Russia, once a great naval power, now lags seriously behind the United States. Nevertheless, the country is considering plans to build some supercarriers and develop carrier-based advanced stealth fighters to contain these two maritime giants. Former Vice-Admiral Vladimir Pepelyayev, now retired, deputy head of the Russian Navy’s General Staff, also drew attention to the fact that it was really necessary to develop a promising aircraft carrier with a displacement of 70 to 90 thousand tons with the possibility of basing the naval version of the Su-57 fighter on board.
Now a part of the team designing an aircraft carrier at the Krylov Research Institute, Pepelyaev told Izvestia, “Our promising aircraft carrier should have a displacement of 70 to 90 thousand tons, but the most important thing is not the displacement, not air drones, but aircraft.” He emphasized the necessity in the future for the Su-57 on Russian carriers, particularly given the heavy blows the Black Sea Fleet recently inflicted on attacks from Ukraine.
It is the need of the hour for an aircraft carrier, more than the mere count of ships that the Navy possesses. A great military force, a presence, but not as powerful as the United States Navy with 11. Pepelyaev has been vocal about the need for carriers to counter threats on the high seas and project power globally. He estimated that it would take at least four aircraft carriers, two for the Pacific Fleet and two for the Northern Fleet.
This dream seems, however, far from coming true. The Russian defense industry is oversubscribed to the point of depletion in an economy imbued with war and crippled by international sanctions. An ambitious carrier project announced in 2017 has seen little progress so far, only the cut of some steel for the project.
Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has been plagued with problems since it was first commissioned in 1991. Even if it completes the kind of planned sea trials, fully fitting out this ship, and standing up an effective air wing, will still constitute a very large ask. The carrier has only made one combat deployment in its nearly 30-year lifespan. While the reports are sometimes conflicting, it still appears that its sea trials have been postponed again.
Military analysts all note that while Russia possesses a large and varied powerful submarine fleet, it has a large misbalance in surface fleet assets, particularly aircraft carriers, to be a global power projector. Prospects for the “Shtorm” supercarrier in 2017 to rival the US’s Nimitz-class carriers have not materialized.
Based on this, the convening and commissioning of a new aircraft carrier bearing the displacement of 100,000 tons aboard the US has been executed. Generally, the lack of a fully functioning aircraft carrier aboard the Russian Navy is recognized by almost all Western critics as a failure all in.
The ex-deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Navy revealed efforts to create a navalized Su-57 design for future carrier-borne operations. The track record of Russia’s previous carrier-capable jets, such as the Yak-38 and the Su-33, has been less effective than that of NATO aircraft. After crashes, and technical problems facing the MiG-29K, it is also said to be more adapted to ground strikes. Currently, the US has had several carrier-capable F-35 Lightning II fighters, making the development of a fifth-generation stealth carrier-capable aircraft in Russia very pertinent.
The United States and Türkiye, meanwhile, held their largest joint military exercises in seven years, a potential sign of rapprochement between the NATO allies. The world’s largest aircraft carrier steamed into the port of Antalya in the Mediterranean Turkish port, as part of the move, which it said was a major step toward a long-term rebuilding of the alliance. Joint naval and combat exercises took place between Turkish naval ships and F-16 fighters, the Gerald R. Ford Strike Group of the U.S. Navy, and U.S. F-18 jets.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake hosted key government and military leaders aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, including Turkey’s drone manufacturer, Baykar, and its CEO, Selçuk Bayraktar. Expressing similar views, Rear Adm. Erik J. Eslich, U.S. Commander of the Carrier Strike Group 12 said “The exercises strengthened the bond we share with Türkiye and enhanced our common understanding of maritime tactics and procedures advancing interoperability objectives.”
The military rapprochement goes far beyond naval exercises. The United States, Türkiye, and 20 other allies, including Georgia and Azerbaijan, started a major air defense and readiness exercise called “Agile Spirit 2023” in Georgia. It aims to make forces “combat-credible” in the efforts for deterrence against aggression in the Black Sea region.
As the Türkiye-Russia relations continue to enjoy competitive but friendly ties, the role of the country as a counterbalance against Russian influence in the Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia will only expand. With more military cooperation expected to be enhanced between the United States and Türkiye, countries in this region of the Caspian can now intensify relationships with the United States to help defend their territories as Russian aggression only intensifies against Ukraine.