The Russian Navy: a Historic Transition
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Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................iii Preface ............................................................................................................................v Introduction: Russian Naval History: From the Kievan Rus’ to Today’s Russia ...................xiii Chapter One: Strategy – Fulfilling National Missions ........................................................1 The Evolution of Naval Strategy .......................................................................................1 Soviet Navy Roles and Missions ......................................................................................2 Chapter Two: Russian Navy: Structure and Leadership .....................................................7 Organization ..................................................................................................................7 Admiral Viktor Chirkov ...................................................................................................9 Future Leadership ...........................................................................................................11 Chapter Three: Procurement: Shift to Quality Over Quantity ...........................................15 Procurement ....................................................................................................................15 Quality ............................................................................................................................15 The Future Fleet ..............................................................................................................17 Naval Aviation ................................................................................................................30 Chapter Four: Personnel – Movement Towards a Professional Force ................................39 Outlook ..........................................................................................................................43 Additional resources: Posters of the Russian Navy Major Forces by Fleet, Russian Navy New Construction, and the Russian Federation Navy (map) are located inside the back cover. i Published by the Office of Naval Intelligence December 2015 Cleared for public release by Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR Case 16-S-0274) This report contains copyrighted material. Copying and disseminating the contents are prohibited without the permission of the copyright owners. When feasible, copyright permission has been sought for those pictures where copyright was known, and attribution to those sources, when known, has been given. ii Executive Summary This publication, The Russian Navy – A battled to maintain that access, directly Historic Transition, is intended to provide supported Russia’s land forces in times of the reader with a basic introduction to the imperial expansion and in the expulsion of Russian Navy and an appreciation of current invaders, been part of the strategic nuclear developments that will shape Russia’s navy deterrence triad, and demonstrated a global and its operations in the 21st century. presence in the national interest. Political and military strategy and the role and mission of Because the U.S. Navy operates worldwide the Navy evolved as the Russian state grew, and the Russian Navy is an advanced, globally faced challenges, was transformed into the capable force, its history, capabilities, missions, Soviet Union by revolution, repelled invasion, and role within the Russian state and armed and encountered disintegration. forces should be clearly understood. The new technologically advanced Russian Navy, “The Russian Navy is being equipped with the increasingly armed with the KALIBR family of newest; including precision long-range strike weapons, will be able to more capably defend the maritime approaches to the Russian weapons, and has big nuclear power. Naval Federation and exert significant influence in forces today are capable of operating for a adjacent seas. This multi-purpose force will be long time and with high combat readiness in the forward-layered defense of Russia and its operationally important areas of the global maritime exclusive economic zone and will be ocean.” able to promote Russian diplomatic interests, - Admiral Viktor Chirkov advance maritime science, combat piracy, and provide humanitarian assistance. Commander-in-Chief, Russian Navy It will also provide a flexible platform for Russia to demonstrate offensive capability, Throughout, the navy retained, with some threaten neighbors, project power regionally, adjustment for the passing years and and advance President Putin’s stated goal of events, many of the basic organizational, returning Russia to clear great power status. procedural, and personnel practices that were laid down by its founder, Peter I Over its 320-year history, the Russian Navy (the Great), at the beginning of the 18th has been instrumental in securing Russia’s century. As the years passed, Russia’s naval maritime access to the world, periodically activity and the shipbuilding and weapons iii production capabilities required to advance interest, manned by a new generation of post- it became ever more sophisticated and Soviet officers and enlisted personnel. varied. In addition to production for its own needs, foreign sales shifted from selling The research, technical development, and masts, caulking pitch, and rope to a variety production enabling the achievement of of highly capable ships, submarines, and these goals have and will continue to be related weapons systems today sold to or co- accompanied by a robust program of naval produced with a number of foreign states. arms sales to other countries. The quantity and quality of the ships, submarines, and As Russia asserts itself on the world stage, armaments sold will transform the current it is giving priority of effort and funding to capabilities of recipient states and, in some recapitalizing its navy, which is going through cases, potentially enable them to improve the a major transition from the legacy Soviet Navy quality of indigenous arms production. to a Russian Navy that should reflect the latest achievements of Russian advances in science and technology. “Thanks to the bravery of sailors, the talent of shipbuilders, and the daring of explorers, On the basis of currently available data it is pioneers, and naval leaders our nation has projected that the Russian Navy will retain its held fast as a great maritime power. This core missions. Although the national defense mission of the strategic and general purpose status is a huge responsibility for us as we navy has remained, today’s fiscal realities face history, our ancestors who created require that the decreased number of major Russia’s maritime glory, and, of course, future naval platforms be multi-mission capable generations to whom we must pass a modern and armed with the latest capabilities in and strong Navy.” weapons; sensors; and command, control, - Vladimir Putin, President communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) Russian Federation Navy Day, 26 July 2015 systems. Russia has begun, and over the next decade will make large strides in fielding a 21st century navy capable of a dependable national defense, an impressive but limited presence in more distant global areas of NOTE: The contents of this publication reflect information gathered from a broad range of publicly available source material that is considered to be effectively accurate and authoritative. iv Preface After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in organizational disarray and financial neglect as December 1991, Russia inherited the majority the Russian leadership focused on the priorities of the former Soviet Navy, including its afloat of national transformation from the framework assets, naval bases, and an extensive network of the totalitarian and socialist Soviet state into of shore facilities. a fledgling democracy embracing a market economy. During this “time of troubles,” The immediate post-Soviet period was fraught most naval programs were either suspended with major difficulties as the Soviet Navy first or halted altogether. Only efforts to improve became the Commonwealth of Independent command and control systems and less- States (CIS) Navy and finally transitioned expensive new design work continued to be to the Russian Federation (Russian) Navy pursued. (RFN). These early years were marked by Admiral Kuznetzov at anchor Severomorsk v Russia inherited virtually all of a huge legacy were justified on the basis that it was better to Soviet Navy, however—largely because Fleet concentrate limited funds and effort and save Admiral of the Soviet Union Sergey Gorshkov, some of the best and most useful ships and Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy for submarines rather than attempt to save all and almost 30 years, wanted to keep what he had thereby save nothing. built—many of the Soviet Navy’s submarines, surface ships, and auxiliaries had long outlived Since 2000, as Russia’s governmental order their usefulness, but were retained to maintain and economy have stabilized, there has been impressive numbers. The post-Soviet naval a focused and funded effort to revitalize leadership faced daunting decisions to triage the Russian military—including the Navy. this legacy. Once assessments were made Suspended construction programs are and decisions taken, fully three-quarters to now