In the first article under the same title, the idea of replacing the existing, still Soviet development, morally and physically aging, coastal zone ships of three types with a new universal unified platform was proposed for consideration, which can and should be created using the latest achievements of domestic shipbuilding, weapons and creatively apply the world experience and development trends. Judging by the comments published to the article, there are no serious arguments “against” the replacement in the future of small anti-submarine ships of project 1124M, small missile ships of project 12341 and missile boats of project 12411 among the visitors of the VO website.
Even 200 years ago, ships made of iron could "sink" in the storms of public opinion, and 100 years ago, an aluminum plane did not fly even among science fiction writers. The author is not going to challenge the fundamental principle of "cost-effectiveness". After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the production of titanium in Russia and titanium products withstood competition with Chinese manufacturers, which sharply increased their mining and production capacities. Now, in the presence of stable demand in the form of a defense order, prerequisites can be created for an increase in the production of titanium and the release of the final product from it. Of course, a titanium ship hull is an expensive pleasure! But! In the network, the price for rolled titanium is indicated at 1,350 rubles per kilogram, which means that a hull of one hundred tons will cost 135 million rubles. This is how much ministers take in the government, but if you scare the governors, mayors, deputies across the vast country? … Titanium simply won't be enough. And we can easily replace the existing fleet of seven dozen obsolete displacement ships with high-tech, economical modern combat units.
After the departure of an aircraft carrier, a missile cruiser and two BODs to the Mediterranean Sea, the Northern Fleet practically did not have enough ships to repel the threat to the safe deployment of submarine forces in a threatening period of aggravation of the strategic situation. Two RTOs and six IPCs, neither in the mode of alternate patrols, nor in a common joint exit to the sea, are not able to pose a real threat to the alleged reconnaissance or strike groups of probable enemies in the theater of operations. The remaining combat-ready destroyers, BODs and patrol boats will most likely be game and not hunters when they go out to sea some distance from their home bases. To solve this problem, relatively inexpensive, numerous, fast and, most importantly, new "Falcons" unified in terms of hull, power plant and main armament would be useful. These ships, by the very threat of the unexpected appearance of a large number of anti-ship missile carriers, would keep any KUG or AUG at a respectful distance from the border.
And the ability of the IPC group on their base to quickly and unexpectedly clear the necessary square from the submarine will make both submariners and strategists in the headquarters planning their operations be cautious.
The modular principle of manning ships' weapons a priori implies the presence of a universal multifunctional radar, which would be able to equally effectively provide air and surface conditions, take the detected air and surface targets for escort and flawlessly direct at them the missile and artillery armament of your ship, and, if necessary, other ships groups. An example from life can serve as aircraft interception systems, which solve the entire range of such tasks, only in harsh conditions of mass-dimensional and energy constraints. Simply put, a Russian Aegis is needed for a ship with a displacement of 500 tons. And in order not to reinvent the wheel, install four Irbis radars on the mainmast, which were designed for the Su-35 fighter, adapting them on the instructions of the naval department to solve the indicated tasks. Combined into a single complex by common software and coupled with the ship's CIUS and duplicated by an optoelectronic module, these radars will be an order of magnitude more effective than a large set of narrowly specialized radars of the previous generation. With the declared capabilities of the N035 Irbis radar, to detect and track up to 30 air targets at a distance of up to 400 km with an RCS of 3 m2 and up to 150 km with an RCS of 0.01 m2, and, moreover, to issue target designation at 8 of them, even with arithmetic addition of the capabilities of four such devices, we get a ship with the characteristics of an air defense cruiser. If we consider a standard NATO ship's salvo of eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles at the Sokol with AU-220M and AK-630M, then there is a possibility of fire impact by each caliber on all anti-ship missiles of the salvo as they enter the artillery systems' engagement zones. And if we take into account the competent and timely use of the modern electronic warfare system, then the chance of winning a hypothetical duel will tend to unity. But this is already a favorite topic of Konstantin Sivkov.
And yet, as the main universal armament of ships of new projects, it is proposed to consider a battery of two ZRPK "Pantsir-M" installations. For a potential enemy, the main weapon against the Falcons can only be guided munitions with guidance in the final section. These can be missiles with both IR and radar guidance heads. When considering the attack of a group of subsonic anti-ship missiles traveling at an altitude of 10 meters above the waves, the range of the radio horizon becomes decisive, which will allow mutual detection of each other by the radar seeker of the anti-ship missile system and the ship's locator. Adopting a detection range of ideally 30 km and an anti-ship missile speed of 900 km / h (15 km / min), we will have less than a minute to make a decision and a 57E6 missile flight time before the anti-ship missile enters the declared hit zone of Pantsir-M missiles 20 km … The estimated ability of the complex to operate in automatic mode will allow for the next minute to fire two anti-missile missiles at each of the eight anti-ship missiles entering the affected area. The surviving anti-ship missiles, not knocked off course by the electronic warfare system, come under fire from 30-mm multi-barreled rapid-fire guns. This scenario of a naval battle seems to be quite realistic in the 21st century. An attack from high and medium altitudes with homing ammunition, possibly having a supersonic flight speed, can be repulsed in cooperation with other ships of the group, when organizing joint air defense.
In other combinations of the main armament, there may be 57-mm AU-220M, and 30-mm AK-630M, and the 3M-47 "Gibka" turret mount, and "Igla" MANPADS, and 14, 5-mm KPV. Everything will depend on the specialization of the ship and the intended theater of operations. Agree, because somewhere a single RTO with 6-8 Uranium anti-ship missiles will be sufficient, and somewhere a battalion of RTOs with four Mosquitoes on each will not be able to guarantee superiority. The same is with small anti-submarine ships: there is the Baltic with the Gulf of Finland and the open expanses of the Pacific Ocean in the Far East. It will be necessary to decide; either 8 x 324 mm, or 4 x 533 mm (the dilemma will be more complicated than that of Kartsev)!
Having at least two large naval bases on each of the fleets, it is easy to assume that they have a division of small missile and small anti-submarine ships of 6-8 combat units each, and this is already 48-64 corps created according to a single project. The construction of eight small specialized floating docks for these ships, with the possibility of servicing other small-tonnage vessels and ships, will not be a big burden on the budget.
A defense order for at least a hundred gas turbine units with the prospect of doubling it will not leave indifferent the country's engine builders. And the use of GTA on other projects and even in other sectors of the national economy will not be long in coming in the face of international sanctions on high-tech dual-use equipment and the course taken for import substitution. In the end, those who have eyes will see the example of the Americans who built 60 pieces of the Arleigh Burke destroyers, which have no less varied conditions for their use and a slender, clockwork infrastructure for maintenance and repair. In our case, we can expect an even greater economic effect.
Concerned, after reading the first part of the article, for some reason they decided that the author was proposing to replace all ships of the fleet and solve all problems with a "mosquito" series. We need a balanced fleet, but the tasks of defense capability must be solved constantly, and not waiting for a bright future and a better economic situation. There is “Peter the Great”, but it cannot be simultaneously in eight bases in four fleets. And we will also take into account the base in Syria; After all, one Black Sea Fleet will not pull it. They will be needed on a rotational basis for the MPK and MRK divisions (not counting submarines and mine-sweeping forces). It is worth paying attention to the experience of the German Navy in the use of auxiliary ships of the "Elbe" type for mobile support of small forces at sea. And if a transfer to a transatlantic theater of operations is required, ships of the "Transshelf" type will also come in handy.
Not only for a large ship a long voyage and seven feet under the keel will not be enough for the new "Falcon"!
