Arctic rush

Tsavo Lion wrote:“Late for 15 years”: how the Pentagon is going to defend US interests in the Arctic
https://ru.rt.com/fli8

Azi wrote:The US is secretly working slowly to take over Greenland. They pissed off some danish politicians who aren't stupid like shit.

"Totally Unacceptable" - sputniknews.com

PapaDragon wrote:
Nuclear cargo ship Sevmorput will be delivering construction materials all the way down to Vostok station in Antarctica, I wonder if they will be building something bigger than usual there?

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2020/02/nuclear-powered-container-ship-sevmorput-gears-antarctica-voyage



It's currently shipping 15000 tons of construction materials to military base on Franz Josef Land in Arctic

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2020/04/nuclear-powered-container-ship-loads-15000-tons-construction-goods-sets-course

Tsavo Lion wrote:China is also building up her bases there, so Russia keeps pace. besides, Vostok needs expanding & improvement anyway.
Perhaps we need a new thread dedicated to Antarctica or add it to the title of this 1!

Delayed construction of the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform

According to the newspaper Kommersant, in the material of Anastasia Vedeneyeva, the North Pole drifts to the right. The platform for polar research will be commissioned later ”, the deadline for the delivery of the unique ice-resistant self-propelled platform “ North Pole ” , which is being built at the“ Admiralty Shipyards ”, will be shifted by two years - by 2022. The price of the contract, including due to the adjustment of its parameters by the customer, will increase by 2–2.5 billion rubles.

As Kommersant learned, the time and cost of building the North Pole ice-resistant, self-propelled platform increased . The ship is being built by order of Roshydromet at the Admiralty Shipyards belonging to the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). Money for it — 6.96 billion rubles — was allocated from the budget as part of the program for the socio-economic development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. It was assumed that the platform will be commissioned at the end of 2020 (see Kommersant on October 9, 2017).

But, according to Kommersant’s interlocutors, due to significant changes to the project at the initiative of the customer, the cost of the vessel increased by 2–2.5 billion rubles, and the deadline was shifted to 2022. Corresponding assessments were carried out by the Center for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Technology, Kommersant sources say.

In Roshydromet, the request was forwarded to Kommersant to the Ministry of Natural Resources, where they did not answer it. The USC notes that the platform is a unique object, in the design and construction of which the corporation faced a number of new technical problems. For example, it was required to ensure the autonomy of the facility in terms of fuel reserves for two years, the related systems required improvement, the corporation explains. In addition, a lot of questions were related to the fact that the vessel will freeze in ice for a long time - it is necessary to provide both cooling systems and the availability of the propulsion system, they add there. OSK recalls that such an object has not yet been created in the history of shipbuilding. The corporation also notes that following consultations with the customer, the displacement of the vessel increased significantly, in connection with which, "work is underway to adjust the timing and price in the manner prescribed by law." A similar comment was provided by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The contract for the construction of the North Pole between Roshydromet and the Admiralty Shipyards was concluded in April 2018. The length of the vessel is 83.1 m, the width is 22.5 m, the speed is at least 10 knots, and the hull strength is Arc8. The vessel will have autonomy in fuel reserves of about two years and a service life of at least 25 years. The crew is 14 people, the scientific staff is 34 people.

The created platform will be able to independently move in the ice of small thickness and receive heavy helicopters such as Mi-8 AMT (Mi-17).

The ship should continue the tradition of Soviet and Russian scientific expeditions, which since 1937 landed on drifting ice in the deep sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. But in recent years, due to the melting of perennial ice, it has become increasingly difficult to find sufficiently safe ice floes.

Prior to the commissioning of the North Pole, research in the Arctic was planned to be carried out as part of the international project of the Multidisciplinary Scientific Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) at a drift station created on the basis of the German research vessel Polarshtern. In addition, 1.7 billion rubles. it was planned to spend from the budget in 2020 to use the captain Dranitsyn icebreaker Rosmorport as a drifting station frozen in ice . But, as the Green Snake Telegram channel reported at the end of April, the Ministry of Finance planned to withdraw this money to the government’s reserve fund. The ministry told Kommersant that “they are not commenting on information from sources.”

Kommersant’s interlocutors who are familiar with the situation note that the uniqueness of the North Pole, changes to the documentation and restrictions in the context of a pandemic can be considered objective factors to increase the time and cost of the project.

In addition, we are talking about the lead vessel, the creation of which is always accompanied by problems. Admiralty Shipyards have established themselves as an effective shipyard, successfully coping with the state defense order, and must meet the new deadlines, one of Kommersant’s interlocutors believes. At the same time, another source of Kommersant believes that the initial amount of the order and the period of its construction - only 2.5 years - were too optimistic for such a project.



We recall from bmpd that the ceremony of starting the construction of the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform of project 00903 (serial number 02404) for the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia (Roshydromet) was held at Admiralty Shipyards JSC on December 21, 2018. The official ceremony of laying the platform was performed at Admiralty Shipyards JSC on April 10, 2019.

On March 30, 2018, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 355 and Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 545-p were signed , which approved the design and construction of the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform- a floating observatory for Russian research and environmental monitoring. The deadline for commissioning the platform was determined in 2020. The signed documents approved the decision on budget investments in 2018–2020 in the design and construction of the platform in the amount of 6966.6 million rubles (363 million rubles in 2018, 4325.6 million rubles in 2019, 2278 million rubles in 2020 ) The contractor for the design and construction of the platform was determined by Admiralty Shipyards JSC (St. Petersburg). The developer of the project is Vympel Design Bureau JSC.

The contract between Admiralty Shipyards JSC and Roshydromet for the design and construction of the North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platformwas signed in April 2018. According to the terms of the contract, the ship was supposed to be transferred to the customer in 2020.

An all-weather research platform with the functionality of a research center, which has no analogues in the world, is designed to carry out year-round comprehensive scientific research in high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean. The vessel will be able to conduct geological, acoustic, geophysical and oceanographic observations, move in the ice without the involvement of an icebreaker, and receive heavy helicopters of the Mi-8AMT (Mi-17) type. Wintering while maintaining comfortable and safe working and living conditions at the polar station is possible at temperatures up to -50 C.

Design characteristics of the LSP: length - 83.1 m; width - 22.5 m; displacement - about 10,390 tons; power of EU - 4200 kW; speed - not less than 10 knots; case strength - Arc8; autonomy in fuel reserves - about 2 years; service life - at least 25 years; crew - 14 people; scientific staff - 34 people. The North Pole ice-resistant self-propelled platform is built to the class of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping: KM (*) Arc5 [1] AUT1-C HELIDECK-F Special purpose ship.