Corvette-subclass multirole ship designed by Krylov Center
Dmitry Zhavoronkov, Mil.Today
"This corvette is armed nearly like a frigate. Commissioning of Calibers helped to perform attack missions using small-size ships. All warships must pose maximum threat for the opponent. This will enable to use the navy more flexibly, especially in the present-day conditions", added the ship designer.High sea-keeping performance is achieved through wider hull, special shape of the underbody and the forecastle, said the expert. The ship’s center of gravity is switched to aft, which helps to damp the seel. The corvette is supposed to have water-jet engines, and if faster speed is needed, the gas-turbine ones, too.
In the interview to Mil.Today, Valentin Belonenko emphasized that the ship creation process was at the very beginning: "It is not even a project yet, just a concept, a kind of a military and technical research". As for him, the corvette’s characteristics, including weapons configuration, can be changed depending on the navy’s demands.
The ship presented at the Army-2017 show is equipped with 16 vertical launch systems for Caliber cruise missiles. Designers say number of missiles can be increased up to 24.
Air defense of the corvette is ensured by 16 long- and 32 short-range antiaircraft missiles. In addition, the ship is equipped with the 100-mm standard gun mount and two 30-mm six- (or twelve-) barreled rapid-fire automatic guns. Antisubmarine and antitorpedo weapons are represented by two Paket-NK 324-mm four-tube torpedo launchers.
On August 23, the Krylov center’s showroom was visited by deputy defense minister Yury Borisov. The shipbuilders explained him advantages of the ship over analogous projects.
Earlier on, media called the prototype corvette Breeze, its model was supposed to appear at the IMDS-2017 naval show, but at the last minute the demonstration was cancelled.
