Russian Navy To Create Aircraft Carrier Groups

Moscow , Russia (AHN) - The Russian military disclosed Friday it is developing a new naval strategy centered on the creation of aircraft carrier joint task groups.

In a news conference, Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky told local press that the military should focus on building integrated systems instead of separately building combat ships, aircraft or spacecraft. He added that the navy is planning to build five or six naval aircraft carrier groups by 2050-2060.

These joint task groups, he told Russia 's Novosti news agency, will be made up of combat ships, various aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), satellites and submarines.

The construction of new aircraft carriers is expected to begin in 2012-2013. Vysotsky further said that the existence of these joint task groups will increase the combat effectiveness of the Navy by 60 percent, and in some respects up to 300 percent.

Novosti reported that at present, Russia has only one operational aircraft carrier, the Nikolai Kuznetsov, which was commissioned in the early 1990s.