Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier is serving as the flagship of the Russian Navy. The ship
was named after Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Nikolay Gerasimovich Kuznetsov
who served in the Soviet Navy during The Second World War.
This was launched in 1985 and commissioned in 25 December 1990. The ship has been deployed
in many operations, and was recently involved in Syrian campaign.
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is the third United States Navy Nimitz-class super carrier and
is named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia, in recognition of his contributions
to the US Navy. The ship was launched in 1980, and was commissioned on 13 March 1982.
It has been deployed in Operation Desert Strike, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern
Watch, and Operation Enduring Freedom. Notably the body of Osama bin Laden was buried
at sea in 2011 from the deck of the Carl Vinson.
In this video, Defense Updates compares the
2 aircrafts carriers based on 5 key aspects, and provides an unbiased conclusion.
So, let us get started.
The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers was
the last class of aircraft carriers designed for the Soviet Navy.
She was built by the Black Sea Shipyard, the sole manufacturer of Soviet aircraft carriers,
in Mykolaiv within the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Two hulls were laid down in the Ukrainia before
the Soviet Union collapsed. Kuznetsov serves today in the Russian Navy and the other is deployed in China as Liaoning.
Admiral Kuznetsov has gone for many refits and is expected to have a major upgrade soon.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carriers were
designed to be improvements on previous U.S. aircraft carriers, in particular the Enterprise
and Forrestal-class.
Like all 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, USS Carl Vinson was also constructed at Newport
News Shipbuilding Company, Virginia, in the largest dry-dock in the western hemisphere.
Admiral Kuznetsov size falls well below the U.S. Nimitz-class carriers, the latter being
over 60 percent heavier and 30 meters longer. Nimitz-class displaces about 100,000 tonnes
and spans 333 meters long, far out sizing the Liaoning. The numbers bear out the fact
that the Admiral Kuznetsov is neither a lightweight nor a super carrier like the Nimitz class.
Size has undeniable impact on the capability
of any aircraft carrier as it determines the number of aircrafts that it can operate.
Admiral Kuznetsov's air wing of 30 fighters falls well short of Nimitz class capability
to hold over 65 jets.
It can be easily inferred that USS Carl Vinson has a clear advantage over the
Admiral Kuznetsov in this category.
Admiral Kuznetsov is powered by 6 diesel generators.
The propulsion limits the Admiral Kuznetsov's range and endurance.
Also, these are unreliable and even dangerous. It has seen many embarrassing malfunctions
in recent years, and during Syrian campaign a tugboat accompanied Admiral Kuznetsov,
in case the carrier broke down.
USS Carl Vinson is powered by 2 A4W nuclear reactors, kept in separate compartments.
These power 4 propeller shafts and can produce a maximum speed of over 30 knots or 56 km/h.
As a result of the use of nuclear power, the ship is capable of operating continuously
for over 20 years without refueling, and are predicted to have a service life of over 50 years.
Clearly USS Carl Vinson has huge advantage
in terms of propulsion technology, and Admiral Kuznetsov is no match for it in this category.
Admiral Kuznetsov carry MiG-29K and Su-33
fighter planes. These are 4th generation aircrafts and very capable and have been
Currently Russia doesn't have an operational stealth aircraft, and it will be sometime
before it inducts a stealthy carrier born aircraft.
USS Carl Vinson strike fighters are primarily
F18 Hornets, and F18 Super Hornets. These are twin-engine carrier-capable 4th generation
multirole fighter aircrafts.
US is also going to operate F35 C (carrier variant) soon. The F-35C carries nearly 20,000
pounds of internal fuel for longer range and better persistence than any other fighter
in a combat configuration.
There is not much difference between the aircrafts operated by these to carriers, all of them
being 4th generation aircrafts.
The main consideration is that in near future, U.S will field F 35s, where as it will take
a much longer time before Russia can field a stealthy carrier based aircraft, giving
slight advantage to USS Carl Vinson.
Admiral Kuznetsov uses ski ramp to assist aircraft takeoffs. USS Carl Vinson uses a
more efficient steam-powered catapult system to launch aircraft.
Ski-jump aircraft carriers have limitations,
regarding how much ordnance can be loaded.
The weight restriction issue is caused by
a minimum airspeed requirement for flight from an aircraft carrier. Ski-jump aircraft
carriers generate their airspeed from the run-up distance on the deck of the aircraft
carrier and an assist from the ski-jump.
Catapult aircraft carriers use a steam piston system that accelerates a shuttle attached
to the aircraft to produce a much higher end speed. Because the weight of the aircraft
impacts the end speed, the higher the weight of the aircraft the less end speed can be generated.
For example, the Su 33 when launched from the Admiral Kuznetsov can only carry 4500
pounds of ordnance before it reaches its minimum airspeed requirement, conversely, the F 18
Super Hornet can carry over 12000 pounds of ordnance on a catapult aircraft carrier. The
large differences between the two aircraft carriers can certainly have impacts to tactical
considerations for mission planning and sortie generation rates.
Though carrier operators can bypass the inherent
tradeoff between carrying internal fuel and weapons on the aircraft, using midair refueling,
the practice remains difficult to execute.
Clearly USS Carl Vinson has distinct advantage in this category.
Admiral Kuznetsov is equipped with 3D air surface search radar over the main mast, and
four multifunctional APAR (active phased array radar) panels.
6 × AK-630 AA guns (6×30 mm, 6,000 round/min/mount, 24,000 rounds)
8 × CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS (each 2 × 30 mm Gatling AA plus 32 3K87 Kortik SAM)
12 × P-700 Granit SSM Anti Ship cruise missile is present which has a range of around 635 KM and speed of 1.5 Mach.
24 × 8-cell 3K95 Kinzhal SAM for Air Defense & RBU 12000 rocket is responsible for Anti Submarine Warfare.
Plans to upgrade the aircraft carrier call for obsolete Granit missile systems to be
replaced with 3S14 universal launch systems.
Then the carrier can be outfitted with Kalibr-NK class cruise missiles, Onyx supersonic anti-ship
cruise missiles and the Zircon advanced hypersonic missiles, which reached speed of 8 Mach in recent test.
Especially the Zircon missile integration
will provide Admiral Kuznetsov with excellent offensive capability. (To know more about Zericon, check the above card)
USS Carl Vinson possess multitude of different radars including electronically scanned array
3D radars. It is equipped with 16 to 24 RIM-7 Sea Sparrow
or NATO Sea Sparrow missiles. RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a US ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft
and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles.
Its range is 19 km.
Close in weapon (CIWS) duties are performed by Phalanx, & IM-116 Rolling Airframe missile.
Phalanx CIWSs has a 4500 /min rate of fire. RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles have speed
in excess of 2 Mach.
Admiral Kuznetsov has no special protection, whereas USS Carl Vinson has 2.5 inch (64 mm)
Kevlar over vital spaces.
USS Carl Vinson has more mature equipment at present, but this will change drastically
with upcoming planned upgrade of Admiral Kuznetsov.
Russia's aircraft carrier was excellent piece of engineering when it was build,
but the ship has already done three decades of service and is on its last legs. Frequent
breakdown bear the fact that it need major overhaul.
As evident from the comparison, USS Carl Vinson is far ahead of Admiral Kuznetsov in terms
of inbuilt technology as well as the overall ecosystem but with planned upgrade the Admiral
Kuznetsov will have most dreaded cruise missile Zircon in its armor which levels the playing
field to a great extend.
In any conflict the USS Carl Vinson will have more supporting vessels like submarines and
AWACS and Admiral Kuznetsov will have to depend on the asymmetric capabilities of the Zircon.
The new Russian aircraft carrier "Shtorm" will be included in Russia's next armament
program for the 2019 to 2025 period. The nuclear power super carrier will have displacement
of 100000 tones and will be able to carry 90 aircrafts. The aircraft carrier will go
into service in the navy by 2030 and will be one of the most potent platforms in the world.
Ford class super-carriers are being built by US to replace some of the United States
Navy's existing Nimitz-class carriers. They are envisaged to be the most powerful carrier
in the world and will start to be commissioned from next year.
To know more check the above card.
As President Putin look to modernize the Russian forces, the aircraft battle is expected to
heat up in coming days.
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