Russian Naval Shipbuilding Industry: News

Russia Sets ‘New Rules’ For Naval Shipbuilders – Report

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian defense official has unveiled “new rules” for the country’s military shipbuilding industry in a bid to shake up warship production, Kommersant daily reported Friday.

Citing unnamed sources who attended the closed-door meeting at the Krylovsky research center in St. Petersburg, Kommersant said Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov’s address “in fact set out new rules of the game” in the shipbuilding industry. Similar meetings will soon take place on the military aerospace and space sectors, the sources told the paper.
Borisov said Russia's new military shipbuilding program until 2050, which has to be drafted by November, should primarily focus “on quality.” He said less funding will be provided for the program than previously, but did not say by how much.

The new naval shipbuilding program will cut the number of ship types while increasing their number, and also ensure more efficient budget spending throughout the entire life cycle of each ship, Borisov said according to Kommersant.

“We need ships that will serve 50 years, not 30 years and that can undergo five or six modernizations,” Borisov said, the paper reported, adding that it was important to encourage shipbuilders to build fewer ships of better quality.

Under the rearmament program for the period until 2020, some 5 trillion rubles ($150 billion) has been allocated for the Navy, Borisov said, of which 47 per cent will go into building new ships.

Borisov criticized previous state rearmament programs, that he said had not been fulfilled due to “wrong assessment of planned spending, the high inflation rate, low level of prepayment, underestimated costs and out of control growth in prices” for warships. He compared the cost of building a ship to the "budget of a city," saying pricing is a burning issue for the industry, the report said.

Borisov’s ultimatum to the industry is the latest in a series of direct addresses by senior Russian officials to naval shipbuilders, and in particular the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
Last May, President Vladimir Putin fired the corporation’s boss Andrei Dyachkov after just ten months in the job, replacing him with the head of tank maker Vladimir Shmakov, with a brief to shake up the sector.

In August, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, said all contracts for naval ships should be “unified,” including all systems on board including weapons, in a bid to keep control of costs.

LINK

Viktor wrote:

Russia Sets ‘New Rules’ For Naval Shipbuilders – Report

MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian defense official has unveiled “new rules” for the country’s military shipbuilding industry in a bid to shake up warship production, Kommersant daily reported Friday.

Citing unnamed sources who attended the closed-door meeting at the Krylovsky research center in St. Petersburg, Kommersant said Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov’s address “in fact set out new rules of the game” in the shipbuilding industry. Similar meetings will soon take place on the military aerospace and space sectors, the sources told the paper.
Borisov said Russia's new military shipbuilding program until 2050, which has to be drafted by November, should primarily focus “on quality.” He said less funding will be provided for the program than previously, but did not say by how much.

The new naval shipbuilding program will cut the number of ship types while increasing their number, and also ensure more efficient budget spending throughout the entire life cycle of each ship, Borisov said according to Kommersant.

“We need ships that will serve 50 years, not 30 years and that can undergo five or six modernizations,” Borisov said, the paper reported, adding that it was important to encourage shipbuilders to build fewer ships of better quality.

Under the rearmament program for the period until 2020, some 5 trillion rubles ($150 billion) has been allocated for the Navy, Borisov said, of which 47 per cent will go into building new ships.

Borisov criticized previous state rearmament programs, that he said had not been fulfilled due to “wrong assessment of planned spending, the high inflation rate, low level of prepayment, underestimated costs and out of control growth in prices” for warships. He compared the cost of building a ship to the "budget of a city," saying pricing is a burning issue for the industry, the report said.

Borisov’s ultimatum to the industry is the latest in a series of direct addresses by senior Russian officials to naval shipbuilders, and in particular the United Shipbuilding Corporation.
Last May, President Vladimir Putin fired the corporation’s boss Andrei Dyachkov after just ten months in the job, replacing him with the head of tank maker Vladimir Shmakov, with a brief to shake up the sector.

In August, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, said all contracts for naval ships should be “unified,” including all systems on board including weapons, in a bid to keep control of costs.

LINK

The strange part of it is, that the Ru Navy's shrinkage was actually caused in some part, by the shrinkage, premature scrapping, sale and reserving of what were some fine ships. Imagine if the USSR had continued in a strong fashion. There would have been a large number of various classes of aircraft and heli carriers, ranging from Moskva, Kuznetsov etc, all the way up to the giant Ulyanovsks. That would have given immense power projection - IF ofcourse that was desired.

The big question to me, is how to use such naval power, so that it is economical, practical and benefits, rather than allows rivals to close a gap with Russia.

Russia certainly needs a big navy to defend her envied assets. But its not so clear what Russia considers her obligations to partners around the World. I think Russia's architecture of "international security doctrine" needs to be developed, just as much as the ships on the seas.

Ships with long lives and multiple refits sound a good idea. Its a shame Russia isn't talking about refitting Ulyanovsks etc, but ofcourse they were scrapped during construction.

I also wonder whether Russia could built ships then lease them to India and other navies. This would mean that the Ru Navy could grow overnight, if circumstances dictated.

Perhaps ships like helicopter carriers could double up as cargo carriers etc in peacetime. What I mean is a Russian navy calibre ship with the requisite level of armour, missile bays etc. But used cost effectively on the Northern Sea route etc. The idea would be that Russia could have a substantially larger navy than otherwise.

I also wonder about how piracy operations and funding is decided. What is the incentive for providing ships etc? What is the incentive for snuffing out piracy etc etc?

America's economic, political and military existence are completely entwined. I wonder what steps Russia is taking to do the same? Perhaps the 1st stage in that is closer BRICS ties..?

Shoigu said yesterday they need two Ship Yard .one in Far East to support Pacific Fleet reffering to Amur .....ofcourse he also criticised those lazy bumbs at Amur

I wonder what he would say if he sees the Indian SY of  MDL in Mumbai and  GRSE in Calcutta

It's the MODs fault too, not just Amur.

They did not support the shipyards for years (or would order then not pay on time or at all, hell of a way to build a project! Even shipyards comparatively lavishly funded like Zvezdochka had to use their own funds to start work while assuming MOD would pay, like they did as recently as on the burned Yekaterinburg!) and now they think throwing money will make things happen. As if the yard has been in stasis for the past 20 years and can just hop back to work.

Ship builders in Russia's Far East to receive over $20-billion orders

MOSCOW, April 17, 11:21 /ITAR-TASS/. Far Eastern ship builders would receive orders worth 780 billion roubles (nearly $22 billion) till 2025, Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of the military industrial sector, said on Twitter.

Rogozin on Thursday held a meeting of the government maritime board in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and visited the Amur ship building plant, where he met with workers. Among them are more than 100 specialists from Crimea and Ukraine. The vice-premier favours bringing of skilled personnel from Crimea and Ukraine to work at the Far East's ship building plants.

Orders for construction of more than 160 ships would be placed in the Far Eastern ship building cluster till 2020, and the programme would be corrected to increase the number, he said, adding that it was necessary to promptly settle issues to grant citizenship to such specialists.

Hell. I would kill to be there.

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/852972.html

Zelenodolsk received an order for 5 more project 22100 coast guard ships, for FSB use in the North primarily. The lead ship of the class was laid down in 2012, and should be launched this year.
These are the biggest ships built by the shipyard, at around 3000 tons.

The state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation, or USC, might undergo a radical restructuring in an attempt to lift itself out of a slump of consistently poor performance.

The majority of enterprises in the corporation are routinely unprofitable, with many of them losing more than 500 million rubles ($15.5 million) each year, according to a report to be reviewed Friday at a conference of the Russian government's Marine Council, Kommersant reported.

The reasons behind the company's stagnation are many and systemic: its facilities are worn out, renovation is slow, production is 20 to 50 percent more expensive than making ships abroad and takes up to twice as long.

USC’s new strategy states that to facilitate growth, the company will require investments totaling one trillion rubles ($31 billion) by 2030, with 20 percent of that sum coming from the federal budget.

The company’s plan hopes to increase profits from the current 160 billion rubles a year to 500 billion rubles a year by 2030.

The plan says USC will need to completely overhaul its operations to do so, abandoning regional subholdings in favor of five new production divisions — three military and two civil.

This restructuring would see such cornerstones of Russian shipbuilding as St. Petersburg's Baltic Shipyard and Admiralty Shipyard shut down and their operations moved to other existing facilities.

The strategy, developed by recently appointed USC head Vladimir Shmakov, is completely the opposite of that taken by his predecessor Andrei Dyachkov, who pursued decentralization through the transfer of authority to regional sub-holdings and the construction of new shipyards.

Dyachkov was fired in May following censure from Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is head of the Marine Council and oversees the defense industry.

Individuals familiar with the topic said Shmakov's strategy could face opposition from Rogozin, who favors the development of new facilities.

Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation ready to build Mistral-class warships

MOSCOW, September 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) will be able to build, if necessary, the Mistral class helicopter carriers for the Russian Defense Ministry, USC President Aleksei Rakhmanov said on Wednesday.

He said the Baltic Shipyard has already made two stern sections for helicopter carriers the final assembly of which is made in France.

“We can work, we know how to do this,” Rakhmanov said, adding that the hull construction makes only 25 - 30% of a helicopter carrier cost “at best.”

“It’s quite a feasible task,” the USC chief said, referring to the prospects for the construction of Mistral class warships in Russia. “I don’t see any special challenge here, because we are roughly aware of what should be done,” he added.

“The possibility of making orders for two more Mistral ships is a question to the Defense Ministry,” Rakhmanov said.

Paris on Monday said it cannot deliver the first of two Mistral helicopter carrier ships to Russia.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin remarked, that if France decided to transfer the ship to somebody else, it would be unlawfull as one third of that ship is Russian-made.

“The stern section of Mistral was made at Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. That is why if they want to keep the ship, we will have to tear away its stern section and get it back to use it in other ships,” Rogozin said.

French President Francois Hollande said France had not suspended or cancelled the deal with Russia, but the delivery of the ships would depend on how the situation develops in eastern Ukraine which has been gripped by violence and fighting between militias and government troops for months.

Hollande said these conditions were not currently in place there and if the situation deteriorated further, France would delay the delivery again.

Earlier, he assured Russia that his country would fulfill its obligations and hand over the first ship as scheduled but the work on the second one would depend on Moscow’s position on the Ukrainian crisis.

President Vladimir Putin said France will have to return the money paid for the ships if it refuses to deliver them.

Russia and France signed the €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) contract for two French-built Mistral-class helicopter carriers in June 2011.

Under the contract, each Mistral ship has to be built by France within 36 months. The first of them, the Vladivostok, was to arrive in St. Petersburg from Saint-Nazaire, France, in December 2014.

The second ship, the Sevastopol, is to arrive in St. Petersburg in November 2015 to make a voyage to the Pacific Fleet and join it in the second half of 2016.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20140930000078

Flyingdutchman wrote:http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20140930000078

IMHO Shipbuilding was hardest hit by the post-USSR collapse , it will take the longest time to recuperate fully. It would be wise to inch a deal with Chinese to build ship frames and load it with new Russian tech. In any case , they are more reliable than French due to full strategic independence.

zg18 wrote:

Flyingdutchman wrote:http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20140930000078

IMHO Shipbuilding was hardest hit by the post-USSR collapse , it will take the longest time to recuperate fully. It would be wise to inch a deal with Chinese to build ship frames and load it with new Russian tech. In any case , they are more reliable than French due to full strategic independence.

That article reeks of crap... The Russian naval industry is continually restrengthening, and shouldn't rely on foreign ships... Besides, the 054A would slot right below the Gorshkov, making it compete with the indigenous and arguably superior Grigorovich. - It would be a downgrade... Its only advantage is its lower cost, but you get what you pay for!

They claim the Gorshkov is "lacking funding and inadequate facility technology"!

"Russia has been a mentor to China as it builds up its national defense technology. Now that the Chinese student has outpaced the Russian teacher, "there is no shame" asking for assistance from China, the report said." - Outpace? - Sure. Create better products? - Now way in $#%&!

"China's Type 054A frigate, codenamed Jiangkai II by NATO, is a perfect fit for the Russian navy for many reasons. First of all, the model was designed and built with help from Russia's leading shipmaker, the Northern Design Bureau in St Petersburg. Second, the ship is equipped with weapons and electronic facilities that are designed according to the specs of samples, allowing the parts to be interchanged conveniently. Third, the advanced war ship meets Russian's demands for powerful weapons, invisibility, adaptability and endurance. Finally, the Type 054A frigate worked well with Russian flotillas well during the Russia-China military drill in May, which shows its capability to work side-by-side with Russian ships."

These guys must be kidding... 

1) Sure, it was partly designed by NDB, but what good is that when it is an export! - NBD wouldn't give them anything that Russia's fleet doesn't have...

2) Most ships nowadays are modular, including the future Russian frigates...

3) Powerful weapons? - All Chinese made versions of Soviet technology!

That being said, zg18, you are correct... Scoring a deal where China *only* builds the hull etc, and Russia is the one in control of R&D would be a win-win for both countries. Russia gets the ships that it wants, at a lower cost, in less time, without compromising its other naval projects. While China, gets a paycheck and work.....

Mike E wrote:That article reeks of crap... The Russian naval industry is continually restrengthening, and shouldn't rely on foreign ships... Besides, the 054A would slot right below the Gorshkov, making it compete with the indigenous and arguably superior Grigorovich. - It would be a downgrade... Its only advantage is its lower cost, but you get what you pay for!

What do you expect? It`s expected that Chinese will brag about if someone thinks in Russia that Moscow should order from Chinese shipbuilding.

There is no denying that great progress has been achieved but also there is no denying that some programs are very slow , it would be prudent just in case to order cheap and quick delivery platforms from China and fill it with new Russian systems.

The problem with getting the Chinese to build hulls for the Russian Navy is that if they are building them what are Russian shipyards going to be doing?

Surely investing in a foreign company... no matter how friendly and reliable is just exporting money and expertise at the expense of the local industry.

St Petersberg showed it could build a hull as quickly as the French and on time... where is the problem?

BTW did you actually read the link provided?

It is a chinese website claiming the Russian Navy wants to stop making ships and start buying Chinese ships instead... and you guys don't find that a little suspicious?

GarryB wrote:The problem with getting the Chinese to build hulls for the Russian Navy is that if they are building them what are Russian shipyards going to be doing?

Surely investing in a foreign company... no matter how friendly and reliable is just exporting money and expertise at the expense of the local industry.

St Petersberg showed it could build a hull as quickly as the French and on time... where is the problem?

BTW did you actually read the link provided?

It is a chinese website claiming the Russian Navy wants to stop making ships and start buying Chinese ships instead... and you guys don't find that a little suspicious?

Wantchinatimes is not a Chinese paper, they're a Pro-Taiwanese paper based in Canada and I think the head editor is the infamous Andrei Chang (the female equivalent of Gordon Chang I bet), it's like calling a Pro-Ukrainian newspaper based in Canada a "Russian newspaper".

GarryB wrote:The problem with getting the Chinese to build hulls for the Russian Navy is that if they are building them what are Russian shipyards going to be doing?

Surely investing in a foreign company... no matter how friendly and reliable is just exporting money and expertise at the expense of the local industry.

St Petersberg showed it could build a hull as quickly as the French and on time... where is the problem?

BTW did you actually read the link provided?

It is a chinese website claiming the Russian Navy wants to stop making ships and start buying Chinese ships instead... and you guys don't find that a little suspicious?

No no noooooo..... The idea is to have Chinese naval yards assist the Russian ones so that the Russian naval yards can focus more on other projects and be *quicker* as well. For example, Gorshkovs could be "made in China" while other ships need the attention etc. It will help boast their economy, while being cheaper for Russia...

^^^^^^^^^^^

They could do it even quicker at a lower cost. Rather than having a couple Gorshkovs getting built, you could have 10 more being built without over-over-loading the Russian naval industry.

Sketchy link to say the least, but Magnum said it for me...

CHina building warships for Russia will be bad for Russia image... world wide.. it could damage their sales
to India for example that buy many RUssian warships. Russia instead better build more shipyards ,they will need it..
Things between Russia and US will only go more tense as time pass.. and Russia needs to expand and modernize
its defense industry , so that they can develop much more faster planes ,tanks and warships. Is totally unnaceptable
that for example Syria paid Russia for a dozen of mig-29 back in 2007 and tanks and that 7 years later Russia have failed to deliver them.. Same with India.. India had lots of problems with RUssia delays.. Algeria had problems with the quality of Russian hardware.. all those things damage the Image of Russia as a reliable vendor. Russia should have enough Industry to fulfill orders withing just one year to any frigate or combat plane they are ordered.

Vann7 wrote:

CHina building warships for Russia will be bad for Russia image... world wide.. it could damage their sales
to India for example that buy many RUssian warships. Russia instead better build more shipyards ,they will need it..
Things between Russia and US will only go more tense as time pass.. and Russia needs to expand and modernize
its defense industry , so that they can develop much more faster planes ,tanks and warships. Is totally unnaceptable
that for example Syria paid Russia for a dozen of mig-29 back in 2007 and tanks and that 7 years later Russia have failed to deliver them.. Same with India.. India had lots of problems with RUssia delays.. Algeria had problems with the quality of Russian hardware.. all those things damage the Image of Russia as a reliable vendor. Russia should have enough Industry to fulfill orders withing just one year to any frigate or combat plane they are ordered.

Once again..... The idea is to have China build the ships that Russia can't build because of their load. This would allow Russia to receive many more ships, sooner, and at a lower cost. - In return, China gets the work and money. This wouldn't hurt their image at all, because like I mentioned earlier, it would just be "extra ships".

Some positive news in Crimea:

On the reconstruction of the torpedo factory in Crimea "Gidropribor"

Kronstadt Naval plant will be part of "United Shipbuilding Corporation" on June 1st, 2015

Annual Report of JSC Shipyard "Yantar" for 2014


Key events in the activities of "Shipyard" Yantar "that occurred during 2014

In 2014, as part of the basis for the activities of the Company were as follows the main events:
During the construction and repair of ships for the Russian Defense Ministry:

BDK continued construction of the project 11711 "Ivan Gren" (Head. Wc-301):
work was carried out on completion and installation, electrical installation standard equipment.

BDK continued construction of the project 11711 "Peter Morgunov" (Head. Wc-302):
carried out construction work started stacker assembly hull.

continued construction of the oceanographic vessel of project 22010 "Amber" (Head. №01602) - carried out the order completion, mooring trials in November 2014 launched the order to the factory sea trials.

continued work on the construction project orders 11356R for the Russian Defense Ministry:
- "Admiral Grigorovich" order manager. №357 - launched, over completion, started preparing for the kind of tests
- "Admiral Essen" order manager. №358 - launched, over loading and installation of mechanical and special equipment, pipelines and systems
- "Admiral Makarov" inquiry head. №359 loaded main and auxiliary engines, hull and superstructure are fully formed, the order is ready to be launched.

works on service maintenance and repair of ships and vessels of the Baltic Fleet in the framework of the state defense order.

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1355151.html

The main activities of JSC "Far East Plant" Zvezda "in 2014:

1. In the reporting year, the main work on the SDO segment were conducted in the Premier League "Irkutsk" Project 949A head. Number 619 [modernization project 949AM within state contract from 05.04.2013 № R / 1/2/0117 / GK-13-DGOZ] and submarines "Ryazan" 667BDR project manager. Number 376 [on-condition repair under the state contract from 26.08.2011 № R / 1/2/0526 / GK-11-DGOZ with the initial maturity date in 2013.]. In accordance with the decree of the Russian Government recognized the Company the sole executor of the state defense order in part to repair the deep modernization of submarines [probably submarine project 949A].
2. Completed repairs of "Tomsk" Project 949A head. Number 663 on the main state contract [is unclear what is meant - state contract from 27.11.2009 № 714/13/27 / EC / 1339-09 for the repair of a technical extension of overhaul life of 3.5 years, or government contract from 18.12. 2012 number P / 1/2/0722 / GK-12-DGOZ to identified during repair work extra cost 499 million rubles. with maturity date in October 2013.]. December 25, 2014 the ship departed to the place of permanent deployment. Formalized accounting documents for the closure of the state contract.
3. In the process of repair PLAC "Kuzbass" Project 971 head. Number 516 identified an additional amount of work not covered by the state contract [Again, it is unclear about the first government contract from 17.08.2009 № 714/13/27 / EC / 0974-09 to renovate the technical condition with date 2010. with the price of 1.01 billion rubles. or a second contract for additional work with unaccounted cost 463.9 million. from 18.12.2012 № R / 1/2/0723 / GK-12-DGOZ with a maturity date in 2013.]. Concluded new government contract to date November 2015
4. Work on the federal targeted programs are not executed in full. Change the requirements for the project of reconstruction, providing for the possibility of their use without building alterations to repair submarines Generation IV, changes the fundamental technology of repair and modernization of submarines of the third generation, with the result that there was a necessity to adjust the PSD feasibility study.
5. Unable to fully execute its investment program for the construction of shipbuilding complex "Star" due to transfer the bulk of funding for the coming years.
6. Segment military-technical cooperation were working on submarine dismantlement "Zelenograd" 667BDRM project manager. Number 393 on an agreement with the Agency to reduce the threat of US Department of Defense [according to the site of public procurement in 2014-15g. was taken two orders for disposal of nuclear submarines worth more than 745 mln., the planned completion date 2017.].

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1361660.html

Still having productivity issues though. That is a lot of production penalties.

I say, if the shipyard is that much of a problem, why not privatize it. I imagine someone else may be able to make better of it if the government/USC cannot.

Why do westerners think privatisation is a solution?

First of all producing military equipment... which private companies would you like to own this shipyard... Boeing? The French?

Privatisation means basically firing half the workers and then making the remaining workers do three times more work than they did before for less wages, while the new management steal the profits and retirement funds of the workers...