Commander In-Chief

 

     The Russian Navy is overseen by an admiral. The current commander in chief is 

Vladimir Sergeevich Vysotsky (Not to be confused with the famous Soviet singer). 

Official photo from the Ministry of Defense

     Vysotskiy graduated from the P.S. Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School in Sevastopol in 1976, and was then sent to serve with the Pacific Fleet. While stationed there he served on a variety of ships, including a being the executive officer (XO) of the Svedlov Class  cruiser Admiral Senyavin.  

Svedlov Class cruiser

     After attending an advanced officers school Vysotskiy was appointed to be the XO of the Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk. 

Kiev class carrier 

      Vysotskiy was assigned as the commanding officer of the Varyag, the sister ship to the Admiral Kuznetsov, but this unit was never finished due to the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Varyag

      After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Vysotskiy returned to the Pacific Fleet for a time, served with the Baltic Fleet, and eventually was appointed commander of the Northern Fleet in 2005.

      By decree of the president  Vysotskiy was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy. 

       Vysotskiy has severed in the Russian Navy through a very difficult period. A period of decline and budget woes. However if all the promises of Putin are to believed then Vysotskiy will oversee the Russian Navy through a period of enormous change. In a decade the Russian Navy will be a completely different force. If given the opportunity Admiral Vysotskiy will have as much impact on the Russian Navy as Admiral Gorskov had with the Soviet Navy. 

Admiral Vysotskiy on an official visit to India.

 

The Future of Carrier Aviation 

RIA Novosti

     The Russian Navy this week made it official,  it will be transitioning to the MiG-29K as its carrier based aircraft. On the 29th of February it was confirmed by defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov and MiG general director Sergei Korotkov that a contract for 24 aircraft had been finalized. 20 of the MiG's will be single-seat MiG-29k's, and the remaining 4 will be dual cockpit MiG-29UB's. These new aircraft will be delivered to the Russian Navy in several years, and will replace the Su-33's. 

Su-33

      The MiG-29K is a variant of the MiG-29, which is a land based multi-role fighter. The MiG-29 started its service with the Soviet Air Force in the early 1980's, and has undergone upgrades through out the years  in order to maintain its role as a front line fighter. 

     The MiG-29K lost the competition to the Su-33 to become the carrier based aircraft of the Soviet Navy. Because of this many analysts were confused that the Russian Navy returned to the MiG as an option. However I don't see why there is any confusion. The Indian Navy is already successfully operating the MiG-29K,  in which  MiG has updates on-board sensors and avionics. Instead of trying to develop a new platform for naval aviation, the Russian Navy went with what was already working.  The Russian Navy is committed to carrier-based aviation. The Admiral Kuznetsov will enter a refit and overhaul period later this year, and the plans for a new aircraft carrier should also be revealed later this year. 

     It will be interesting to see the future of Russian carrier based aviation. Only time will tell if the Sukhoi T-50 will be developed into a carrier based aircraft. Some think that is already in the works. 

T-50 during flight trials

Other news from this week:

Photo: RP Defense

The Russian Northern Fleet and the Norwegian Navy will conduct joint exercises. 

Udaloy ASW ship

Russian warship visits the Seychelles