Arctic rush

Его взлетно-посадочная полоса будет способна принимать летательные аппараты различных классов в любое время года

МУРМАНСК, 25 сентября. /ТАСС/. Более 13 тыс. тонн строительных материалов и железобетонных плит будет доставлено в ближайшее время к острову Земля Александры (архипелаг Земля Франца Иосифа) для строительства всесезонного аэродрома Северного флота. Об этом сообщает во вторник пресс-служба флота.

"В настоящее время погрузка материалов на теплоход ледового класса "Юрий Аршеневский", который действует в интересах Северного флота, завершается в Мурманском порту", - рассказали в пресс-службе.

Завтра, 26 сентября, судно начнет очередной рейс к острову Земля Александры, где расположен самый северный административно-жилой комплекс замкнутого цикла "Арктический трилистник", в котором несет боевое дежурство подразделение противовоздушной обороны армии ВВС и ПВО Северного флота.

Рядом с "Арктическим трилистником" продолжается строительство всесезонного аэродрома. Планируется, что его взлетно-посадочная полоса будет способна принимать летательные аппараты различных классов в любое время года.

North Pole expeditionRussia's Rosatom to Order New Robot to Extract Minerals From Arctic Bottom Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia's Rosatom state nuclear corporation wants to order development of a robotic installation which would extract rare and hard-to-recover minerals at the bottom of the Arctic, Russia's Foundation for Advanced Research (FPI) told Sputnik on Monday.

Head of the FPI’s project group Viktor Litvinenko specified that the ordering customers of the automated system would be Rosatom and its subsidiary JSC Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ Uranium Holding).

"This project will complement our work on the development of the Arctic … Such technology essentially does not exist … It will be quite a challenging project for ARMZ to go from land under water, where there are huge reserves of solid and hard-to-recover minerals. Now, we are working with them. Perhaps, there will be other partners," Litvinenko said.
He noted that the robotic installation would be based on the existing Iceberg project, which provides for creation of separate autonomous complexes for the development of hydrocarbon fields for oil and gas companies.

Russian Researchers Hand Over Nuclear Underwater Drone Documentation to Rosatom

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russia's FPI is submitting technical documentation on the Iceberg nuclear-powered robotic submarine designed to explore hydrocarbons deposits under the ice floe in the Arctic region to Russia's State Nuclear Corporation Rosatom, the head of the foundation's project group told Sputnik

Tsavo Lion wrote:New weapons for the Arctic
Arctic ideology: for whom Russia is developing the Arctic?
https://regnum.ru/news/society/2506275.html

Arctic ambition: Beijing eyes the Polar Silk Road

Tsavo Lion wrote:Sweden is a member of the Arctic Consul; UK is observer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Council#Member_states

They r afraid that Russia will ditch the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) & claim the former Soviet sector in the Arctic if her continental shelf claim is not recognized. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea

Tsavo Lion wrote:About 15% of Sweden lies north of the Arctic Circle.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden#Geography

Finland lost her Northern coast, but is a member of the Arctic consul.
It's not legal yet to claim the certain areas under UNCLOS, that's why Russia submitted her continental shelf data. So did the others.
The Arctic Ocean floor will be divided as mountain chains meet/ at the N. Pole from Greenland & Asia.

Tsavo Lion wrote:Denmark administers Greenland; Sweden had today's Norway (with her Svalbard) & Finland under her control before they split, & all 3 Nordic nations stick together on Arctic & other issues just like ASEAN members do on SC Sea issues & the Caspian littoral states do on Caspian related issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmar_Union
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_under_Swedish_rule

Hole wrote:Gazprom and RVD will extend the railway to Sabetta. Cost: 1,7 Bill.
.............

Of course they stick to get something not belonging to them. Western values are based on isn't it? ..

Upon ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a country has a ten-year period to make claims to an extended continental shelf which, if validated, gives it exclusive rights to resources on or below the seabed of that extended shelf area.Norway, Russia, Canada, and Denmark launched projects to provide a basis for seabed claims on extended continental shelves beyond their exclusive economic zones. The United States has signed, but not yet ratified the UNCLOS. The status of certain portions of the Arctic sea region is in dispute for various reasons. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States all regard parts of the Arctic seas as national waters (territorial waters out to 12 nautical miles (22 km)) or internal waters. There also are disputes regarding what passages constitute international seaways and rights to passage along them. There is one single disputed piece of land in the Arctic—Hans Island—which is disputed between Canada and Denmark because of its location in the middle of an international strait. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_the_Arctic

What Caspian states without access to Caspian sea are there? Actually Armenia or Belarus should have their say too. Have same right to Caspian as

Hole wrote:Gazprom and RVD will extend the railway to Sabetta. Cost: 1,7 Bill.

Rosatom plans to deploy icebreaker fleet to allow year-round access for shipping

Russia plans to hand control of shipping through the Arctic Northern Sea Route to Rosatom as the state-run nuclear group seeks to become the sole operator of one of the world’s emerging trade arteries.

Russia’s parliament voted on Tuesday to give the company, which has a nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet, control over infrastructure, access, security and shipping in the northern waterway as it seeks to introduce year-round shipments within the next decade. The route would roughly halve sailing times from Europe to China.

The transport ministry will retain an administrative role and will issue shipping permits in conjunction with Rosatom.

The Northern Sea Route stretches from the Bering Strait between Russia and the US along the far north of Russia to its exit close to Norway. Unusually high temperatures inside the Arctic Circle have caused the ice sheet to shrink by 13 per cent over the past decade, according to Nasa data, increasing access for shipping.

The waterway is a potential geopolitical flashpoint. Global shipping companies, including Maersk, have conducted trials of its viability while Russia has upgraded mothballed military bases in the Arctic region and established new sites. Arctic countries are also competing over the region’s potentially vast hydrocarbon resources.

We want to be like [a] taxi for icebreakers in the Arctic. There should be icebreakers available along the route for anyone to call up and get one to accompany a ship

Maxim Kulinko, deputy head of Northern Sea Route directorate at Rosatom,
Shifting control from Russia’s transport ministry to Rosatom, which builds and operates the country’s nuclear power plants, is seen as a way to modernise the sea route. It was widely used in Soviet times but then neglected until a few years ago when energy projects in the Arctic began to produce oil and gas.

Using Russia’s Arctic waters to travel between Europe and Asia instead of the far longer route through southern seas and the Suez Canal could save freight companies about $1m per trip and weeks of travel time, according to shipping industry experts.

Under the plan, Rosatom will run a fleet of icebreakers to pilot freighters along the route, which is frozen for six to seven months of the year.

“We want to be like Yandex taxi for icebreakers in the Arctic,” Maxim Kulinko, deputy head of Northern Sea Route directorate at Rosatom, told the FT, referring to Russia’s most popular ride-hailing app.

“There should be icebreakers available along the route for anyone to call up and get it to accompany a ship,” he said. “When the line works regularly, that’s when you have year-round shipment.”

The Russian state would provide 50 per cent of the financing for the initiative, with the remainder coming from Rosatom and fundraising, Mr Kulinko added.

Rosatom is building eight new icebreakers and expects them all to be operational by the early 2030s.

“Based on our estimates, year-round shipments require at least five LK60 icebreakers, three Leader icebreakers, and four LNG-run icebreakers. This is possible around the year 2030-31,” Mr Kulinko said at a recent conference on the Arctic region in St Petersburg.


“What is important is the vector, the ambition, and not so much whether we hit the mark in 2024 or 2030,” said Sergei Buyanov, head of the Central Research and Development institute of the Russian navy.

Russian companies such as nickel producer Norilsk Nickel, gas company Novatek and oil group Gazprom Neft already use the route. They accounted for the bulk of the 10.7m tonnes of cargo transiting through it last year — a total that was up more than 40 per cent on 2016.

Total cargo using the waterway is expected to reach 18m tonnes this year and 29m tonnes in 2019, according to Rosatom estimates, after Novatek ramped up LNG production at its flagship Arctic gas liquefaction plant, Yamal LNG, and crude production was increased at Gazprom Neft’s Novy Port field.

Officials from neighbouring countries told the FT they would wait and analyse Russia’s experience with the route before introducing their own operations.

“We have very large shipping industries that will follow this very closely,” said Bard Ivar Svendsen, ambassador for Arctic and Antarctic Affairs at Norway’s foreign ministry. “There aren’t a lot of ships that have done this route, and I think we need more experience with it before we can say how effective and how successful it will actually be. This is potentially very, very interesting.”

Bjorn Lyrvall, ambassador for Arctic Affairs at Sweden’s foreign ministry, said the route could have potential for shipments of Swedish iron ore to south-east Asia.

“But obviously there is more work that needs to be done before we are there. You have to have predictability and availability of the route. [There are] insurance costs,” he said.

Achieving year-round shipments would make the Northern Sea Route competitive with rivals such as Suez, said Sergei Vakhrukov, deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council.

“NSR is no Suez. The latter . . . lies in different latitudes,” said Mr Vakhrukov. “Without the proper nuclear icebreakers, navigation is possible only in the summer or fall period, which is only five to six months and does not make the route economic. We need year-round navigation, only then can it compete.”

Tsavo Lion wrote:"If u build it/them, they'll come!"
Those 12 new icebreakers could also be armed & put under the VMF/CG command if need be, acting as giant OPVs.

Tsavo Lion wrote:They could be given defensive armaments &  act as mother ships for smaller boats, UAVs & helos to deploy CG &/ marines personnel.
I wonder, how the USN & FN CVNs can sail in the tropics while the Russian reactors can't handle the warm water for cooling?
If they make them dual use, then those icebreakers can go to Antarctica & deploy to warm seas & launch SA/CMs- no need to build Leaders!

Reactors on old Arctica-class icebreakers were designed intentionally to rely on cold environment for cooling, they are not supposed to sail anywhere else anyway.

Russia has reactors that can do tropics. And new icebreakers will be able to sail anywhere as well (new reactor model)