work for an industry that has the capacity to produce several dozen such vessels each year.
Maria Buravtseva, Alexei Nikolsky