Kuznetsov is said to be honorable, the face of the Russian Navy, and is the only mobile territory of Moscow today
So at any cost, Russia is not allowed to let it retire
Kuznetsov is currently the only aircraft carrier that Russia owns
but this ship has not been at sea for many years, only in the repair port
Since 2017, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov has been brought into the port by the Russian Navy for repairs and upgrades
After four years, the work is still continuing, and Kuznetsov showed no signs of returning to the ocean
A series of incidents occurred during the upgrade and overhaul of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier
causing the repair process to be lengthy and costly high
Faced with these shortcomings, many have questioned why the Russian Navy has not retired the Kuznetsov?
The answer is simple, the Kuznetsov is the sole aircraft carrier of the Russian Navy
and not a single naval power lacks an aircraft carrier!
All other powers in the world such as the US, China, Great Britain, France, etc ... have carriers
Russia is forced to own this expensive warship, in order to be on par with these countries
In particular, a small country like Thailand also owns a single aircraft carrier
and the Russian Navy will be at a loss when it comes to eliminating Kuznetsov
The Soviet shipbuilding industry in the past had never reached the level of naval powers
And since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's shipbuilding industry has been even worse
Since inheriting the Soviet Union up to now
Russia has never been able to build any warship with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons
This makes building an aircraft carrier, obviously a distant idea for Moscow at the moment
The Russian Navy, simply inherits the remnants of the Soviet Navy, and by the 21st century
the Russian Navy has the task of upgrading and improving the huge number of warships from this socialist era
And if Moscow decommissioned the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov
it would mean Russia admitted that it did not even have the capacity to upgrade an old warship
The Kuznetsov aircraft carrier was once the only warship, helping the Russian Navy implement a carrier diplomacy strategic
while fighting in the Middle East and increasing its influence in the region
And in the future without an aircraft carrier, Moscow will lose an extremely valuable diplomatic card
The current Russian nuclear submarines, although in large numbers
are difficult to perform diplomatic missions like the Kuznetsov aircraft carrier
The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, also known as a heavy aircraft cruiser, has a full load displacement of 58,600 tons
designed and built by the Soviet Union since 1982
This is an extremely special Soviet aircraft carrier
It is not only capable of deploying fighters, but is also equipped with anti-ship missiles
which can sink enemy warships without using its fighters
Admiral Kuznetsov is equipped with up to 12 P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles
which can destroy targets at a maximum range of up to 625 km
This is a unique feature that only former Soviet carriers possessed
However, the launch tubes and missiles made the Kuznetsov to sacrifice space for the planes
It is only capable of carrying a maximum of 24 carrier-based fighters
much less than other aircraft carriers of its class