The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Ukraine Crushes The Russian Navy
by James Dunnigan
July 2, 2015
Russia recently admitted that its undeclared war with Ukraine had stalled plans to rebuild the Russian navy. Ukraine was always a major supplier of ship components for the Russian navy. While many of those components can now be manufactured (with some delays and greater expense) in Russia, one crucial component (gas turbine engines) will take much longer (up to a decade) to replace via Russian suppliers. These engines, mainly from the Ukrainian firm Zorya-Mashproekt, power most of current or planned Russian surface warships. Russia never sought to create a second supplier in Russia and thus the current lack of new gas turbine engine threatens the reliability of their surface fleet as well as halting new construction.
Another Ukrainian engine manufacturer (Motor Sich) produces many of the new engines (and refurbishes and repairs old ones) for the Mi-8/17 transport helicopters and Ka-50/52, Mi-28 and Mi24/35 helicopter gunships. Despite the considerable effort Russian manufacturers have not been able to replace the lost Ukrainian production yet and there will be engine shortages for at least three more years.
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