The Pacific Fleet (TOF) of the Russian Navy (VMF) is set to receive three surface ships with the Kalibr (NATO reporting name: SS-N-27 Sizzler) cruise missiles this year, according to the formation’s commander Admiral Sergei Avakyants.
The Pacific Fleet (TOF) of the Russian Navy (VMF) is set to receive three surface ships with the Kalibr (NATO reporting name: SS-N-27 Sizzler) cruise missiles this year, according to the formation’s commander Admiral Sergei Avakyants.
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Two Steregushchiy-class corvettes (Project 20380), lead ship Steregushchiy (550) and Stoiky (545), along with a Nanuchka III-class corvette (Project 12341) Zyb (560), Russian Navy Day 2018. (Picture source Reddit)
“The Pacific Fleet will get three carriers of the Kalibr missiles in the coming months,” said Avakyants in an interview with the newspaper Red Star (Krasnaya Zvezda).
In 2020, the Pacific Fleet will receive the Project 20380 Steregushchiy-class corvette ‘Aldar Tsydenzhapov’, which will become the third surface platform of the type in service with the formation. “The ship is almost completed; she is now tied up to the outfitting berth of the Amur Shipyard [ASZ]”, said Avakyants. He added that the ship’s crew had already arrived to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. “Once the required quarantine period is over, they will begin mastering the ship,” added the admiral.
“The Pacific Fleet will also get the Project 20385 Steregushchiy-class corvette ‘Gremyashchiy’. The ship is armed with the Redut air defense system, the Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, and the Paket-NK anti-submarine warfare [ASW] system,” said Avakyants.
According to him, the berth trials of the repaired and upgraded Project 1155 (Udaloy-class) frigate ‘Marshal Shaposhnikov’ will start in the second half of the year. “The platform now combines the features of an ASW ship and a carrier of high-precision cruise missiles,” said Avakyants. He added that the modernization of the ship was on schedule.
The Pacific Fleet is also set to receive the Project 12700 (Alexandrite-class) mine countermeasures (MCM) vessel ‘Yakov Balyayev’. “This is the first Project 12700-class MCM vessel to be assigned to the formation,” said Avakyants. The platform, which is the fifth serial Alexandrite-class ship, features a hull made of reinforced fiberglass (RFG), he noted.
Gremyashchy-class corvettes Project 20385 (Picture source Internet)
The construction of six Project 636.3 Improved Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines (SSKs) for the Pacific Fleet is underway. “A member of this family, the ‘Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky’ SSK, will arrive to the [Russian] Far East before the end of the year,” said Avakyants. The Admiralty Shipyards (a subsidiary of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) company has already started the berth trials of the second submarine from the batch, ‘Volkhov’. Those platforms will dramatically shore up the underwater component of the formation, said the Red Star in a comment.
The Pacific Fleet is set to receive a total of 15 naval ships and vessels before the end of the year. The above-mentioned platforms will be complemented with the second Project 03160 (Raptor-class) Raptor counter-sabotage boat and the ‘Andrey Stepanov’ tugboat. “We will also master two Project 23040 rescue boats, which have been purposely built for the Pacific Fleet,” said Avakyants.
ASZ is now building three Project 22800 (Caracurt-class) Caracurt small missile ships (corvettes), namely ‘Udomlya’, ‘Rzhev’, and ‘Ussuriysk’, which are armed with the Kalibr-NK missile system. According to the Red Star, the keel of one more ship of the class, ‘Pavlovsk; will be laid down in Komsomolsk-on-Amur this summer. “All these ships are being constructed under a Ministry of Defense’s order for six Project 22800 platforms for the Pacific Fleet,” noted the newspaper.
ASZ is also building the Project 22800 corvette ‘Rezkiy’. The outfitting of the ship will start this year, and the Navy is planned to get the platform in 2021.
According to the Red Star, the modernization of the Project 949A (Oscar-II-class) nuclear-powered attack submarines, which will shore up the capabilities of the Pacific Fleet, is also underway.
The formation’s naval aviation has recently received a repaired Tupolev Tu-142M3 (Bear-F) long-range ASW aircraft; several more aerial platforms of the type are now being upgraded. The Pacific Fleet’s marines have also mastered their BTR-82A armored personnel carriers and T-80BV main battle tanks, said the Red Star.
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