Why Russia Has To Spend $350 Million Fixing Its Broken-Down Aircraft Carrier

Repairs to be conducted on the Kuznetsov, which recently returned from duty in the Mediterranean, include the fixing four of its eight boilers; the other four will be replaced.

It may surprise Foxtrot Alpha readers that Russia will spend so much money modernizing the vessel. In the past, we’ve made fun of the the aircraft carrier’s mechanical issues, including that time a tugboat had to pull it back to dock after it broke down off the coast of Spain. I once called the carrier the “hooptie of the sea.” In 1996 during military exercises in the Mediterranean, the carrier’s distillation equipment failed, leaving the crew of 2,000 short of potable water, according to the New York Times. The U.S. Navy eventually helped the crew out.

Part of why the Kuznetsov has had so many issues, as The National Interest points out, is due to its poor maintenance and lack of trained staff:

Naval aviation is an inherently dangerous business, but many of Russia’s naval aviation mishaps are due to a lack of experience and proficiency in carrier-based operations. While some of the Russian Navy’s problems can be attributed to the elderly Kuznetsov’s many inherent flaws, the Russians have not developed the proper procedures or practices to operate carrier-borne aircraft safely at sea.

But we gotta spend 54 billion more?