The laying of the third serial patrol ship, project 22160 "Pavel Derzhavin" took place at the Zelenodolsk shipyard named after A. M. Gorky on February 18, 2016. Together with him, 2 more promising corvettes of the project, Vasily Bykov and Dmitry Rogachev, laid down in 2014, have already approached the final stage of assembly for 2 years. According to the official data of the developer's website severnoe.com (OJSC "Northern Design Bureau"), the ships of the project will patrol in the exclusive economic zone of the state with a length of 200 miles, prevent piracy and smuggling, and also escort merchant ships through unstable areas of the seas and oceans. … But the technological potential inherent in Project 22160 opens up opportunities for the crews of these corvettes that were previously simply unimaginable for surface warships with a displacement of less than 2000 tons.
A remarkable tradition of the embodiment of some of the capabilities of destroyers and cruisers in small combat surface ships of the Russian Navy appeared on paper in the form of draft designs back in the mid-90s. This became known after the laying in 1997 of a promising patrol ship, project 12441 "Thunder", in the design of which new universal vertical launchers of modular type were noticed; As it turned out later, these were launchers for the modern 9M96 and 9M100 missiles being developed, unified with the Triumph, Redut and Vityaz air defense missile systems, which would have made the Grom SC the first medium and long-range missile defense frigate in the Russian fleet. But the Novik project was not destined to be embodied in the "hardware" that was conceived by the St. Petersburg design bureau "Almaz", in particular, due to the difficult political situation in the late 90s, when the leadership of the fleet did not have a clear and uniform approach to the appointment of new surface ships. By the beginning of the XXI century, the construction of the lead ship was suspended indefinitely, not even reaching half of its readiness. The concept of air defense frigates in Russia remained at the same level of self-defense based on the short-range Dagger and Kortik complexes.
The frigate of project 12441 "Thunder", being the lead patrol ship of the "Novik" type, due to the complete freeze of the project in the early 2000s, stopped being completed as a multi-purpose patrol ship in the far sea zone. Having stood on the slipway of the Yantar shipyard for more than 10 years, the Novik hull was primed and launched, plans were also announced to complete the ship already under the name Borodino and for the modified project 12441U as a combat training unit for training personnel Russian Navy on new generation equipment. It was these SCs that became the first developed Russian frigates, the armament of which was to use the advanced anti-aircraft missile system of the echeloned air defense / missile defense of the long-range "Redut"
At the same time, in the united NATO navies of Western European countries, work was actively progressing on the construction of air defense frigates of the F100 type "Alvaro de Basan" (Spain), "Lafayette" (France), "Saxony" (Germany), and later "Yver Huitfeld" (Denmark), "De Zeven Provincien" (Netherlands). The air defense / missile defense of the Spanish F100 frigates was based on the Aegis BIUS and the Mk 41 universal VPU, capable of launching RIM-67D (SM-2ER Block III) missiles at a range of up to 180 km; French Lafayette received a super-maneuverable anti-aircraft interceptor missile "Aster-30" with a range of 100 km for the shipborne PAAMS air defense system. There was a significant backlog of our patrol boats in the ability to combat long-range air targets, and as a result, the ability to independently act at a distance from the "umbrella" of the air defense of a friendly naval strike group was reduced to zero, in conditions of the numerical dominance of the enemy air forces. Frigates pr. 11540 "Fearless" and BOD pr. 1155 "Udaloy" could not cover friendly surface ships at a distance of more than 8-12 km (the range of action of "Daggers" and "Daggers"). Drastic and quick decisions were required, but they began to be implemented only after 7 years.
The Spanish frigate F105 "Christopher Columbus" (class "Álvaro de Bazán") has a displacement of about 5300 tons. Equipped with BIUS "Aegis", radar AN / SPY-1D and UVPU Mk 41 with 48 TPK, 5 frigates of this type can be programmatically adapted in an instant for the use of missile interceptors RIM-161A / B, as well as RIM-174 "SM- 6 ", which in the structure of NATO for about half a decade has been an additional threat to communication between the Black Sea and Baltic fleets of Russia. Developed in the early 90s, the Spanish-American project, like its larger American Arley Burke-class sisterships, has special structural armor protection for the crew using Kevlar slabs, as well as composite elements in the main superstructure load-bearing structures to reduce radar signature. Despite some repetition of the design of the American "Aegis" ships, only 2 SPG-62 continuous radiation radars were provided to equip the Spanish MSA Mk 99, which is why the Alvaro de Bazan class has the worst firing characteristics. The range is 5,000 miles, barely surpassing our Guardian-class corvettes.
In 2003, the command of the Russian Navy was presented with a draft design of the frigate pr. 22350 "Admiral Gorshkov". The prospective patrol ship was the first Russian air defense frigate with the ability to engage long-range air targets with 9M96E2 anti-aircraft missiles fired from the Redut complex UVPU; at the same time, the interception could be carried out on the principle of kinetic interception "hit-to-kill", which made the ships of the project full-fledged anti-missile frigates. But it took another 3 years to include the project in a solid register of state defense order expenditures, and the laying of the lead ship took place only in February 2006, and the launching took place on October 29, 2010. The SC of the far sea zone was expecting a long stage of sea and fire field tests in the Baltic and White Seas, which today came to the final phase, before being transferred to the Northern Fleet. But to test the promising 3K96 Redut shipborne anti-aircraft missile system in a maritime theater and ship-based environment, even before testing at the Admiral Gorshkov SC, the manufacturer (the Almaz-Antey air defense concern) had to place a "cut-down" version of the complex based on corvettes pr. 20380 "Smart", "Smart", "Perfect", "Steadfast", etc. On the corvettes there is no 4-sided Poliment radar for 16 target channels, and the role of the detection and targeting radar is played by the Furke-2 decimeter radar with HEADLIGHTS, capable of detecting a target with an RCS of 0.1 m2 at a distance of 65 km. And the VPU is represented by 12 TPK cells instead of 28 (on frigates of project 22350). But even with such a radar architecture, "Redoubt" shows good firing performance, which is achieved thanks to the infrared and active radar guidance methods of the 9M100 and 9M96 missiles, as well as the control of the modern BIUS "Sigma", which provides a rate of fire of 1 missiles / s. All corvettes of the project 20380, starting with "Soobrazitelny", are unique warships with: low displacement, low radar signature, KZRK missile defense system "Redut" with two types of anti-missiles, providing both closed airspace over a significant section of the theater (SAM 9M96), and self-defense (SAM 9M100).
But, comparing the corvettes pr.20380 with project 22160, I note that the original and advanced design features, a longer-range complex of anti-ship and strategic weapons, as well as high indicators of autonomy and cruising range of the latter determine its advantages over the 20380th project in the 21st century, even if we take into account “Redoubt.
Project 22160 corvettes, having a 30% lower displacement (up to 1700 tons), have 1.5-2 times greater cruising range (up to 6000 miles) than the "Guarding" class, which allows them to be ranked among the patrol ships of the far sea zone, autonomy in this case is approaching 2 months, for pr. 20380 - only 2 weeks. The design of superstructures, antenna posts and combat modules of various complexes for project 22160 is much closer to the "stealth" concept than that of project 20380. hulls to the load-bearing composite superstructure, i.e. only half the length of the ship, although these blockages reduce the effectiveness of the enemy's anti-ship missile system to 10%, they can hardly bring the ship's EPR to the level of a fishing boat, as is done in the American "Zumwalt"; the standard round fixed base of the 100-mm artillery mount A-190-01, which gives additional square meters to the total RCS, and the quite standard design of the bow of the upper deck also affect. The anti-ship armament of the project 20380 corvettes is represented by 2x4 PU KT-184 SCRC "Uran" with 8 long-range subsonic anti-ship missiles Kh-35UE (260 km), which do not give significant advantages over NATO frigates equipped with new versions of the "Harpoon", and also allow to hit remote enemy ground targets.
For project 22160, we see a completely different picture. Patrol ships of the far sea zone (open sea) have many times more perfect hull design and superstructure architecture. The high backsides of the sides smoothly turn into inclined angular generatrices of the compact superstructure, the wheelhouse of which ideally follows the contours of the superstructure (the wheelhouse of the "Steregushchy" -type corvettes has a classic reverse slope of the porthole side). The superstructure is about 2 times smaller than the superstructure of the ships of project 20380, and the upper deck in the bow of the ship is reliably protected by many layers of radio-absorbing coatings and composite materials. In addition, the 57-mm A-220M artillery mount is equipped with an angular turret with a minimum radar signature. All this allows the crews of the corvettes of project 22160 to hide themselves as much as possible from the eyes of operators of radar complexes of long-range patrol aircraft P-8A "Poseidon".
Of particular interest is the avionics of the project 22160 corvettes, as well as the complex of modern missile weapons controlled by it. The strike armament of the patrol ships of the Vasily Bykov type (the lead ship of the project) is represented by the Kalibr-NK multipurpose missile system, for which 2x4 specialized lifting launchers UKSK in the aft part of the corvette are assigned, designed to launch the range of cruise missiles of the 3M14 and 3M54 types. Eight anti-ship 3M54E are made from a small corvette, project 22160, the most dangerous sea hunter for small KUG Navies of NATO countries, and a small combination of these corvettes can deal with even a large AUG. We all know about the capabilities of the 3M54E to "break through" a close ship missile defense system at a speed of 3300 km / h. If equipped with a 3M14E strategic cruise missile (with a range of up to 2,000 km), the Vasily Bykov-class corvettes will be able to carry out strategically important missions to deliver long-range missile strikes against the most important enemy targets at a distance of 7,000 miles from their home bases. Until today, not a single corvette-class warship was capable of autonomously operating at the level of an aircraft carrier strike group. The four-meter draft makes it possible to operate in shallow waters, in small bays and even in various rivers, which most frigates are not capable of.
Promising corvettes are able to stand up for themselves when an enemy anti-ship missiles strike, or when tactical aircraft or UAVs are approaching. Air defense / missile defense missions are assigned to the 12-channel shipborne medium-range air defense system "Shtil-1". Anti-aircraft missiles 9M317E in the amount of 24 units. are placed in TPK MS-487 of two modules-VPU 3S90E.1. Unlike its predecessor Uragan, the Shtil-1 air defense missile system with a modular VPU was able to fully realize its 12-channel thanks to the rate of fire increased to 1 SAM / 1.5 s. The pace is almost in line with those of Redoubt and Aegis. SAM itself 9M317E has many advantages over the missile complex M-22 "Uragan" - 9M38M1: the maximum flight speed of the latter reaches 1550 m / s (5550 km / h) due to a more powerful dual-mode solid-propellant rocket engine, there is the possibility of intercepting 3-fly targets (after the modernization of the radar and the Shtil software, this parameter may increase), the maximum height of interception by the 9M317E missile increased to 25,000 meters, the maximum G-limit increased to almost 30 units, which made it possible to intercept maneuvering targets with overloads of up to 11-12 units.; the new missile defense system has become much more compact, since it received new folding aerodynamic rudders for the possibility of placement in the VPU 3S90E.1.
In advertising sources, as well as on military popular science resources, it is indicated that the maximum target range for the Shtil-1 shipborne air defense system is 32 km, but it is also indicated that the maximum range for the 9M317E air defense missile system is 50 km, based on which it becomes It is clear that Shtil-1 is limited to 32 kilometers only due to insufficient energy capabilities of the target illumination radar (the 9M317E missile defense system has a PARGSN, and therefore completely depends on the power of the OP-3 type illumination radar). The standard radar architecture of "Calm" with radar searchlights for illumination has a huge similarity with the American family "Aegis / Standard", which is why the complex has familiar problems with the target channel, which depends on the equipment of the RPN OP-3.
The export version of the project 22160 corvettes provides for a simplified (standard) version of the Shtil-1 anti-aircraft missile system. As you can see, a standard OP-3 illumination and guidance radar (RPN) is located above the unobtrusive wheelhouse of the model, which allows the complex to simultaneously intercept at least two air targets. On the modification for the Russian Navy (photo below) there is no on-load tap-changer, and instead of it there is an antenna post, standard for ships of the new generation, in the main superstructure in the form of 4 antenna arrays of HEADLIGHTS. At the same time, representatives of the Altair Marine Research Institute of Radioelectronics (developers) are in no hurry with information regarding the modernization of the Shtil-1 air defense missile system
It is worth noting an important detail that was not mentioned in Internet resources and on numerous forums. The Shtil-1 anti-aircraft missile system in the armament system of the project 22160 corvettes is controlled not by standard RPNs of the OP-3 type, but by a specialized 4-sided radar with flat AFAR / PFAR placed on 4 sides of the 8-sided superstructure of the ship in X -shaped "sweep", as is done in the Japanese "Akizuki" class EMs. This method of modernization of "Shtil-1" resembles the concept of improving "Aegis" in the direction of additional equipment with new X-band AMDR-type radar, located above the existing section of the AN / SPY-1 radar. And that's not all the surprises of the promising stealth corvette.
The modular design of weapons and avionics, as well as the open architecture of the modern project 22160 BIUS, allows you to install not one, but several types of the latest detection and target designation radars, some of which have very interesting technical parameters. The first attached radar is an active radar with a phased array "Positive-ME1" with an instrumental detection range of a large target of 250 km and a target detection range from a fighter type of 110 km. The second is the Frigat-MAE-4K radar detector. This radar is unique in its own way: it operates in the H-band of centimeter waves (which is between the X and G-bands used to illuminate targets), and therefore there may be a hardware capability of the so-called. Of the "firing" mode of operation of the station, naturally, in a stationary state. This range gives a higher accuracy of target detection when reviewing the airspace, which for the better affects the response time of the BIUS and KZRK when repelling an attack from an enemy high-precision missile weapon. For example, I can give interesting "figures" from the radar data table from the resource paralay.com. The Frigat-MAE-5 radar detector of the E-band of decimeter waves has indicators of azimuthal and elevation errors of coordinates of the detected target 24`` and 30``, respectively, the H-band Fregat-MAE-4K shows 5, 5 times more accurate result (4`` and 6``, respectively).
Antenna post of the Frigat-MAE-4K radar detector
There is also a close air defense line for corvettes of pr. 22160. It is a 3M-47 "Gibka" turret-type guided weapon system (KUV). The corvettes of the project are provided with one rotating turret "Gibki". For the sake of fairness, I note that the 3M-47, being a single-channel missile system, is not capable of repelling a strike of more than 2 Harpoon anti-ship missiles in the “dead zone” of the “Shtil-1” complex, and therefore its effectiveness in modern conditions is very low. Used as inclined launchers, 2 launch modules 9S846 "Strelets" can be supplied with 8 TPK MANPADS "Igla-S" (4 missiles for each module) or 4 TPK ATGM 9M120-1. In the configuration with the Igla-S, the Gibka complex can intercept heat-contrast air targets, including various anti-ship missiles, UAVs and aviation, in the configuration with the 9М120-1 Attack ATGM, it becomes possible to fight against small surface boats of the enemy, various coastal objects, as well as with combat helicopters. "Attack" has a semi-automatic principle of laser beam guidance with radio command correction, but to intercept small objects (UAB, free-fall bombs and UAVs) is ineffective, since it will not be possible to successfully hit a "cold" small-sized target with a cumulative directional warhead, for this you need only semi-active / active radar guidance through the missile. The response time of "Gibka" without timely target designation from the main shipborne air defense system "Shtil" or general ship radar is more than 8 s, which will not allow to shoot down a rapidly approaching anti-ship missile system in time; I will not say anything about protection against anti-radar missiles. The only worthy close-range air defense systems for the project 22160 corvettes are the Palma / Pantsir-M ZRAK, which can be worked out in the next ships of the Vasily Bykov class after the very first range firing of the lead ship.
As befits the best in the world shipbuilding practice, the patrol ship of the far sea zone, project 22160 will be equipped with the most modern and sensitive hydroacoustic systems developed by JSC Concern Okeanpribor. The corvettes will be armed with 3 hydroacoustic complexes for various purposes at once: low-frequency active-passive GAS "Vignette-EM" for detecting noise-emitting sources (submarine, surface ship) in the first and second distant zones of acoustic illumination (35-140 km), GAK MGK- 335EM-03 for detecting underwater targets in the near zone of acoustic illumination (3-5 km, also 5-12 km) with the establishment of hydroacoustic and telecode communication in order to identify or warn the crew of the detected object, GAS "Pallada" to detect underwater swimmers-saboteurs in close proximity to the ship (up to 0.5 km).
In the photo, the main elements of the Vignette-EM active-passive GAS are a low-frequency emitter (left), a towed burial carrier (center) and an equidistant towed acoustic array with a length of 92 to 368 meters with a diameter of 32 to 55 mm. An equidistant antenna array is also known as a flexible extended towed antenna (FPBA). All devices in the photo represent an underwater device 1PA, together with a 250-meter tug cable, the length of the device can exceed 343 m. a digital current collector in the above-water part of the Vignette complex, where the signal is converted into a situational tactical picture of the underwater situation at the MFI of the GAS operators. GPBA sensors and a low-frequency radiator operate in the range of 0.015 - 0.5 kHz with a maximum working depth of 250 meters. "Vignette-EM" has a capacity for accompanying sound sources - 64 channels
The defense systems include the newest shipborne complex REP TK-25E, developed by the Concern Radioelectronic Technologies JSC. Operating in the frequency range from 0.064 to 2 GHz, the complex is capable of simultaneous analysis of 256 radio-emitting targets, among which there can be at least 1000 recognizable types of radio stations, air, land and sea-based radar systems, as well as ARGSN anti-ship missiles and other air attack weapons … There are also disadvantages. For example, radio-emitting targets that are higher than 40 degrees relative to the ship in the elevation sector, i.e. the target is outside the viewing angle of the receiving aperture of the complex. This disadvantage can also lead to the problem of detecting air hazards in the airspace close to the ship at a time when air defense systems are occupied by other missile-hazardous areas.
A powerful and proven 57-mm artillery gun A-220M mounted on a carriage and covered with a radio-absorbing "stealth mask" is installed in the bow of the deck of patrol ships of project 22160. The high rate of fire (up to 5 shots / s) allows for active fire at very nimble sea, air and ground targets within a radius of about 5 km, while the maximum range along a ballistic trajectory exceeds 12.5 km, which will make these patrol ships very unpleasant " guests "for coastal ground units of the enemy, armed with short-range ATGM and small arms (applies to terrorist and other paramilitary groups). In some cases, the A-220M installation can also be used as an auxiliary anti-aircraft artillery installation with an elevation angle of +85 degrees. The effectiveness of fire is ensured by a synchronization system with general ship optical-electronic and radar target designation complexes, as well as the possibility of firing using the attached television-optical complex.
Based on the availability of the version of the Shtil-1 air defense missile system, improved with the help of a new multifunctional antenna post, the installation of a shock RK with strategic capabilities of the Caliber-NK, the placement of unique hydroacoustic systems, as well as the linking of these systems in the BIUS, PK pr. 22160 can be attributed to a class of "reinforced" corvettes. Unique patrolmen with an ultra-small displacement of 1300-1700 tons, having several times lower cost and requiring fewer resources for maintenance, can be built at an accelerated pace for the fastest saturation of all fleets of our Navy. The long-range capabilities of the 22160 project open up the ability to operate as part of any friendly shipborne strike group, and the modular design of the performance and stealth capabilities - to preserve the feasibility of the project for several more decades.
