Over the past five years, the volume of the Zelenodolsk plant named after A. M. Gorky production has tripled. The state defense order (SDO) plays a significant role in this progress. In this sense, the Zelenodolsk enterprise today is one of the most prolific shipyards in Russia. It is quite reasonable to call the series of ships under construction at the plant massive for the present times. These are special-purpose boats of project 21980, small missile ships of project 21631, and today an order has been added to them - in many respects a new type of ship of project 22160 for Russia.
BUILDING A NEW FLEET
The volume of the JSC “Zelenodolsk plant named after A. M. Gorky "(part of OJSC" Holding Company "Ak Bars") on the state defense order, the work is impressive. First, this year the enterprise will hand over the transport floating dock of project 22570 "Sviyaga" (the author of the project is the St. Petersburg Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau) for the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) of the Ministry of Defense of Russia. This order should become a milestone for the plant, for the Russian shipbuilding industry, and for the Navy. Such products have not been built in our country since Soviet times.
Transport floating dock of project 22570 "Sviyaga".
Secondly, four more special-purpose boats of project 21980 are under construction (developed by the Nizhny Novgorod Vympel Design Bureau). Modern equipment and high seaworthiness allow these boats to solve a wide range of tasks typical of ships of a higher class. Among other things, the boats are equipped with electronic weapons and means of detecting underwater objects. The plant has been working with this project since 2008, and today seven boats are on combat duty as part of the Russian Navy (note that some of them were guarding the Olympic Sochi). The eighth and ninth boats were laid down this year, and this is not the end of the series. The demand for the project is explained by the need to strengthen the protection of Russian naval bases.
Thirdly, two small missile ships (MRK) of project 21631 (developed by Zelenodolsk Design Bureau) - Zeleny Dol and Serpukhov are being prepared for dispatch to the customer. There are four more RTOs on the stocks: "Vyshny Volochek", "Orekhovo-Zuevo", "Ingushetia", "Graivoron". Recall that the decision to build a series of these ships was made in August 2002. On May 17, 2010, the Zelenodolsk plant won the tender and on May 26 signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the construction of five ships. As is known today, a total of twelve such RTOs will be built. Currently, three of them - the head Grad Sviyazhsk and the serial Uglich and Veliky Ustyug are serving in the Caspian Flotilla. Note that "Zeleny Dol" and "Serpukhov" will become the first-borns of project 21631 on the Black Sea. Today, the Black Sea Fleet is perhaps the highest priority in terms of equipping the Russian Navy. Six of twelve such ships will serve there. In addition, it was officially announced that 6 patrol ships of project 22160, which are also being built at the Zelenodolsk plant named after A. M. Gorky. And it is necessary to tell about this project in more detail.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN RUSSIA
The lead patrol ship of project 22160 (developed by St. Petersburg OJSC "Northern Design Bureau") was laid down at the Zelenodolsk plant named after A. M. Gorky on February 26, 2014.
In peacetime, the task of the patrol ship of Project 22160 is to protect (guard and defend) the areas of maritime economic activity and navigation of Russia, as well as to present the Russian naval flag in remote areas of the World Ocean. In the military, ensuring the combat stability of the forces and facilities of the fleet during the defense of the basing areas, sea communications and areas of maritime economic activity within the near sea zone.
Special-purpose boat of project 21980.
The main characteristics of the project 22160 are as follows. Displacement - no more than 1,700 tons, length - about 90 m, maximum width - about 15 m, overall draft - about 4 m. Full speed - at least 27 knots, cruising range - at least 6 thousand miles, autonomy - at least 60 days. The patrol ship is armed with 76, 2-mm artillery mount AK-176MA, 12, 7-mm mobile machine guns "Kord", portable anti-aircraft missile systems "Igla-S", remote grenade launcher of the DP-65 type and hand grenade launchers of the DP-64 type. Assessing the composition of weapons, experts note a kind of representative status of the patrol ship - at first glance, it will not be able to strike or fight off a serious enemy, but it will display the flag and replace more powerfully armed "colleagues" in peacetime. For example, today the Navy is forced to use its main class surface ships for anti-piracy missions, wasting their service life. The emergence of specialized and relatively cheap patrol ships with reduced combat characteristics will allow the Navy to free up warships to solve their core missions. In fact, we have before us the strengthening of the role of the Navy as a state instrument capable of helping in solving political problems of a strategic scale. The patrol ship is not only about escorting and covering larger ships, but also patrolling international waters, maintaining a presence, displaying the flag and naval diplomacy.
Initially, it was announced that six patrol ships would be built in Zelenodolsk by 2020 (the lead one should be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2016; now the first serial is being built at the plant), but today it is known that there will be at least 12 of them.
Patrol ship of project 22160.
Project 22160 has already attracted the interest of potential foreign buyers. This was evident at the 13th LIMA 2015 International Exhibition of Aerospace and Naval Technology, which took place recently in Malaysia.
A reasonable question arises: will the Zelenodolsk plant named after A. M. Gorky with all this large-scale construction under the state defense order? Experts are confident that they will cope, because such a number of orders is not accidental - the fleet focuses on those enterprises that it trusts.
