Russia Might Scrap Its Lone Aircraft Carrier After Persistent, Costly Problems

Russia’s lone large aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov is designed to engage major surface targets, but it has been undergoing major repairs for over five years, and it’s last mission of note was in the Mediterranean where it conducted airstrikes in Syria in support of the Assad government 

A fire in 2019 resulted in two fatalities and 14 injuries, and it has had to undergo a large-scale reconstruction process at at estimated cost of almost $260 million. It was supposed to be deployable again in 2022 – but this has been postponed time and again as the vessel keeps suffering problems, including sinking drydocks, and severe repair delays, and even reports of corruption related to its expanding budget.

Fresh reports out of Russia say the Kremlin considering decommissioning the Admiral Kuznetsov, according to the pro-government newspaper Izvestia, which further says repair and modernization work on the carrier has been halted.

Officials from the Navy High Command and the United Shipbuilding Corporation, which was charged with overseeing the repairs, are said to be assessing whether it’s feasible to return the vessel to service.

“The Kuznetsov belongs to a bygone era,” Sergei Avakyants, former commander of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, described. “It’s an extremely costly and inefficient military asset. The future lies in unmanned systems and robotic technologies.”

Other analysts have pointed out that the grinding Ukraine war has become the highest priority, and thus all the state’s defense costs have been sunk into achieving objectives there

The Kuznetsov reaches back to the Soviet era, as it was launched in 1985 and commissioned in 1991, which has led many officials to conclude that it is now outdated.

In 2024, one US publication questioned, will it ever sail again? It’s conclusion was likely not:

Aircraft carriers, in a way, are like a metric measuring a nation’s general fortune. Why? Because aircraft carriers are complex; aircraft carriers are extremely expensive – both to produce and to maintain. Accordingly, only affluent nations, with resources to spare, can burden the cost of developing and fielding an aircraft carrier.

The US, the world’s most powerful nation, has eleven “supercarriers.” China, an ambitious and revisionist “up and comer” is working to expand their aircraft carriers fleet – and is on the verge of fielding a third carrier. India has two. Italy has two. The United Kingdom has two – but has decommissioned 41 – suggesting the island nation’s decline in global relevance. And Russia, a hollowed out paper tiger, has just the Admiral Kuznetsov, which many assume will never sail again.

One military and maritime analyst, Robert Beckhusen, has written that Kuznetsov ”is barely capable of doing what carriers are supposed to do: launch fighters. When she does, she uses a bow ramp instead of steam catapults, which forces reductions in planes’ takeoff weight and patrol time.”

Russia’s only aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” may be scrapped for metal

The cruiser has been under repair since 2017 and has faced a series of mishaps: in 2018, Russia’s largest floating dock sank, and in 2019, a major fire broke out on board. Modernization work has been… pic.twitter.com/1LXDzefdVk

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 11, 2025

At the same time, the Ukraine war has made clear that Russia is shifting battlefield tactics to heavy reliance on drone warfare. Also, it routinely launches cruise missiles from destroyers in the Black Sea.