JohninMK Sat Mar 05, 2016 1:09 pm
Here comes the big boy, just in case its not all over.
Yandex translated
The aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" in the summer of 2016, it is planned to send into the Mediterranean sea, where it will be headed by a permanent grouping of the Russian Navy in this region. On Saturday, March 5, reports TASS citing a senior source in the main command of the Navy.
Currently, according to the source, the carrier is located at the 35th shipyard in Murmansk, where the restoration of technical readiness before a long sea trip. "In particular, by early summer, the cellar of an aircraft carrier will need to upgrade to the new types of aircraft munitions", — said Agency.
What tasks will be set before the aircraft carrier as the flagship of the Mediterranean grouping of the Navy of Russia, TASS did not elaborate.
The source also said that after going to the Mediterranean to "Admiral Kuznetsov" will arise in the repair of 2-2,5 years. The ship, in particular, needs to upgrade its air group. The head of Department of shipbuilding of the Navy of Russia Vladimir Trapeznikov said earlier that the modernization of "Kuznetsov will have a new wing and new opportunities". According to him, the aircraft carrier will be able to use new MiG-29K.
The formation of a permanent task force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean sea started in 2013. As a rule, on a rotational basis in the region are more than ten ships. Previously, the largest ships of the Russian Navy, who led the group in the Mediterranean, were the heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Peter the Great" missile cruiser "Moskva" and "Varyag" (the latter, flagship of the Pacific fleet is in the Mediterranean now).
Ships and auxiliary vessels of the Russian Navy participate in the operation against Islamists in Syria, which is carried out at the request of the President of the Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad since last fall. The possibility of "Admiral Kuznetsov" allow it to be used as the vehicle control communications, deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean, and its air group can be used to cover strike aircraft operating in Northern Syria.
http://lenta.ru/news/2016/03/05/kuzya/