KRYLOV CENTRAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE: NEW HORIZONS

The State Research Center of the Russian Federation, the Krylov Central Research Institute, is Russia’s leading shipbuilding research institution. Its vast potential in the development of standard and engineering documentation, naval design and tests, has attracted customers from many countries. This publication coincides with a remarkable event in the Krylov Institute’s life: the conclusion of 200th foreign contract. The article deals with new trends at the Institute which have emerged following its reorganization.

1. Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin (Project 1909), flagship of Russia's space telemetry tracking and control system

The other organization incorporated by the Krylov Institute, the Lot Central Research Institute, is the leading shipbuilding standardization organization which maintains the fund of 2,700 industry standards, 2,100 of which are designed for the Navy. The appropriately computerized standards cover all stages of ship’s life cycle: R&D, construction, tests, operation, overhaul and disposal, as well as the complete nomenclature of shipbuilding products.

In addition to the development of State Standards, Lot has been working over the past several years on the issues of shipbuilding project management and the development of automated data bases on ship component equipment.

Finally, the Krylov Central Research Institute is Russia’s oldest and largest research organization involved in the forecast of fleet development; market analysis; shipbuilding program planning, design research; CAD/CAM technologies; theoretical and experimental research in virtually all fields of shipbuilding and stationary marine facilities: ship hydrodynamics, naval structural strength and vibration, the acoustics of ships and their mechanisms, the hydrodynamics and physical fields of marine objects, naval power plants, and nuclear, radiation and ecological safety.

Additionally, the Institute actively participates in the development of national and some international requirements for naval design in terms of unsinkability, stability, strength, ship vibration and noise levels, etc.

The high quality of research conducted by the Institute in naval design is guaranteed by available unique experimental facilities and proficient personnel.

The decision to merge the three organizations into a single entity has long been in waiting and become specifically urgent in the current complex situation in the shipbuilding industry. As a result, a powerful domestic shipbuilding center was formed capable of fulfilling the complete range of naval design functions: from concept formulation all the way through the issue of design blue-prints, as well as developing standard and engineering documentation and conducting large-scale research and tests in support of design and shipbuilding tasks.
 

2. Marshal Nedelin (Project 1914) space telemetry tracking and control ship

 
The newly established integrated center is able to improve the quality of naval design by:
— timely decision making at all phases of the design process on the introduction of recommendations issued by the Institute’s research units in the course of project design supervision;
— reliable feedback from the design bureau to the Institute’s research units during the assimilation of recommendations with opportunities to make amendments and updates, if necessary;
— easier organization of design process, reduction in design costs and time; 
— more integrated approach to the improvement of design techniques and their faster implementation;
— integrated and targeted standardization and unification of units, systems and materials;
— significantly simplified procedure of the introduction of Institute’s research results into the process of ship series production and modernization.

A higher design level of special-purpose and support ships and vessels will ensure the Institute’s further cooperation with Russian and foreign firms in the development of new designs, for example, space telemetry tracking and control ships under international projects, replenishment ships, salvage and rescue ships, diesel electric submarine and torpedo/missile boat tenders, etc.

The cooperation of reorganized Krylov Institute and Bultsudoproekt with potential partners can involve the following projects:
— space telemetry tracking and control ships and missile range ships. With the number of space launches and space-
faring nations growing, such ships are vital for space-faring states (even for those with large territories), as similar ground-based facilities have a limited tracking coverage;
— high-speed multipurpose and specialized ships for the ongoing replenishment of surface combatants, including aircraft carriers, with supplies, ammunition and aviation fuel;
— transport/crane vessels for cargo transportation and the loading/unloading of ammunition and heavy military vehicles at naval and logistics bases, including operations in support of rapid-deployment forces;
—  submarine (specifically diesel-electric submarine) and torpedo/missile tenders designed for logistics support, repair and maintenance functions, including operations at coasts lacking engineering support;
— ocean and sea-going salvage and rescuers tugs with a towing force of 30-100 tf, equipped with potent firefighting and water-pumping facilities, able to rescue people and lift craft in distress from water, and carry a helicopter, as well as liner tugs with a towing force of 30-100 tf;
— large and smaller cable ships that utilize modern techniques of automated cable laying of trans-ocean and local, communications and special-purpose cables (both fiber-
optical and metallic-conductor cables) and burying their shore branches;
— floating nuclear electric stations and gas-turbine electric stations with a capacity of 
3-25 MW (or more by customer requirement) to supply electricity to military or civilian facilities, or serve as stand-by power and heat sources for floating or shore users;
— floating metallic self-docking and one-piece docks of any lifting capacity, as well as transport floating docks for inter-theater transportation of minor ships, boats and diesel-electric submarines, including via inland waterways.

The fields of cooperation with customers are not limited by the above-mentioned naval ships, support vessels and craft. We are open for establishing direct fruitful contacts on mutually acceptable terms with potential partners.