Russia has a cudgel for NATO
Russia cannot yet respond to the United States for the deployment of American aircraft carriers in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans - the States and NATO have dominance in these regions, and the Russian Federation has nowhere to deploy ships of this type except off its shores.
Former Black Sea Fleet commander and former chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Vladimir Komoyedov stated this in an interview with AiF, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to the admiral, the only Russian aircraft carrier is outdated and cannot effectively fight its American counterparts.
“We sometimes treat this fact with disdain - they say that these floating fortresses do not solve the problem. But in the meantime, they must be effectively dealt with. But as? By the way, the depth of defense of an aircraft carrier is 1500 (!) km. It has 95 aircraft, 65 of which are strike aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Plus all kinds of support: radar patrols, helicopters, reconnaissance and security forces consisting of surface ships and submarines.
In addition, the United States has more than 400 dual-use spacecraft, which also serve the needs of the military fleet. We have many fewer such satellites,” Komoyedov said.
In his opinion, nuclear-powered missile-carrying cruisers could counter American aircraft carriers, but their work is also limited.
“What can we oppose to the power of an aircraft carrier? Let's take, for example, our infamous Kursk - such nuclear-powered missile-carrying cruisers are part of the anti-aircraft carrier division. On board its submarines are Granit anti-ship cruise missiles, and on its surface ships are Bazalts. But their launch range is only 500 km.
To hit an aircraft carrier, they need to get close to it, breaking through the effective defense zone of its group. Moreover, the strike should not be carried out with just any single missile - the aircraft carrier must be struck massively, methodically, together with aviation. You can’t just destroy it,” the publication’s interlocutor said.
The admiral sees the development of Russian nuclear weapons as a way out of the situation.
“We are alone against America. And she is not alone, but as part of NATO. The fleets of Canada, Great Britain, France, etc. work for it. What to do - switch to bread and water in order to build the same number of ships? No. We need to keep in constant combat readiness that club that deters any aggressor - nuclear weapons. And if we want to create new promising weapons at sea, we need to finance defense science,” Komoyedov concluded.