Pacific Fleet Commander's interview
bmpd
May 22nd, 22:05
The newspaper of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation "Krasnaya Zvezda", on the occasion of the 290th anniversary of the founding of the Pacific Fleet, celebrated on May 21, 2021, has published under the headline "Raise the flag, jack and color flags!" An interesting interview with the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sergei Avakyants.
May 21 in a series of special days of the calendar in the Pacific Fleet is the Day of its formation. But, as befits sailors, not everyone will meet the holiday date in the database. The Pacific people are still on watch to protect the borders of the Asia-Pacific region. About who celebrates the holiday, plowing the sea under the Andreevsky flag, what successes the Pacific people are rightfully proud of - in an interview with the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Sergei Avakyants.
- Sergei Iosifovich, today the Pacific Fleet celebrates not just another anniversary of its foundation, but a very respectable date - its 290th anniversary. What celebrations are planned on this occasion?
- For a number of objective reasons, we will hold the main events dedicated to the anniversary on the last Sunday of July as part of the celebration of the Day of the Navy in Vladivostok. The round date will be reflected in the program of the parade and the military-sports festival, in numerous exhibitions, cultural and educational events. By that time, a new photo album about the Pacific Fleet will be published.
Today, May 21, the Day of the Pacific Fleet, we will celebrate the solemn raising of the State flags and flags of the colors on ships, performance of creative teams.
The sailors of the Pacific Fleet, of course, were preparing for the holiday, but I would not say that for the anniversary we purposefully increased the volume of combat training events or planned some complex combat exercises. This is not true. And in the anniversary year, and in any other year, the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean solves its tasks on a planned basis and at a high level. The volume of combat training activities in the winter training period has been completed by 100 percent. For six months, almost a dozen tactical groups, more than 60 ships and boats, over 20 submarine crews, more than 15 formations of coastal troops, support units and logistics have been trained.
Even on a holiday, 15 warships and ships of the fleet solve the problems of long voyages at sea. In the Asia-Pacific region, there are three detachments of ships at once, which include a cruiser, a frigate, large anti-submarine ships, corvettes, tankers and tugs.
- With what results do the Pacific people meet the anniversary date?
- The very beginning of the winter training period, which started in December 2020, was marked by a significant event for the fleet.
On December 12, the strategic nuclear-powered missile submarine Vladimir Monomakh fired for the first time with four Bulava ICBMs at the Chizha training ground in the Arkhangelsk Region. Naturally, such a combat exercise became for us a kind of bar, the height of which we have no right to lower in the implementation of the combat training plan. According to the results of the academic half-year, the submariners showed very good results both in the quality and quantity of the exercises performed, and in the flotation of the submarines.
The intensity of navigation of ships and vessels of the fleet has increased.
In the completed training period, it exceeded three thousand days. And in the course of combat training events, almost 1,800 combat exercises were performed in six months, which also exceeds last year's figures.
The strict requirements for the implementation of practical measures have not changed either. As before, all combat exercises are performed only for real targets. The commanders are notified only of the type of shooting and the area in which they have to operate. This is a fundamental point. The head of the tactical exercise gives a combat order to perform the exercise directly in the area. As a result, the commanders acted on the basis of the created situation, that is, in conditions close to combat.
A significant event for the fleet is the introduction of the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov into the permanent readiness forces after the completion of the program of state sea trials. The upgraded ship, which has undergone repairs with modernization, became the carrier of the Kalibr and Uranus strike missile systems. It is also capable of using Onyx cruise missiles. The frigate received new artillery installations and radio-technical weapons.
The intensity of navigation of ships and vessels of the fleet has increased. In the completed training period, it exceeded three thousand days. And in the course of combat training events, almost 1,800 combat exercises were performed in six months, which also exceeds last year's figures.
We were seriously preparing for the first launches of the Caliber missiles. Back in early April, they successfully carried out throw tests of the complex. To check the operability of the firing chains and the readiness of the universal launcher, a mock cruise missile was fired from the frigate, which, after the engine had worked out, splashed down near the ship. Prior to this, such exercises had not been performed.
Practical shooting, carried out first at the coastal and then at sea targets, confirmed the high reliability and accuracy of the missiles. For a test launch of a cruise missile along the coast, safe flight routes were developed with a length of more than a thousand kilometers each. The protection of the areas where combat exercises were carried out and telemetry were provided by warships and ships, our naval aviation aircraft interacted with the pilots of the Northern Fleet.
I can say that the frigate fully met all expectations and proved that the large anti-submarine ships of project 1155, having a significant displacement, are a convenient and reliable platform for placing strike missile weapons on them, including promising, new artillery systems, modern radio and anti-submarine weapons ... I am sure that the potential of these ships has not been exhausted and, with the proper approach, they will still serve the fleet. It is especially valuable that while performing work on the Marshal Shaposhnikov, our shipbuilders gained a great deal of practical experience, which will continue to be used in full measure.
In accordance with the plan for the preparation of the fleet groupings, five test tactical exercises were held with tactical groups of ships. More than 30 joint combat exercises were performed on them.
During such exercises, tactical groups conducted joint anti-aircraft and artillery fire at sea, air and coastal targets, ships in homogeneous tactical groups used anti-submarine and anti-mine weapons in practice.
The peculiarities of the training of such groups in the winter period of training can be considered the first exercise of the tactical group of ships with strike missile weapons as part of the cruiser "Varyag" and the frigate "Marshal Shaposhnikov". During the exercise, the frigate, after a long break, successfully fired the Kinzhal anti-aircraft missile system at an air target.
The sea minesweepers of the Troops and Forces water area protection unit in the North-East of Russia for the first time worked out the tactical technique of transferring a paired bottom-net trawl to the shore and, in cooperation with the OKVS engineering unit, cleaned out a bottom practical mine from the fairway of Avacha Bay to the shore.
All course tasks, tactical exercises and combat exercises were assessed positively. The corresponding headquarters also received high marks for the results of their activities.
Good results were shown by the naval aviation of the fleet. When training crews, emphasis was placed on increasing the level of group flight in the composition of the units and squadrons.
Special attention was paid to the training of young pilots. They accounted for over 30 percent of the total flight time of aviation, and in six months it exceeded 3300 hours, which speaks of the planned and timely formation of young officers and their professional growth.
To a large extent, this was facilitated by the fact that a full-time instructor staff was formed as part of the naval aviation units, the qualifications of which make it possible to fully train officers in practice.
The raid of carrier-based aircraft pilots has increased. Training flights were carried out day and night, on foot and on the move, on all ships and vessels where helicopters are based. We have ensured that each aircraft carrier has a full-time crew. The training camp was devoted to the training of flight leaders of carrier-based aviation, which took place on the basis of a mixed aviation regiment in the Primorsky Territory.
I would like to note the crews of the MiG-31 interceptor fighters, which are on alert for air defense in Kamchatka and Chukotka. Recently, we have noted an increase in the number of foreign aircraft flights in these regions, which are performed near the Russian borders. Our pilots carry out high-level escort of such targets over the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea or the Chukchi Sea and do not allow incidents related to violation of the state border and flight safety.
The same applies equally to the crews of the Tu-142 and Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft, which made several hours of flight in the training half of the year.
The coastal forces of the fleet demonstrate stable results in the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to them. In accordance with the plan for the preparation of the Pacific Fleet, almost 100 tactical and tactical-special exercises, fifty field exits and camp gatherings, almost three thousand fire training sessions, including firing from small arms and combat machines. The actions of the Marine Corps units were practiced during the defense of the coast and the offensive from the sea under the leadership of the direct commanders.
Much attention was paid to improving the skills of personnel in loading and unloading equipment. To train the crews of combat vehicles, mock-ups of landing ships were used at the Gornostay, Bamburovo and Radygino ranges. Further, loading and unloading were carried out directly onto large landing ships and landing boats of the Pacific Fleet. In total, almost 100 such exercises were performed.
I believe that the Pacific Fleet has shown good results during the winter training period.
- You spoke in detail about how the weapons and equipment showed themselves, including modernized models. Is the further strengthening of the Pacific Fleet expected in terms of its rearmament?
- I really did touch on the issue of modernizing Soviet-built ships for a reason. This is an example of how, with a reasonable investment of relatively small funds, it is possible to achieve a multiple increase in the combat effectiveness of a surface ship.In addition to the modernized Marshal Shaposhnikov, a year earlier, a new weapon - 16 launchers of Uranus cruise missiles and a modern artillery complex - received a small missile ship "Smerch", which is serving in Kamchatka. I am sure that the process of such modernization will continue, since there are all indications for this. There is already a fundamental decision to carry out repairs and modernization of the next ship of Project 1155 - the large anti-submarine ship "Admiral Vinogradov". At present, the study of the future appearance of the ship is being completed. It is proposed to seriously increase and expand the composition of its strike missile armament, the task is to increase the capabilities of air defense.
In general, each of the modernized ships - both Marshal Shaposhnikov and Admiral Vinogradov - will be unique in its own way, since naval weapons are steadily developing and improving.
The planned modernization and rearmament of one of the Project 949A nuclear-powered missile cruisers is underway.
On December 25 last year, the fleet was replenished with a new corvette of project 20380 "Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov". A day later, the ceremony of raising the Andreevsky flag was held on the newest minesweeper with a fiberglass hull "Yakov Balyaev". Next year we will receive the second such minesweeper, Anatoly Shlemov, into the fleet.
By the end of the year, another new ship for the fleet will be handed over by shipbuilders of the Amur shipyard. Another, already the fourth in a row at the Pacific Fleet, the Project 20380 Rezkiy corvette was built at the renowned enterprise especially for the Pacific Fleet and will be taken out of the dock in the summer. According to the established tradition, the ship will be transferred to Vladivostok to the delivery base of the ASZ, where factory and state tests will take place, after which in December we will be ready to accept the corvette into the fleet.
A significant event for the Pacific Fleet is the entry into the permanent readiness forces after the completion of the program of state sea trials of the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov.
We hope that in the very near future the fleet command will receive an invitation from the NEA management to lay down two more new ships. The solemn ceremony will be held in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and will be dedicated to the anniversary of the Pacific Fleet. On the stocks of the enterprise, it is planned to lay a corvette of project 20380 - "Grozny" and a corvette of project 20385 - "Buyny".
These ships will become the first combat units that the enterprise will begin to build as part of the implementation of the state defense order GOZ-2021 under a contract between the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and PJSC Amur Shipyard.
In accordance with the document, from 2024 to 2028, the fleet must accept two corvettes of project 20380 and four ships of project 20385.
The first ship of Project 20385 at the Pacific Fleet will be the Gremyashchiy corvette, its arrival in the Far East from St. Petersburg is scheduled in a few months.
At the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur there are four small missile ships of Project 22800 - the carrier of the Kalibr cruise missiles - Rzhev, Udomlya, Ussuriysk and Pavlovsk, in varying degrees of readiness. They are also intended for the Pacific Fleet, and work on these orders is proceeding in strict accordance with the schedule.
The Navy has already accepted two diesel submarines of Project 636.3, built for the Pacific Fleet at the JSC "Admiralty Shipyards". The first submarine, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, was handed over to the Russian Navy in November 2019. In 2020, the flag was raised on the second ship of this series, the Volkhov. These submarines are capable of carrying Kalibr cruise missiles, and they will significantly enhance the combat potential of the fleet. Both boats will make an inter-fleet passage from the Baltic to the Far East in the summer. All the necessary infrastructure for receiving at the base is already ready.
Recently, the third submarine of the Magadan series was launched. The fourth ship under construction "Ufa" is also in a high degree of readiness. Two more will be laid this year.
Taking into account the pace of construction, we plan to receive all six such submarines by 2024.
Soon the fleet will receive a modern large hydrographic boat of project 19920 "Alexander Anishchenko", which was built at the shipyard in Blagoveshchensk. Recently, another new anti-sabotage boat of the "Grachonok" type arrived at the place of permanent deployment from Vladivostok. By the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, he was named "Yunarmeets of Sakhalin".
The sea tug "Andrey Stepanov", two modern offshore diving boats of project 23040, four powerful self-propelled floating cranes of project 02690 are successfully operating.
We expect completion of work on the first of the small sea tankers of project 03182, which are being built at Vostochnaya Verf in Vladivostok.
If we take into account new and modernized ships and vessels, then over the past five years the Pacific Fleet has received at its disposal about 20 surface ships and various support vessels.
In the near future, 10 more combat units will be included in the combat strength of the Pacific Fleet.
The provision of modern equipment to the formations of the coastal forces of the fleet continues. We have completed the process of re-equipping our marines with new armored personnel carriers BTR-82A. Marine brigades in Primorye and Kamchatka are reinforced with T-80BV tank units.
Just over a month ago, the Primorsky Marine Corps unit received a batch of 40 new combat vehicles - BMP-3.The Pacific is the first in the Navy to experience the full benefits of this technique. In the summer period of training, the BMP-3 will begin intensive combat training at the training grounds, but in the meantime they were first presented at the Victory Parade in Vladivostok.
We are planning to strengthen coastal missile associations, we are updating military vehicle fleets of other military units.
High readiness is maintained to carry out missions assigned to naval aviation units.
- And what tasks will the Pacific people face in the near future?
- The main task is to accept new warships into the fleet, to provide factory running and state tests. During the next stage of joint training of the headquarters and forces of the groupings, several exercises are planned in the Primorsky operational direction, including in the far sea zone.
We will not deviate from the already established training system and will conduct a bilateral brigade tactical exercise. Earlier, the exercises were held in Kamchatka and Chukotka, this year the marines will work out the tasks in another region.
I would like to note that all the planned measures will ensure the maintenance of the assigned combat readiness of the forces of the Pacific Fleet.
- Very soon we are waiting for the Army and the International Military-Technical Forum. What is the participation of the Pacific people in these two annual important events in the life of the Armed Forces?
- We have already begun preparations for participation in the competitions of the International Army Games, the holding of the Army-2021 International Scientific and Technical Forum in the region. This year, one of the main areas of his work will be artificial intelligence technologies. The Pacific Fleet has serious developments in this direction. It is no coincidence that competitions in marine robotics among law enforcement agencies are held at our base. I am sure we have something to show the audience and something to share with experts.
It is planned to involve associations, formations and military units of the fleet, representatives of federal executive authorities, the governments of Primorsky, Kamchatka Territories, Magadan Oblast, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, administrations of a number of cities, representatives of defense industry enterprises, research institutions of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy to participate in the events of the forum. sciences, universities, public veteran organizations, organizations of the military-patriotic movement "Yunarmiya". The forum in the Far East has never had such a vast geography. Now the question of holding our section "Army-2021" at 14 exhibition sites in four constituent entities of the Russian Federation is being considered. This will be a really important event that will fully reflect the main directions of the development of the Armed Forces as a whole,
- At the end of our conversation, I would like to join the congratulations coming to the Pacific people today ...
- I also want to heartily congratulate the sailors, civilian personnel, veterans and their families on the 290th anniversary of the formation of the Pacific Fleet. I wish you all good, happiness, family well-being and seven feet under the keel!
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