The end of 2015 - the beginning of 2016 were marked by an unprecedented number of announcements of promising naval weapons from representatives of the military-industrial complex and naval commanders of the Russian Federation. FlotProm has collected in one material everything that is known about the planned appearance of the Russian Navy in the 21st century.
Submarines
The closest to implementation seems to be the project of a non-nuclear submarine with an anaerobic power plant, which can significantly increase the time the ship spends under water. The development of an air-independent engine in Russia is being carried out by the Rubin design bureau, which has already reported on the successful testing of the unit at the onshore stand. Sea trials are scheduled for 2016, and research and development work on the construction of a submarine capable of not rising to the surface for up to 3 weeks is scheduled for 2017. The total number of promising submarines of the Kalina project will be determined by the not yet adopted state armaments program until 2025.
Launching a diesel-electric submarine
Central Naval Portal, Sergey Severin
In the nuclear submarine shipbuilding in the foreseeable future, changes are not to be expected. Until 2020, the Severodvinsk shipyard "Sevmash" will continue the construction of multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project and the strategic missile carriers Borey-A. Against this background, the Navy has just begun to formulate a tactical and technical assignment for a fifth-generation nuclear-powered icebreaker, which will receive the Husky code. Little is known about the new submarine: it will be multipurpose and will receive hypersonic anti-ship missiles. In addition, the fifth generation of Russian nuclear submarines can be replenished with an anti-submarine hunter. According to the open documentation for the re-equipment of production facilities, it is planned to build fifth-generation submarines - like modern nuclear-powered ships - at Sevmash.
Sevmash, slipway shop
Sevmash
Submarines of the future are planned to be designed taking into account the active use of composite materials that can reduce vibration and noise signature of the ship. There is no talk about the manufacture of composite hulls yet - the metal will be replaced in the manufacture of outer covers, rudders, stabilizers, screws and other external elements.
When talking about the prospects of the submarine fleet, a lot of attention is paid to reducing the number of the crew. There are about a hundred people on board modern ships - in the future, their number is supposed to be reduced to 30-40 due to the introduction of control automation tools.
Launching of the submarine "Krasnodar"
FlotProm
A stand-alone representative of the submarine forces of the Navy of the future is the Status-6 ocean-going multipurpose system, information about which became common knowledge after the presidential meeting in November 2015. The striking force of this system is a self-propelled underwater vehicle with a range of 10 thousand kilometers and a depth of travel of one kilometer, designed to destroy the enemy's coastal infrastructure. They should be armed with nuclear submarines of projects 09852 "Belgorod" and 09851 "Khabarovsk", the first of which is being rebuilt into a special purpose submarine from a cruise missile carrier, and the second is being built from scratch. Both ships are on the stocks of the Severodvinsk Sevmash.
Surface ships
The prospects of the Russian surface fleet, according to the statements of informed naval officials, are seen as less ambitious and are aimed primarily at the withdrawal of the Russian Navy into the ocean zone. The locomotive of this process should be the new destroyers of Project 23560 "Leader", the construction of a series of which will be included in the state armaments program 2018-2025. Only the characteristics of the pre-sketch model of the ship, developed by the Northern Design Bureau, were published in the open press. It was assumed that it will carry more than 200 missiles for various purposes and will receive a hull with a displacement of 18 thousand tons, which is more than twice the similar characteristics of the Soviet destroyers of Project 956 Sarych. The ship's propulsion system will be atomic.
Model of one of the variants of the project of the destroyer "Leader"
militaryrussia.ru
The atomic heart of the Leader is planned to be unified with the power plant of another promising Russian development - the Shtorm aircraft carrier. During its construction, it is planned to combine two schools of creating ships of this class - domestic and Western. For example, the rise of an air wing into the air will be provided by both a runway with springboards and an electromagnetic catapult. This will allow maintaining a balance between the need to provide takeoff speed for heavy aircraft, such as AWACS (long-range radar detection and control) boards, and the rate at which the wing leaves the deck. It is planned to place at least 80 aircraft and helicopters on board the aircraft carrier. The laying of the new ship is supposed to be carried out no earlier than 2025 at Sevmash, the only Russian enterprise capable of building marine equipment about 300 meters long.
Aircraft carrier project 23000 "Storm"
Russian newspaper
The third ship of the future in the Russian Navy should be a Russian-made helicopter carrier, even the beginning of the design of which led to a wave of speculation about the imminent replacement of the sanctioned Mistrals. At the military exhibitions that took place in the summer of 2015, the specialists of the Nevsky PKB showed their model of a ship of this class "Priboy", and at the next stand scientists from the Krylov Center showed everyone a model of the helicopter carrier "Avalanche". Nevertheless, the Navy gave an unequivocal answer - the shipyards will not be tasked with building it before 2017.
Export version of the Priboi multipurpose landing craft
Central Naval Portal, Sergey Severin
Special attention in the context of surface shipbuilding deserves the statement of the head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov on the introduction of an electric propulsion system in the design of new models of marine technology. Now it is used mainly on ships of the auxiliary fleet and icebreakers, but in the future it should be introduced on all warships. Its principle is based on the rotation of the propeller by electric motors, the energy for which will be generated by the main power plant. This allows a freer ship layout in terms of the location of the latter and significantly increases the ship's maneuverability.
Armaments
Oddly enough, in the context of naval weapons, the project is closest to implementation of not offensive, but defensive weapons. We are talking about anti-torpedoes for submarines, which will allow Russian submarines to gain an advantage in duel situations. Today the Package-NK system has been created only for surface ships, but the general director of the Admiralty Shipyards announced the appearance of anti-torpedoes on diesel-electric submarines being built by the enterprise.
Launch of the MPT-P torpedo of the "Packet" complex
Central Naval Portal, Georgy Tomin
The next item for updating the Navy's arsenal should be an upgraded version of the Bulava ballistic missile, which specialists from the Marine Institute of Heat Engineering are working on. The need to update the main weapons of underwater strategists is due to the fact that "fundamentally new design and engineering solutions are emerging, the meaning of which is to increase the effectiveness of the use of weapons." Among other things, it is planned that the new Bulava will become less expensive.
The development of the Kalibr cruise missile complex is also expected, the capabilities of which were demonstrated to the world during the Russian operation in Syria. According to the latest statements from the Navy command, they will be installed on Project 971 multipurpose nuclear submarines.
Volley "Caliber"
Other promising cruise missiles, dubbed the Zircon, will not be as versatile as the Caliber. This complex should replace the Soviet Granit missiles and will be designed exclusively for anti-ship targets. The main advantage of the Zircon will be its ability to fly at a hypersonic speed of Mach 5-6 (Mach number stands for the speed of sound - ed.). They will be armed with promising 5th generation nuclear submarines "Husky", destroyers "Leader" and modernized nuclear cruisers of project 1144 "Orlan". Tests of "Zircon" in Russia have already begun, but the timing of the launch of the missiles into service has not yet been announced.
One of the most recent and intriguing statements was the mention of the technologies by the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Viktor Bursuk, with the help of which submarines will be able to strike at space objects in the future. The vice-admiral did not divulge any details to journalists, but stressed that they would be one of the priority areas for the development of naval weapons.
