SEVASTOPOL. May 18 (Interfax-AVN) - The Ukrainian Navy development concept assigns the role of the national navy core to vessels of the corvette class, Navy Commander Mykhailo Yezhel said on Saturday.
This concerns both corvettes of the Albatros type and missile-carrying corvettes of the Molnia-1 type, Yezhel told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The Ukrainian Navy needs vessels of other classes as well, these being submarines, minesweepers and special-purpose vessels. Rearmament of the fleet is not progressing "as quickly as we would like to," Yezhev said. The state of the national economy is the main reason for that, he noted.
"Nevertheless, there are changes for the better. A corvette of the Albatros type was set afloat in Kyiv in late March. In a few months it will join the recently established squadron of mixed forces that comprises the most combat-ready vessels and coastal units. Two hydrofoil boats of the Sokol type are under construction at the More production association in Feodosiya," the commander said.
In addition, repairs and retrofitting of several vessels is underway. "For instance, repairs and sea trials of the Kirovograd medium landing craft have been completed recently. Repairs have been in full swing at our only submarine Zaporizhzhia over the past year. A decision on the purchase of batteries for it is about to be made. Funds for repairs of several more vessels have been allocated," Yezhel said.
Speaking about the first decade of Ukrainian Navy development, the commander noted that progress had been achieved as far as both quality and quantity of vessels in the Navy's inventory were concerned. "In 1992, the Ukrainian Navy was a small group of officers and warrants, mostly ex-servicemen of the (Soviet) Black Sea Fleet. At present the Ukrainian Navy comprises about 20,000 servicemen, workers and employees, over 30 warships and boats, 80 auxiliary vessels and about 40 aircraft," the admiral said.
The most important thing is that establishment of the optimized navy structure is nearly complete, Yezhel said, adding that the structure would still be changed in accordance with development plans for periods until 2005 and until 2010.
"I must say that our Navy also includes coastal missile and artillery units, marines and technical, logistics support and special-purpose units stationed, in particular, in Sevastopol, Novoozyornoye, Odesa, Mykolayiv, Saki, Feodosia and other bases," the commander stressed.