Sunday 7 October 2018

Project 22800 Karakurt faces diesel engine production problems

567 'Uragan' - RussianArms
Translated by google
Before the first “Star” it is impossible: will the “Karakurt” sink in the state holding of Ivan Yegorov?
The operational headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation ordered the Zelenogodoltsy to wait until the “last bullet”
Zelenodolsk plant them. Gorky postpones at least a year the delivery of the first two small rocket ships of the Project 22800 Karakurt, which were to be transferred to the Russian Navy at the end of this year. The transfer for a long time was due to the disruption of the supply of diesel engines by the St. Petersburg enterprise Zvezda, which put Zelenodolsk shipbuilders in the tail of the line for power plants. The management of the Ak Bars Shipbuilding Corporation, which is part of the Ak Bars holding, confirmed the “departure for a year”, but stressed that they do not consider the delay critical for the company's financial position. Meanwhile, independent experts are confident that the company suffers obvious damage, at least in the form of lost revenue of 14-15 billion rubles. And if under their construction loans were taken, then the black "Karakurt" can "flood".

 Leaving one year "right"
"Zelenodolsk plant them. Gorky "after the St. Petersburg shipbuilding plant" Pella "was squeezed in the netting of the chain of suppliers of ship equipment. The latter disrupted the shipment of diesel engines for the Karakurt family of small rocket ships being built at its shipyards (ordered by the Russian Navy). According to the military, modernized "Karakurt" should strengthen the fleet of missile ships "Buyan-M" at the expense of higher seagoing characteristics. Recall that the latter distinguished themselves when they launched rocket attacks from the Caspian Sea against ISIL groups (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) in Syria.

 The Petersburg Zvezda Engine-Building Plant, whose M507 diesel engine and DGAS-315o generator equipped ships for the closest coast guard of the Russian Navy, officially informed Zelenodolsk shipbuilders about the impossibility of their delivery this year. About this "Real time" told several sources in Tatarstan shipbuilding. “The failure was caused by the fact that the Zvezda plant had a large volume of orders for the supply of marine engines for the Russian Navy,” one of the leaders of the Karakurt project told us at a Zelenodolsk enterprise. - As we understand, the “Star” was not ready for their influx, either technically or financially. The conveyor simply does not cope with the collapsed military orders. And in the normal mode, they quietly produced reliable engines. ”

 A sudden production collapse on the “Star” immediately responded to problems in domestic shipbuilding. “Because of this, the Leningrad“ Pella ”first“ stopped ”, which laid the first series of“ Karakurts ”, but managed to launch only the lead ship. And further down the chain reaction, our plant received a notification with a refusal to supply engines at the appointed time, ”shared our sources.

 According to unofficial data, the delay in the supply of engines is about a year. Will it progress, is still unknown. According to the agreements, the Zvezda promises to ship the engines for the first small missile-carrier under the conditional name Monsoon in June 2019, and for the second, the Passat, in December 2019. If these deadlines are met, Zelenodolsk will be able to deliver the ships in 2020-2021, sources say.

 Renat Mistakhov, head of the Ak Bars shipbuilding corporation, confirmed to "Real Time" the fact of an unplanned delay in the execution of the state defense order-2018. According to him, the process of agreeing on new delivery dates for diesel engines with the management of Zvezda has ended and is awaiting approval from the customer.

 “Our enterprise has sent a draft supplementary agreement to the state contract to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which provides for the postponement of the delivery date of the Karakurt IRC to 2019-2021,” Mistakhov said. - We are leaving for one year "to the right."

 How "Karakurt" crawled private traders bypassing the USC
The program for the construction of the modernized Karakurt missile ships was prepared under the former Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Yuri Borisov (now Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation). The peculiarity of the program is that it was completely dismantled by private shipbuilders who dragged orders directly from under the nose of the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). The first contract of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for seven ships won the Leningrad "Pella", the second went to Zelenodolsk plant them. Gorky. According to experts, the cost of one interregional company Karakurt can vary from 7 to 10 billion rubles. It is believed that then it was seriously claimed by several Russian plants from the USC structure, which lost the cherished feed. But now they can breathe in relief: the “natural disaster” has bypassed them.

 Meanwhile, Zelenodolsk plant thoroughly invested in the laying and construction of "Karakurtov". As follows from the explanatory note to the accounting statements of the company for 2017, it advanced the construction of three of the five small rocket ships of the project 22,800 (they were assigned serial numbers 801.802, 803). Thus, the ship hull number 801 (“Monsoon”) was fully formed, the tanks were painted, windows were installed, equipment (pumps, compressors) and fittings were installed. The building of the second MRK is formed on the stocks, the assembly joints are handed over. "In blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, the installation of welded saturation and foundations is carried out, the installation of the superstructure is planned for mid-March 2018," the report explains. At the third IRC, “a durable hull is being formed on the stocks” and “in parallel, work is underway to build a superstructure. Installation of foundations and elements of welded saturation is underway. ” Contracts have been concluded and the supply of basic equipment has been advanced for three ISCs at once.

 The exact amount of advances paid is not specified. But it is known that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation lists to the general contractor of construction for this purpose no more than 10 percent of the value of the state contract. It is possible that the plant could resort to bank borrowing, since it generates a small profit from the delivery of warships. At the end of 2017, the plant's revenue amounted to 32.2 billion rubles, and net profit - only 90.5 million rubles.

 Wait and endure!
The collapse on the “Star” occurred after the German manufacturer of high-speed ship engines MTU stopped deliveries to Russia in 2017, a couple of years after the EU imposed sanctions. “We have raised questions to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation many times while we had normal relations with foreign suppliers,” said one of the leaders of the Karakurt project. - But everyone was hoping for the “Star” and thought that abroad would always help us. And now we have big losses. ”

 To get out of the predicament, the project developers proposed the Ministry of Defense a “Chinese alternative” —the installation of Chinese-made diesel engines on ships, the Mil.Press FlotProm publication reported citing sources in the shipbuilding industry. According to the resource, the corresponding proposal to the shipyards was sent to the company supplying marine equipment "Marine propulsion systems" (MPS). However, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation rejected this initiative, although it was forced to convene an operational headquarters to resolve the situation with the supply of engines.

 “Every month, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy for armaments, Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk holds working meetings with the leadership of Zvezda, which was ordered to produce gearboxes, engines, diesel generators and much more,” one of the operational headquarters told us . - Many options were worked out, including gas turbine units with and without electric movement. But all this turned out to be an order of magnitude more expensive - the cost increases to 2 billion rubles! Initially offered "Pellet", because they went ahead in turn. But the CEO was forced to abandon this idea, because it is more expensive and the time costs are the same. The real option could be the Chinese engines, but with them the speed drops almost twice! Military is, of course, not satisfied. At the last meeting, the team followed Bursuka: we will not rush anywhere, we will not call the Chinese for help. We will endure and wait for the “Star” - he ordered all shipbuilders present.

 The head of Ak Bars SC Renat Mistakhov, meanwhile, is sympathetic to the delay. According to him, it is connected with the change of priorities of the Ministry of Defense. “The long-range fleet strategy has been chosen, that is, ships sailing in the Mediterranean are being loaded in priority order. And ISCs are ships of the coastal zone, so they will have to wait, ”he said.

 The request of "Real Time" in the press service of "Stars" remained unanswered.

 "Ak Bars" bite off a piece of "Stars"
Meanwhile, Zvezda, which came under the control of Sinara Group of Companies in the spring of this year, has already begun to scatter orders to partners. According to the interlocutor of "Real Time", the technical documentation for the production of engines transferred to Kingisepp Machine-Building Plant (part of the concern "Kalashnikov"). The head of the Ak Bars shipbuilding company also spoke about his interest in the transfer of individual components for Russian diesel engines. Renat Mistakhov confirmed “Real Time” that by the end of the year the corporation will decide on the nomenclature of the release of components. “After agreeing on the terms of reference, the business project will be defended and banks will be selected to attract debt financing,” he said.

 Still, the main question remains: what losses will the factory postpone the delivery of “Karakurt” at least a year?

 - It is obvious that after the conclusion of additional agreements with the Ministry of Defense on these ships, it is possible that the payment schedule will be changed. For the plant it is an obvious damage, it is unlikely there can be something to compensate. But hardly anyone can name specific figures outside the plant, ”Mikhail Barabanov, scientific editor of the Arms Export magazine, told Real Time. The expert of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Andrei Frolov agrees with him. “Perhaps, indeed,“ Karakurt ”is not a priority now. Losses can happen if bank loans were taken to finance the construction of ships. After all, they will receive money for the order not in 2018, but only in 2020. Credits will have to be serviced by proceeds from other contracts, not to mention the fact that military acceptance does not compensate for the costs of loans. If it is true,

 Louise Ignatieva


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