Of the two hundred countries in the world, only two were able to organize the mass construction of URO destroyers. The rest of the modern fleets, for various reasons, have to find compromises and be content with ships of a lower rank.
Frigates!
Combat ships with a displacement of 4-6 thousand tons, the main purpose of which is to fight the air and underwater enemy while escorting the main forces of the fleet and especially important convoys at any distance from the coast. In terms of the effectiveness of air defense / anti-aircraft defense systems, modern frigates are close to destroyers, but they are inferior to the latter in seaworthiness and shock aspect (less ammunition, the absence of tactical SLCM ammunition in the nomenclature, artillery of a smaller caliber).
These modest ships have gained the greatest popularity among European customers: Bundesmarine, Marina Militare, Marine Nacional, Koninklike Marine … Each of the European fleets is weak individually, but together they are capable of crushing anyone who dares to disturb the peace in the waters of the European Union. However, all the talk about the confrontation between the Russian Mediterranean squadron and European sailors is far from reality: European frigates are peaceful ships. They are focused on solving purely defensive tasks.
The majority of "Europeans" are structurally underutilized due to cost savings. If necessary, you can install a hell of a lot of weapons on them. A striking example is the Dutch "De Zeven Provincien", whose creators saved money on the sixth section of the UVP.
As a rule, these are large combat units, whose dimensions are very close to the size of destroyers, and the total displacement reaches six thousand tons or more. All of them are ships of NATO countries, united by common standards and the Link 16 tactical data exchange network, which allows communication with any other "NATO" ship or combat aircraft in real time. The smaller size and ammunition load in comparison with full-fledged destroyers are compensated for by the technical perfection of their designs. Each European frigate is a masterpiece of shipbuilding, created taking into account the latest achievements of science and technology. In terms of a number of combat characteristics, they can seriously compete with the Russian nuclear cruiser and "plug in the belt" the American super destroyer Orly Burke.
Despite the apparent diversity, all Euro-frigates belong to three large groups.
Germans
Representatives:
- air defense frigates of the "Saxony" type (Germany) - 3 units were built;
- air defense frigates / command ships of the type "De Zeven Provinsen" (Netherlands) - 4 units.
- air defense frigates of the "Iver Hütfeld" type (Denmark) - 3 units.
Export: Periodically there is information related to plans to build a pair of frigates, similar to the German Sachsen-Klasse, for the Israeli Navy.
Frigate with guided missile weapons (URO) "Hamburg"
Strong Teutonic character, faceted "tower" of the foremast, color "stormy gray" … The frigates of the northern countries demonstrate the seriousness of their intentions.
The main thing that connects these small but powerful ships is the principle of building air defense. Inside the truncated pyramid at the front of the superstructure are the blocks of the APAR system, a small electronic miracle created by the hands of Thales Nederland specialists. Multifunctional radar with four active phased array, each array of which consists of 3424 transmit and receive modules operating in the X-band.
Frigate / command ship "Tromp" of the Netherlands Navy
In addition to APAR, the radio-technical complex of means of detecting ships includes a radar of the decimeter range SMART-L (active phased array, mechanical scanning in azimuth). This radar is designed to monitor airspace at a long range - 480 km, with the prospect of detecting ballistic missile units at transatmospheric heights from a distance of up to 1000 km. In fact, each Euro-frigate is a mobile version of a missile attack warning station (EWS)!
Unlike the powerful, but far-sighted SMART-L, the priority task of the APAR centimeter radar is to track the horizon and timely detect targets moving against the background of the water. Other capabilities of the unique station include operation in the surveillance radar mode (automatic tracking of up to 200 air targets at a distance of 150 km), navigation and artillery fire adjustment.
The tasks of APAR include not only the detection, recognition and tracking of hundreds of low-flying objects, but also the control of anti-aircraft fire: APAR forms "beams" for transmitting commands to the autopilots of missiles, and also performs target illumination for missiles with semi-active guidance (ICWI technology, at the time of appearance which had no analogues in the world). The capabilities of the radar make it possible to simultaneously coordinate the flight of up to 32 ESSM missiles on the cruising section, incl. 16 at the terminal stage!
"Iver Huetfeld". It is curious that the Danish frigate is built on the basis of the Absalon-class transport-combat ship (in the background is the Norwegian F. Nansen-class frigate)
The APAR capabilities are clearly redundant compared to the ammunition load of German, Danish and Dutch frigates. American technologies are used as anti-aircraft weapons - under-deck UVP, anti-aircraft missiles of the Stenderd-2 family and ESSM.
"Saxony" (Sahsen-Klasse) - 32 UVP cells MK.41. Standard ammunition consists of 32 long-range SM-2 Block IIIA anti-aircraft missiles and 24 short and medium-range ESSM missiles (4 in each cell).
"De Zeven Provinsen" - 40 cells of UVP MK.41. Standard ammunition - 32 SM-2 Block IIIA and 32 ESSM missiles.
Danish "Yver Huetfeld" - 32 cells Mk.41 for launching SM-2 Block IIIA. Also on board is the Mk.56 UVP, designed to store and launch 24 ESSM missiles.
Also, the composition of the armament of the European frigates includes: American anti-ship missiles "Harpoon" (8-16 pcs.), Italian universal guns of 76 and 127 mm caliber, anti-submarine systems MK.32 and MU.90. Various means of self-defense - missile systems RIM-116, automatic cannons "Mauser" and "Oerlikon" with remote guidance, anti-aircraft guns "Goalkeeper"; 1-2 helicopters. One of the German frigates (F220 "Hamburg"), for the sake of experiment, was equipped with a turret with a 155 mm cannon from the Pz.2000 self-propelled guns. The Germans, Danes and Dutch tactfully refused to equip their frigates with the Tomahawk SLCM.
Currently, the Yankees are scaring the Europeans with Iranian ballistic missiles and Russian Iskander missiles, offering to place Stenderd-3 interceptor missiles on board the frigates. The proposal sounds quite realistic: the means of detection and fire control potentially allow Euro-frigates to hit targets in low-earth orbit.
"Hamburg" accompanies the AUG led by the aircraft carrier "Dwight Eisenhower"
Due to their outstanding ability to combat air targets, Euro-frigates are popular in the Pentagon. They are often "invited" to joint exercises and prefer to place them on the air defense order of aircraft carrier strike groups. If a German frigate is nearby, the Yankees can sleep peacefully, they are not afraid of any enemy missile.
Southerners
Representatives: multipurpose frigates Frégate européenne multi-mission (FREMM).
France - ordered 8 units (subtype "Aquitaine"), to date built 2, construction continues. Italy - ordered 8 units (subtype Bergamini), between 2008 and 2014. 3 were built, construction continues.
Export: frigate "Mohammed VI" - built in France for the Moroccan Navy (2014). Greece planned to purchase six FREMM frigates, however, due to the well-known events, the Greeks had to refrain from buying so many expensive equipment. To date, an agreement has been reached to lease the Greek Navy two FREMM frigates from the French naval forces.
Cheerful "macaroni" that "know how to build ships, but absolutely do not know how to fight on them." And technologically advanced France, which has always adhered to an independent policy in the military-industrial complex. The symbiosis of the two luminaries of the world shipbuilding gave a natural result - the frigate FREMM came out to everyone's envy.
Strictly speaking, FREMM is a step back and forth. Europeans know how to build even better - 10 years ago, the emphasis was on the Gorizont-type air defense frigates. But this ship turned out to be too expensive - each frigate the size of a good destroyer cost the governments of Italy and France over 1 billion euros apiece!
Modern FREMM is an attempt to reduce costs, coupled with the desire to increase the situational "flexibility" of the ship. The air defense concept was completely revised - the place of the unique bundle of EMPAR (NLC search) and S1850M (sky survey) radars was taken by:
On the French ships - a single multifunctional radar Héraklès.
3D-radar of the decimeter range, designed to detect all types of air and surface targets within the radio horizon. The maximum detection range of objects at high altitudes can reach 250 km. It is possible to create dozens of radio channels to control the flight of launched missiles and the target illumination mode - despite the fact that Herakles works in conjunction with Aster-15/30 missiles, which have an active radar seeker.
On Italian ships - KRONOS MFRA.
3D radar centimeter range with active phased array, capable of tracking the movement of up to 300 air targets. Designed to provide air defense of the frigate in the near zone, with partial performance of the function of a long-range radar. Capable of performing the functions of an anti-aircraft missile flight control radar.
Multipurpose frigate of the Italian Navy "Carlo Bergamini"
Of course, "unified radars for detecting any targets" is a bitter irony: the Europeans had to sacrifice zonal air defense and / or weaken control over the near zone. But these are the requirements of the time - the creators of FREMM met the required estimate (from € 470 million for an export frigate for the Moroccan Navy to € 592 million for French frigates, excluding R&D).
In fact, FREMM is a whole family of multifunctional frigates: Aquitaine, Berganini, FREDA … for every customer's taste!
Franks order two modifications for their Navy at once:
Multipurpose "Aquitaine" It is equipped with two types of UVP - 16 SYLVER A-43 cells for launching Aster-15 anti-aircraft and 16 SYLVER A-70 cells for launching SCALP Naval (the European analogue of the Tomahawk cruise missile).
Air defense frigate FREDA - the updated Heracles radar and 32 cells of the SYLVER A-50 UVP for launching the Aster-30 long-range anti-aircraft missiles.
French frigate "Aquitaine", in the distance the UDC of the "Mistral" type is visible
Italians also take two options:
Multipurpose frigate "Carlo Bergamini" - 16 cells of the SYLVER A-50 UVP, Aster-15/30 anti-aircraft missiles. A place was reserved for the installation of the UVP with the SCALP Naval SLCM, but there was not enough money for the UVP and the missile.
Anti-submarine "Virginio Fazan" - in addition to the UVP, the MILAS anti-submarine missile complex is installed. There are differences in artillery - the 127 mm universal gun was replaced by a 76 mm gun.
Otherwise - a typical set: 8 anti-ship missiles "Exocet" (France) or "Otomat" (Italy), small anti-submarine torpedoes MU90, 76 mm artillery with the ability to fire guided anti-aircraft ammunition. 1 or 2 helicopters.
The key feature of the "southern" Euro-frigates is their traditional identity. Pride does not allow the use of other people's ideas - foreign technologies are almost completely absent in the FREMM design (with the exception of the licensed General Electric LM2500 GTE and the accepted NATO communication ranges).
Group number 3. Copy-paste
Representatives:
- frigates of the "Alvaro de Basan" type (Spain) - 5 units;
- frigates like "Fridtjof Nansen" (Norway) - 5 units.
Export:
- An air defense destroyer of the "Hobart" type (Australia) - 1 was laid down, the plans include the construction of 3 ships.
A bunch of technically backward bums, who only had enough intelligence and talent to copy the US Navy destroyers with the outdated Aegis system.
Joke. The Spaniards are notable shipbuilders. But this time, in an effort to avoid unnecessary costs, it was decided not to reinvent the wheel, but to take the hull and stuffing of the American Aegis destroyer as a basis, optimizing it for local conditions. Seeing that the Spanish efforts were crowned with success, the Norwegians and Australians took over the idea of the Aegis frigate. The latter, due to their increased sense of their own greatness, classify "Hobart" as a destroyer.
In fact, "Alvaro de Basan" is a "castrated" version of the destroyer "Orly Burke" sub-series IIA, inherited from the latter all the hereditary advantages and disadvantages. The number of Mk.41 cells was reduced from 96 to 48 units, the displacement decreased, and the third anti-aircraft fire control radar disappeared somewhere. As a result, the Basan with its two SPG-62s is completely unable to repel massive air attacks. There are only two simultaneously illuminated targets - one each at the heading and aft corners. Compare this to the German Sachsen-Klasse (32 control channels, including 16 at the terminal site)!
However, in some ways the "Spaniard" turned out to be even better than its progenitor: Navantia engineers managed to rebalance the ship and ensure a high installation height of the AN / SPY-1 (D) radar antenna arrays without loss of stability. The extra 5 meters of the antenna suspension height expanded the radio horizon by several kilometers, thereby gaining a dozen precious seconds in repelling attacks from low-flying anti-ship missiles.
Otherwise, "Basan" is a typical frigate: 32 large and 64 medium-range missiles, 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 127 mm Mk.45 cannon (old modification), a funny Spanish 12-barreled "metal cutter" Meroka of 20 mm caliber, 12 small-sized torpedoes (they were not stingy here) and an anti-submarine helicopter "SeaHawk".
In addition to anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, the Yankees tried to sell the Tomahawk SLCM to the Spaniards, but they, realizing what was the matter, refused the "advantageous offer". The possession of a cruise missile capable of hitting the said house at a distance of 1600 km not only increases self-esteem, but also entails economic responsibility. In the event of a new local war, the Yankees will politely "ask" the allies to defuse their ships' ammunition at targets on the enemy's territory. Thus, saving "Uncle Sam" a good hundred million. And then you will have to buy missiles from the United States again. But already for your money.
Spanish Hidalgo!
Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen turned out to be no less fun. The Vikings "cut off" the Spanish frigate even more, leaving only one 8-cell UVP. According to the Norwegian sailors, they needed a large patrol frigate to guard their Arctic treasures. Obviously, the Norwegians do not notice any real military threats in that region. To combat walruses and seals, 32 medium / short-range ESSM missiles are quite enough.
HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen (F310)
From this angle, the deserted deck in the bow with a single UVP section is clearly visible.
Launching the frigate "Thor Heyerdahl", 2009
