"The Defense Ministry is planning to launch the construction of an advanced aircraft carrier in the distant future, at the final stage of the 2018-2025 state armament program. Of course, the production of new-generation aircraft will begin by that time," Borisov said at the MAKS 2017 international airshow.
"Today, the Sukhoi Su-33 [NATO reporting name: Flanker-D] and Mikoyan MiG-29 [Fulcrum-D] fighter jets are the basic planes for aircraft carriers, in particular, the ship Admiral Kuznetsov. The Defense Ministry is planning to develop a promising reduced take-off and landing or, probably, vertical take-off and landing plane and we are discussing this issue with aircraft producers," he added.
"The plane will be a derivative of vertical take-off and landing aircraft developed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau, which are no longer produced. There are such plans and we are discussing them. The groundwork laid may be used to develop a new plane for aircraft carriers," the deputy defense minister said.