R. Kipling, "The Destroyers"
To fire a salvo of a dozen cruise missiles, you do not need a thousand-ton vessels with a crew of two hundred people. An equivalent strike is provided by only one link of multipurpose gliding bombs and airborne missile launchers. With the current level of development of high-precision weapons, aircraft can bomb any target without hindrance, even without invading enemy airspace. Gliding ammunition SDB has a range of 100 km. Compact cruise missile JASSM-ER - over 900 km. Domestic missile launchers of the X-101 family are capable of destroying targets at insane distances of 5 thousand km.
Only one (!) Strategic bomber is capable of lifting up to twelve cruise missiles into the sky, which are not inferior in power to the popular Caliber.
Of course, the planes will soon return to the airfield and after a short time are able to repeat the strike again. Unlike the cruiser, which will have to "scoop" for another week to the nearest base or PMTO to replenish ammunition.
From the standpoint of sound logic and incomprehensible eternal truth, aviation is dozens of times superior to the fleet in efficiency and tactical flexibility. Not to mention the economic side of the issue and the absence of the need to risk the lives of hundreds of people on board.
The fortified image of a battleship in the form of a carrier of the Caliber missiles does not meet the requirements of the time. With the development of aviation, the surface fleet has largely lost its strike value. At best, these are smart "toys", at worst - vulnerable targets.
When performing strike missions, only specialized fire support ships (the Zamvolta concept), whose powerful artillery weapons make it possible to strengthen and supplement the traditional means of air attack, have a certain meaning. Naval artillery is a thousand ammunition. Minimum reaction time. Invulnerability of shells for enemy air defense systems. Work on call in combined arms combat, where the use of "Calibers" and "Tomahawks" on point targets becomes redundant and unnecessarily wasteful.
All of this is for operations in coastal waters.
But is there any sense in the existence of an ocean-going fleet? Why overwhelm and vulnerable "pelvis", when the Air Force can conduct any shock and "punitive" operation throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. And they will fly to South America, if need be.
They will fly faster than the fastest destroyer can reach. And the next day they will repeat the blow. Without unnecessary fuss and questions about the difficulties of the transition between the Northern and Pacific fleets.
Ship - floating defensive fort
It is from this position that the modern surface fleet must be viewed. Fortress in the ocean. A platform for placing anti-aircraft missile systems - with attached detection equipment and missiles of various ranges.
Air defense of formations in open sea areas. Alpha and Omega. The safety of convoys, floating airfields and landing ships when moving along sea routes directly depends on them. In a risk zone where there is a high probability of the appearance of an enemy.
Air defense is a critical mission requiring ships of the destroyer class and above. Why? This will be discussed a little later.
And let the term "destroyer" not mislead anyone. Outdated classification, relict, preserved from the beginning of the last century. The traditional words "cruiser" and "destroyer" sound more familiar and "juicier" than an ocean defense missile ship. Although this is exactly what any modern destroyer or frigate of NATO countries is.
The evolution of shipborne radars and air defense systems has led to the emergence of another related task. Modern destroyers can be used to provide anti-missile defense in strategic areas and to shield theaters of operations from ballistic missile warheads. Thanks to mobility, naval early warning missiles can be deployed to intercept anywhere in the world, and interceptor missiles placed on board are used to "lift" enemy satellites from near-earth orbits.
The provision of air defense-missile defense missions dictated all sizes, layout features and the appearance of modern ships.
Modern equipment and weapons are compact enough to accommodate all systems in a hull with a relatively small displacement. Much less than that of heavy cruisers of the WWII era (15-18 thousand tons) or the Soviet RRC of the late period of the Cold War (11-12 thousand tons).
However, the creation of an ocean-going air defense ship the size of a missile boat or corvette is not possible. Not only because of the lack of autonomy and seaworthiness of these vessels.
Due to its size, the corvette will not be able to provide energy for a radar with a peak radiation power of several megawatts. How to make it impossible to install antennas at a sufficient height above sea level.
As practice has shown, the "golden mean" is a hull with a length of 150 meters with a full displacement of 7-8 thousand tons. According to modern classification, it is a modest destroyer or a large frigate.
Such dimensions allow:
a) freely install on board a full range of means for airspace control;
b) place a full-fledged ammunition load of several dozen long and medium-range anti-aircraft missiles;
c) provide the necessary power of the power plant and the energy capabilities of the destroyer;
d) ensure reasonable versatility of the ship.
Reasonable versatility is universal artillery, helicopters, anti-submarine defense systems. The indicated dimensions allow placing a mass of additional weapons on board without prejudice to the fulfillment of the main task of air defense / missile defense.
Anti-submarine defense is a network task. It cannot be solved by a single destroyer. This is a whole complex of specialized equipment consisting of hundreds of anti-submarine aircraft, multipurpose submarines, sonar control systems (SOSUS), and in the future - autonomous robotic submarine hunters.
However, all this does not negate the possibility of a full-fledged hydroacoustic station on board the air defense ship - with the possibility of detecting mines in the water column. As well as an anti-submarine helicopter and a range of anti-submarine weapons: from small-sized torpedoes to several PLUR in universal launch silos instead of a part of anti-aircraft ammunition. As mentioned above, the dimensions allow you to accommodate this entire set without compromising the main task.
The situation is similar with anti-ship missiles. Several small anti-ship missiles in separate launchers (for example, the Kh-35 "Uranus"), so as not to look stupid during armed provocation from another Turkish frigate. Ideally - the possibility of placing on board powerful and compact anti-ship missiles in the same cells of the universal UVP modeled on the American LRASM. It's not a fact that these weapons will ever come in handy, but leaving a $ 2 billion ship unarmed looks too frivolous.
Universal artillery of 76-127 mm caliber - for shooting violating trawlers, armed terrorist boats, finishing off "wounded" and performing other, not too beautiful, but sometimes very necessary tasks.
The helicopter is a versatile technique. When conducting any search and rescue and anti-submarine operations.
Anti-aircraft self-defense means - from high-tech "Broadswords" and "Falanxes" to dozens of portable air defense systems. The weapon of the "last frontier".
Promising unmanned underwater vehicles for surveying the bottom and making passages in minefields.
A detachment of marines. Their cockpit takes up very little space, and the benefits of these guys are great. Ensuring the safety of the ship itself, as well as the possibility of landing on captured ships and carrying out other special operations.
Finally, high energy capabilities make it possible to place a complex of electronic warfare equipment on board. Record holders of the electronic warfare field, American destroyers, are capable of "burning out" missile homing heads using the AN / SLQ-32 station with a radiation power of megawatts!
Not to mention the whole set of means for staging passive jamming. As a result, hitting such a destroyer is much more difficult than a defenseless boat or small rocket ship.
The perfect ship
In practice, the European project "Horizon" has become the ideal embodiment of these ideas. The ten most advanced surface warships:
Six destroyers of the Royal Navy of Great Britain (type "Daring", entered service in 2009-2013).
And their four "twins" - two overgrown frigates of the French Navy (type Horizon, 2008-2009) and two frigates of the Italian Navy (Orizzonte, 2007-2009).
There is a fully electric transmission, with a minimum level of noise and vibration to reduce the external acoustic background and facilitate the operation of its own GAS.
A 25-meter tower with a horizon tracking radar antenna installed at its top.
An excellent combination of a centimeter radar for detecting low-flying targets and a powerful volume search radar (SAMPSON + S1850M for the "British", EMPAR + S1850M for the "Italians" and "French"). With the help of these two radars, they are able to view a flying pigeon tens of kilometers from the ship, while simultaneously tracking the movement of satellites in low-Earth orbits.
The British "Daring" radar is made using AFAR technology, until recently - the only ship in the world with such a radar. In addition to searching and tracking hundreds of targets, this universal system is simultaneously used to transmit commands to the autopilots of launched anti-aircraft missiles during the cruise phase of the flight.
Anti-aircraft complex PAAMS, which uses missiles with active guidance. This once and for all solved the problem with additional radars and the need for external "illumination" of targets on the terminal leg of the missile defense flight.
Anyone who is interested in the capabilities of the Horizons and opened Wikipedia, hoping to find out the exact characteristics of these superfrigates, should take into account that European peacetime ships are structurally underutilized. For example, in the bow of the Daring, space is reserved for 16 more missile silos - the SYLVER A70 or the American Mk.41.
It is curious that the hull structures themselves make up only 5% of the cost of such a ship. This is less than the total cost of the anti-aircraft missiles on board. The main part of the expenses is R&D for the creation of unique radio-electronic means and weapons, whose capabilities are more like "black magic" than real systems.
In conclusion, it should be noted that between such an air defense ship and a corvette / frigate with only "Caliber" there is a whole technological gap. That is why domestic shipbuilders relatively quickly build all kinds of IACs and even rebuild the aircraft carrier for export, but they still have not been able to identify the main features of a promising destroyer.
