On July 26, the Main Naval Parade will be held in the water area of the Neva. The solemn event dedicated to the Day of the Navy will be attended by 46 ships and 41 units of aviation equipment. Officers of the High Command of the Fleet and cadets of naval educational institutions will march along the Admiralty Embankment.
Among the equipment that will be presented to the general public, there are many newest ships: the frigate of project 22350 "Admiral Kasatonov", corvettes of project 20380 "Boyky" and "Stoyky", large landing ship (BDK) of project 11711 "Pyotr Morgunov", diesel-electric submarines of the project 636.3 "Stary Oskol" and "Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky", small missile ships (MRK) of project 22800 "Mytishchi" and "Sovetsk".
"Admirals" on the road
In an interview with RT, Dmitry Litovkin, the editor of Independent Military Review, called the development of project 22350 one of the main achievements of the domestic industry and the Navy in recent years. This type of frigate is designed to perform a wide range of tasks in the far sea zone as part of a group and alone.
According to the expert, the commissioning of Project 22350 ships will allow Russia to increase its presence in the World Ocean.
On July 21, the Admiral Kasatonov joined the Northern Fleet. Today in the ranks of the Navy there are two such ships, six more units are under construction.
The total displacement of the frigate is 5.4 thousand tons, length - 135 meters, width - 16 meters, maximum speed - 29 knots, sailing autonomy - 30 days. The ship's developer is the Northern Design Bureau (SPKB).
As stated in the materials of the enterprise, frigates are made of modern materials using stealth technology, "providing a decrease in the level of physical fields and, accordingly, the ship's visibility in the appropriate ranges."
The arsenal of Project 22350 vessels includes the Kalibr and Onyx missiles, the Polyment-Redut and Palma anti-aircraft systems, the A-192M Armat artillery mount, the Paket-NK small-sized anti-torpedo system, and the 91R2 anti-submarine weapon.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in the future, Russian shipyards will build frigates of the Admiral Kasatonov class in an improved version. Experts believe that we are talking about the ships of the promising project 22350M, which will be larger and more armed.
“Information about the 22350M project is still very sparse, but the general course of modernization is, in principle, obvious - an increase in size for the installation of more weapons, including missiles. Most likely, in terms of their combat potential, the updated Russian frigates will be close to destroyers, "Dmitry Kornev, founder of the Military Russia portal, noted in a commentary to RT.
According to the requirements of the sea battle
From the point of view of specialists, the development of the program for the construction of project 20380 multipurpose corvettes, which will be demonstrated at the naval parade in St. Petersburg, is of no small importance for the Russian fleet.
The Russian Navy now has six such ships, two ships are under construction, and two more are being tested. The construction of corvettes was launched at Severnaya Verf (St. Petersburg) and PJSC Amur Shipyard (Komsomolsk-on-Amur).
- Corvette project 20380
- RIA News
- © Alexander Galperin
The total displacement of the ship exceeds 2.2 thousand tons, the length is 104.5 m, the width is 13 m, the maximum speed is 27 knots, the cruising range is up to 4 thousand miles, the autonomy is 15 days, the power of the propulsion system is 23 320 l. from.
The 20380 corvettes are equipped with the Uranus anti-ship missile system with Kh-35 missiles with a range of 260 km. Another feature of these vessels is the modular design principle, which allows the installation of different types of weapons.
"The systems of strike, anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons introduced into this project of ships, complexes of combat control, detection and target designation, communications and protection make this class of ships self-sufficient and meeting the highest requirements of modern naval combat," the website of the Russian Ministry of Defense says.
Dmitry Kornev believes that, despite the absence of the "Caliber" corvettes in the arsenal, they are quite effective platforms for carrying out missions to counter enemy ships and submarines in the near sea zone.
Another modern type of domestic naval technology, which will be presented in the water area of the Neva, is the 22800 Karakurt MRK. The ship's modest dimensions did not prevent the installation of "Calibers" and the "Pantsir-M" anti-aircraft missile system, which experts recognize as one of the best in its class.
The displacement of the corvette is 860-900 tons, length - 67 m, width - 11 m, autonomy - 12 days, cruising range - 2500-2800 miles. The ship is capable of speeds up to 30-35 knots. Thanks to its powerful strike weapons, "Karakurt" can destroy surface and ground targets.
In the coming years, the Navy will include 18 ships of Project 22800. Their construction has been deployed at five enterprises, including the Amur Shipyard (Komsomolsk-on-Amur) and Vostochnaya Verf (Vladivostok), which fulfill orders for the Pacific Fleet.
“I think that the Ministry of Defense is profitable to invest in the construction program of the Karakurt. With a small displacement, this corvette is capable of causing significant damage to a potential enemy. In addition, unlike its predecessors, this ship has good seaworthiness, ”said Kornev.
Airborne support
Dmitry Litovkin drew attention to the fact that, in addition to small naval platforms, large-tonnage ships are also being built for the needs of the Navy. In particular, at the parade in St. Petersburg will be presented a large landing craft project 11711 "Pyotr Morgunov", which is currently being tested. In June 2018, its elder "twin brother", "Ivan Gren", entered the fleet.
Both vessels represent a new generation of large landing craft. Each of them is able to accommodate a battalion of marines (about 400 people), 13 tanks or more than 30 armored vehicles. A transport-combat helicopter and two multipurpose Ka-27s can be placed on the deck of the BDK.
On July 20, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, two Project 23900 universal landing craft (UDC), named Ivan Rogov and Mitrofan Moskalenko, were laid down at the Zaliv plant in Kerch.
There is no official information about the capabilities of these courts. At the same time, the UDC model of project 23900 was first publicly demonstrated on January 9, 2020 during Putin's visit to the Nakhimov school in Sevastopol. Then at the gunpoint of journalists' TV cameras was a poster with the characteristics of the ship. From the information that got into the frame, it follows that the displacement of the UDC exceeds 20 thousand tons. The landing ship will be able to accommodate up to a thousand servicemen and up to 75 pieces of equipment.
“The laying down of helicopter carriers is a very important event for the fleet. The appearance of the UDC and other large-tonnage ships in the Navy will strengthen its position in the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to such a renewal of the fleet, Russia will be able to influence the situation in almost any region of the world, ”says Dmitry Litovkin.
The expert called the development of the Zircon naval hypersonic missile another achievement of the defense industry and the Navy. The range of this ammunition exceeds 1,000 km, the speed is Mach 9. It is expected that "Zircon" will be adopted by the end of 2021.
“The development of naval missile weapons allows Russia to successfully defend its borders and deliver accurate strikes against enemy targets. Our country demonstrates that it will not remain in debt. At present, a systematic program for the development of the fleet is being implemented, aimed at strengthening its combat capabilities, ”Litovkin emphasized.