Putin’s Beast: Vladimir Plans Massive 100,000-Ton Supercarrier ‘Storm II’ to Take on West

The Conceptual Storm II Russian Aircraft Supercarrier. By: Project 23000E Shtorm carrier. Krylovsky State Research Center/USNI

Vladimir Pospelov, a member ofRussia’s Military-Industrial Commission, has noted plans for Vladimir Putin's prospective new 100,000-ton aircraft supercarrier.

Knewz.com has learned that the purported ship, resemblingEngland’s Queen Elizabeth class with its twin-island design, is expected to set the Russian Federation back $5,84 billion.

Pospelov further noted that the expected cost may be misleading as the vessel could have a smaller displacement range of between 70-80 thousand tons.

Even with this being the case, Pospelov told the Russian state newspaper RIA Novosti that the ship’s price tag –currently below that of United States aircraft carriers – is in danger of exceeding expectations.

“All risks must be taken into account at the planning stage, before making a decision. We can make a mistake by 10-20%, but not significantly. Otherwise, we will end up in long-termconstruction for many years,” he explained.

Vladimir Pepeliaev, a former vice admiral of the Russian Navy was quoted by the outlet, Lenta, saying:

“Today we have the Su-33, MiG-29K/Kub, and the aircraft carrier must receive and launch theseaircraft. In the future, our aircraft carrier should [accommodate] the Su-57.”

Inanother article, Pepeliaev said: “Today, strike missile weapons are not relevant for a ship like an aircraft carrier. It must solve aviation tasks, the crew must be focused on the aviation component.”

The latter is a departure from Russia's current and only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov.

This vessel, completed in 1995, has been dubbed a “heavy missile and aviation cruiser.” According to the National Interest, it boasts “24 rotating launch tubes for Gauntlet surface-to-air missiles, P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles, and UDAV-1 sub-killing rockets.”

Admiral Kuznetsov, however, has been plagued with mechanical problems and as a nod to this,Ukraine’s military intelligence services released an assessment in January 2023, saying the aircraft carrier had been dry-docked.

During these repairs, the ship was moved from the facility to a ship repair plant—and at that point, it became clear it was not able to sail under its own power.

Russian specialists were also reported to have warned Putin’s navy that if the ship were to be launched it would likely capsize and sink—a hazard that was in part credited to flooding and muddy water covering everything below its third deck.

While this was happening, officials responsible for repairing the vessel reportedly blamed each other as the equivalent of $100 million in fines had built up for infractions and misdemeanors.

Prior to the ship's appearance at said Murmansk repair plant, it was the central point in a slew of accidents including the sinking of a floating dock that killed one worker in 2018 (per The Barents Observer), and a fire one year later that killed another two employees and injured around twelve more, perAxios.

According to an article by Forbes, the current scope of work being done on the vessel is expected to continue until 2025