In the Peter the Great Gulf, the crew of the modernized small missile ship "Smerch" (project 1234.1) tested the reliability of the new anti-aircraft missile system of self-defense "Osa-MA" during the exercise in the Sea of Japan.
Smerch missile corvette of project 1234.1 (Picture source: Japanese MoD)
"Today, in accordance with the plan of shipbuilders’ trials, the modernized small missile ship Smerch has held a series of missile firings against a naval and an air target in the Sea of Japan," the press office said in a statement.
The warship successfully employed surface-to-air missiles, launching them against the target that simulated a surface ship and against a simulated air target, the statement says.
The small missile ship will soon "accomplish a set of artillery firings from the modern AK-176MA artillery gun outfitted with a digital control system and a new optoelectronic station," according to the statement.
The small missile ship Smerch is also set to test its 30mm AK-630 six-barrel automatic artillery gun, the press office noted. It is specified that in the near future the ship "will carry out a complex of artillery firing from a modern gun mount AK-176MA."
The Russian shipbuilders completed the upgrade of the missile corvette Smerch in 2019. The warship was modernized at the North-Eastern Shipyard. During its upgrade, the warship got the Uran anti-ship cruise missile system and more advanced artillery armament.
Smerch is one of around 150 corvettes, patrol boats and mine-warfare ships in the Russian fleet. Each displaces just a few thousand or a few hundred tons of water. The Russian navy operates fewer than 30 large, oceangoing frigates, destroyers and cruisers.
