From Greece with love: Russia’s aircraft carrier flight ops in the Mediterranean sea January 12, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in Aircraft Carriers.Tags: China, Mediterranean Sea, Russia, Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, Russian Navy, Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag, Sukhoi Su-33, Syria
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If the Chinese aircraft carrier Varyag, serving as a testbed for the development China’s future naval aviation, is far from being a factor, Russia’s flagship Admiral Kuznetsov, a “heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser”, equipped with an air wing of Sukhoi Su-33s and a dozen long-range anti-ship missiles already plays a role in regional crisis.
Indeed, although the Russian Navy officially denied that the deployment to the Mediterranean Sea off Syria should not be seen as a show of support for the Assad regime facing an uprising, the Russian ships presence in the area comes in a period of growing tensions in the region.
The following video, dated Dec. 30, 2011, was broadcast by the Zvezda TV Channel, the Russian nationwide network run by the Russian Ministry of Defense. It shows the Su-33 of the Kuznetsov conducting flight ops in the Mediterranean sea.
Launches, recoveries (with some aircraft missing the wires too…) and aerobatics in the vicinity of the ship.
According to the latest reports, the Russian warship and its battlegroup are currently operating within the Athinai FIR (Flight Information Region).
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the SU-33 operate off Kuznetsov carrying AAMs or ASMs. Makes me wonder how useful the ski-jump is with the ’33s at combat loads.
My thought exactly JC. I can’t recall footage of a loaded SU taking off the deck. Is there a video showing a Sukoi taking off with weapons? Does make you wonder a little how much load you can use with ski-jump? Is it an engine limit, maybe only use wartime trust to takeoff with weapons so pilots are limited in peace time to practice without weapons?If not, how much do pilots really practice with weapons and tactics?
Seems that there are some limitations to this carrier’s operation.
Good point. I have to investigate. Thanks.
Just went thru some YouTube footage, noticed a picture of a MIG29 with AAM weapons but didn’t see it takeoff. As far as I can tell, all the footage has been of Sukoi’s and MiG’s operating in clean configuration.
A quick google search turned up some photos of SU-33s with very basic AAM loadouts (looks like AA-10 and AA-11s):
No sign of any ASMs or other air to ground hardware.
http://globalmilitaryreview.blogspot.com/2011/09/russian-aircraft-carrier-admiral.html
http://quocphong.vn/Home/phantich/Nga-phai-Do-doc-Lien-Xo-den-cuu-Syria/201111/51081.vnd
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/kuznetsov/kuznetsov7.html
Thanks,
much interesting since they prove that few missiles are carried by the embarked Su-33s. I wonder if we can still consider these planes multi-role, since they can hardly carry rockets, anti-ship or other advertised ordnance…
Did you notice the bolter at 0:56 is mirrored?
Maybe they needed few more seconds for their report?
and even without any external load, if you look well the Su-33s have to keep their afterburner a long time after take off… So, if loaded, what would it be?
I guess the lack of offensive weapons fits the Russian (Soviet) Naval Aviation doctrine. Kuz’ was originally built to defend submarines and not really for offensive power projection in the manner of USN CVs.
Ugo Crisponi has found a video you can watch here that shows a fully armed Su-33 taking off from the carrier:
http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/cpasley/5457/
Min. 46:11
You must remember that the term “aircraft carrier” when applied to the Russian Navy is totally different to the US, UK, Italian etc concept of it – the Russian term the ship as an “aircraft carrying cruiser” – as mentioned in the article; the vessle is armed with Anti-ship/cruise missiles, an attack capability western types dont have. The main role of the vessle and its Su-33′s is air defence for the battle-group, with the thought being that the aircraft would protect the group from USN aircraft (arguably the main threat) and also hunt down western MPA patrols to relieve their SSN/SSBN force (their main capability ‘edge’).
This is now changing, with an avionics upgrade to modernise the Su-33′s arsenal (the original varients barely had a ground/sea attack capability) but also in the order of the MiG-29K – thanks to Indias purchase of the typecompleting development of the type, the Russian Navy will finally have a multi-role aircraft that more fits in with the western interpretation of an aircraft carrier, co-incidently; rumors are told that the MiG-29K was originally meant to be the aircraft for the then Soviet Navy, but Shukois political clout won the order.