TASS News Agency
The ship’s mockup is on display in the United Shipbuilding Corporation’s demonstration pavilion in the Patriot congress and exhibition center outside Moscow. The mockup has a two-level hangar for helicopters and armored personnel carriers, as well as a flooded dock for transporting and putting afloat up to three landing craft.
According to the mockup, helicopters will take off from the ship’s upper deck that will be able to accommodate up to 15 rotorcraft.
In 2021, TASS reported with reference to the Nevskoye Design Bureau that the future amphibious assault ship would have a displacement of about 30,000 tons, a length of about 220 m, a width of 42 m, a waterline draft of 7 m, and a speed of 24 knots.
The Zaliv Shipyard in the city of Kerch in Crimea is currently building the Project 23900 versatile helicopter carriers Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko for the Russian Navy. The ships were laid down in 2020 and are designed to transport and land amphibious assault forces onto equipped and unequipped shores.
Project 23900 has been developed by the Zelenodolsk Design Bureau instead of French Mistral-type helicopter carriers. Russian amphibious assault ships will be able to carry a group of heavy helicopters and transport from several hundred to more than 1,000 Marines. They will get a dock for landing boats and will transport armored vehicles.
The Army 2022 international military-technical forum was conducted between August 15-21 at the Patriot exhibition center outside Moscow. The Defense Ministry is the organizer of the forum.
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About project 23900
Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch laid the Ivan Rogov (factory # 01901) and the Mitrofan Moskalenko (01902) universal amphibious assault ships designed by Zelenodolsk Bureau of AK BARS Corporation.
The displacement is over 20000 tons. The ship is 204 meters long and the draft is over 7 meters. It can carry a thousand marines and 75 hardware units, and up to 16 helicopters. The dock of the ship can keep six landing boats.
Sources told TASS in November 2019 that the new amphibious assault ship can carry over 20 helicopters and two reinforced marine battalions of 900 men. They said the displacement will be 25000 tons and the length close to 220 meters.
The Russian amphibious assault ships resemble French Mistral. They have a through flight deck for helicopters and an island superstructure in the starboard. It carries two masts for radars and two funnels.
Mistral uses rudder-propeller units. The Russian ships have a traditional rudder-propeller group, according to the poster displayed in January 2020 at a show in Sevastopol.
Images published by Business Online show Ka-27 and Ka-52K helicopters on the deck of project 23900 ships. It is highly likely that the ships will be armed with Pantsir-M air defense guns and rotating Paket-NK SM-588 launchers with 324mm antitorpedoes.
Sources told TASS in April 2020 the two universal amphibious assault ships of project 23900 will cost close to 100 bln rubles. The lead ship is to be handed over to the Navy in 2026 and the second one on 2027.
