Feature 1 | RUSSIAN NAVAL PROGRAMMES
Borey (Project 995) class submarines but it is hoped the next round of tests, scheduled to begin in June, will demonstrate the problems have been resolved. Tey will involve at least four test firings carried out either by RFS Dmitry Donskoi or RFS Yury Dolgoruky in the White Sea. Sea trials for the Borey first-of-class,
RFS Yuri Dolgoruky, were scheduled to begin early this summer followed by those for the second, RFS Alexander Nevsky. Te third ship, RFS Vladimir Monomakh, is being built to the Project 9551 design and is scheduled to be launched this year and to be commissioned in 2012. A fourth ship, RFS Svyatitel Nikolay,
laid down in February, will be built to the Project 09553 design. Tis will reportedly include internal changes and additional missile launch tubes which will also be in the fiſth ship. In addition, Moscow is planning to develop a new generation of ballistic missile submarines under the new programme and these will also carry cruise missiles.
First post-soviet era Project 885 Te first Yasen (Project 885) class nuclear- powered attack submarine produced in the post-Soviet era has been delivered to the Russian Navy. RFS Severodvinsk was laid down at the Sevmash Shipyard in December 1993, but financial problems led to numerous delays. She is scheduled to join the fleet by the end of this year. Te submarine has eight torpedo tubes and the same number of vertical- launch missile cells in her aſter casing (Russian reports suggest she will carry 24 vertically launched missiles) as well as an Ajaks sonar suite. She has a submerged displacement of circa 8600tonnes and can make up to 28knots. Te delays in her completion mean her sister ships, starting with the RFS Kazan laid down in 2009, will be of an improved Project 855M or 8551 design with delivery in 2015. She will receive more advanced equipment and weaponry than her sister ship and is likely to be followed by five more. Until
recently it was a confident
assumption that the diesel-electric force would consist of the Lada (Project 677) class boats of which the third, RFS Sevastapol, will be commissioned this year. However, the first-of-class, RFS Sankt-Petersburg, commissioned in 2010,
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is reported to have experienced significant shortfalls with many on-board systems, including its non-hull-penetrating masts, which use fibre optics and integral electro- optical sensors. Trials have continued but there are now reports from Russia that the diesel-electric submarine force will be based upon Improved Kilos (Project 06363) design with the lead ship scheduled for the Black Sea Fleet.
Surface combatants There are also surprises in the field of surface combatants with the Russian Defence Ministry making no mention of destroyers, although it is believed that Russia has begun design of a destroyer with reduced signatures and that this design is expected to be completed by 2013. She will be a multi-role warship of up to 10,000tonnes and will have general- purpose vertical missile launchers to fire land-attack, anti-ship, air-defence and anti-submarine missiles and there will also be short- and medium-range air defence systems as well as gun systems. Moscow is planning to add 15 frigates
and 35 corvettes to its fleet and in April of last year commissioned the second Gepard (Project 11661), RFS Dagestan, which will probably serve with her sister ship in the Caspian. It had been anticipated that the Steregushchiy (Project 20380) class would be the keel of the frigate programme with five ordered, the last, RFS Stoiky, being launched this year but the defence ministry is to seek bids for a new design on the grounds that the Steregushchiy did
not meet what the ministry described as ‘modern requirements’. Te alternative was the larger Admiral
Gorshkov (Project 22350) class whose first ship was launched earlier this year, with up to five more scheduled by 2015 and a potential of 12 by 2020. But with a unit cost equivalent to US$320-400 million even these vessels are regarded as too expensive. Five design bureaus will be asked to
tender for this competition including Zelenodolsk PKB, Severnoye PKB and Almaz, which are all members of the United Shipbuilding Corporation. Of these, Zelenodolsk is offering a catamaran or trimaran concept similar to the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship contender USS Independence (LCS 2). To meet the corvette requirement the
ministry is examining domestic proposals but the Russian press suggest a foreign design firm may also be considered. One design will be selected and it will serve as the standard corvette design for the next 15 years. It is worth noting that Moscow is considering foreign-designed gun systems for its frigates or anti-surface vessel craſt. Russian Navy commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotkiy has
said Russian
warships could be equipped with foreign weapons, including the French Creusot- Loire 100mm Compact and the Italian Oto Melara OTO-Melara 127/64LW, as well as diesel engines and air conditioning systems. His statement coincided with the testing of Russian artillery, particularly the A-192M Armat, which is expected to be completed in 2012.
The Udaloy class destroyer Admiral Vinogradov. Warship Technology May 2011
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