Categories: General
Date: Dec 12, 2008
Title: Aviation in Ukraine
Ukraine Building International Program to Train Naval Aviators
By Paul Farley, Nova Mova co-owner, from Internet sources.
Ukraine is reportedly taking steps to revive an old Soviet training facility and become a world leader in training naval aviators.
In the 1980s, the Soviet Navy had begun a program to build true aircraft carriers and had established a pilot training facility at Nitka, near the Ukrainian city of Odesa. The Nitka base was used by the Soviet Navy to train MiG-29K and Su-33 pilots for service on the carriers that were planned or under construction. When the Soviet Union dissolved, its few operational carriers were sold to other countries and construction ceased on others.
The Nitka facility has seen decreasing activity since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and independence of Ukraine in 1991; however, the government has begun to refurbish the facility with the intent to train pilots for countries that bought former Soviet carriers and aircraft, primarily China and India.
China has reportedly agreed to have its pilots trained at the facility and is buying aircraft carrier equipment made in Ukraine. China is expanding its own carrier aviation training center, and is buying consulting and technical services from Ukraine to assist in that project. Chinese naval aviation officials recently visited Ukraine and inked a number of cooperative agreements.
Of note, six years ago China purchased the former Soviet carrier, Varyag, from Russia and began a project to restore the ship for use as a training carrier. There are indications, however, that Varyag could be restored as an operational combat carrier.
In addition, India is buying MiG-29Ks for their carriers, and China is apparently building, with Ukrainian help, a carrier version of the Su-30 (SU-33).
Also, earlier this year, some Russian officials floated the idea of contracting Ukrainian shipyards for the construction of a new class of Russian aircraft carriers. The move was seen in some circles as an economic “carrot” to Ukraine to encourage greater naval cooperation between Ukraine and Russia with a goal to convince the Ukrainian government to extend an agreement for Russia to base its Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
No official recommendation from Russia, or response from Ukraine, regarding such cooperation has been forthcoming as yet. However, if Ukraine were to become a future construction center for Russian aircraft carriers, the aviation training base at Nitka could become quite busy.