The command of the Navy has decided on the duty station of the newest corvette project 20380 "Aldar Tsydenzhapov". Initially, it was planned to send it to Kamchatka, but in the end, the ship's home port will be Vladivostok. One of the tasks of the corvette will be long-distance trips in the Pacific region. Thanks to the unique Zaslon radar, it will radically strengthen the power of the Primorye Fleet Grouping. The latest on-board radar detects aircraft, cruise missiles and drones with high accuracy, and can even track the flight of projectiles from its own onboard cannon. For its capabilities, the Tsydenzhapov has already been called an "all-seeing corvette". Experts note that the Pacific Fleet is actively involved in ensuring Russia's foreign policy in one of the key regions of the world, and the renewal of the grouping of surface ships is long overdue.
The command of the Navy has decided on the duty station of the newest corvette project 20380 "Aldar Tsydenzhapov". Initially, it was planned to send it to Kamchatka, but in the end, the ship's home port will be Vladivostok. One of the tasks of the corvette will be long-distance trips in the Pacific region. Thanks to the unique Zaslon radar, it will radically strengthen the power of the Primorye Fleet Grouping. The latest on-board radar detects aircraft, cruise missiles and drones with high accuracy, and can even track the flight of projectiles from its own onboard cannon. For its capabilities, the Tsydenzhapov has already been called an "all-seeing corvette". Experts note that the Pacific Fleet is actively involved in ensuring Russia's foreign policy in one of the key regions of the world, and the renewal of the grouping of surface ships is long overdue.
With a powerful " Barrier»
The corvette " Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov "will be part of the 165th brigade of ships based in Vladivostok, sources told Izvestia in the military department. Thus, it was decided to strengthen the south-eastern borders of the country and the naval presence in the Pacific.
"Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov — - the seventh representative of the series of corvettes of the project 20380 "Steregushchy". It got its name in honor of a sailor of the Pacific Fleet, who in 2009 at the cost of his life prevented a disaster on the destroyer "Fast" and saved the ship and 300 crew members.
The multi-purpose corvette of project 22380 became the most massive large warship developed in the post-Soviet period. Until today, there were six of them in the Russian Navy. "Steregushchy", "Smart", "Brisk" and "Persistent" serve in the Baltic Fleet, "Perfect" and "Loud" — in the Pacific. "Zealous" and "Strict" are being completed in St. Petersburg: according to the plan, they should become part of the Baltic or Black Sea fleets.
Two corvettes built according to the updated project were planned to be sent to the Pacific Fleet. "Aldar Tsydenzhapov" was transferred to the fleet at the end of last year, "Sharp" should be ready by the end of this year. Both ships were built at the Amur Shipyard.
One of the main advantages of the new ships of the series — integrated radar "Zaslon". They are able to effectively detect stealth-technology vehicles at a distance of 75 km, and simpler targets-at least 300 km away. The antenna unit is fixed at the base of the mast and looks like a pyramid with a large number of faces. Behind each face are hidden stationary receiving and transmitting devices that track the movements of various objects. Radar operators can receive accurate and continuous images of the air, surface and ground conditions on their screens in real time. On traditional installations, it is interrupted due to the rotation of the receiving and transmitting unit. The complex includes a hardware room, a command post, high-frequency and radio equipment posts.
— The radar of this corvette is so powerful that it can even monitor the shells fired from the cannon, - military historian Dmitry Boltenkov explained to Izvestia. — It will be the largest ship in the 165th Brigade. It has excellent driving performance and powerful weapons. And the radar equipment will be used in the interests of the entire group in Primorye and the adjacent water area.
Important region
In the Pacific Fleet, there is a difficult situation with the renewal of the ship's composition, said military expert Vasily Kashin.
— This is especially true for surface ships. At the same time, the Pacific Fleet is involved in numerous activities to ensure Russia's foreign policy — joint exercises, visits, patrols off the coast of Somalia, Syria, and many others, " the expert said. — And there aren't always enough ships available to do that. On one occasion, joint exercises with the Chinese did not even take place at the appointed time, because there were no ships that could be sent. So the navy is working hard there. To ensure all this activity, in addition to performing actual combat tasks, new ships are needed in Vladivostok.
Vasily Kashin believes that the Asia-Pacific region is becoming more and more important, and the situation there is quite tense.
— We are increasingly beginning to interact with the PRC. The number of joint exercises increased, and there was a joint patrol of bombers. Today, the Asia-Pacific region is becoming the main arena of modern world politics, " the expert said. — Not everyone is aware of this yet, and the Atlantic is increasingly becoming a periphery. Therefore, the fleet is needed there. The Pacific Fleet is actively involved in ensuring Russian foreign policy, and the renewal of surface forces in the Pacific is long overdue.
The most popular
The ships of the project 20380 were designed with the latest technology using stealth technologies. Their superstructures are made of multilayer composite materials, which seriously reduced visibility in the radar range. The underwater part of the hull received contours that allowed to reduce the water resistance at a speed of about 30 knots by about a quarter. Due to this, the ship became faster by 1.5 – 2 knots.
The corvettes are armed with the Uran anti-ship complex with launchers for X-35 missiles with a range of up to 260 km, as well as the A-190 universal 100-millimeter artillery system with a range of 21.3 km and a rate of fire of up to 80 rounds per minute. To protect them from air attacks, they will be equipped with the Redoubt air defense system. Now it is the most powerful air defense system, which is equipped with ships of the Navy. It can simultaneously strike 16 targets at a distance of up to 400 km. Its tactical and technical characteristics can be demanded not only by the fleet. The "Redoubt" will allow you to cover coastal cities, naval bases or particularly important areas with an "anti-aircraft umbrella".
The corvettes are equipped with an automatic control system (ACS), which allows you to transmit any data from one ship to another in real time. The automated control system can intelligently distribute targets among multiple watercraft, ensuring that the same vessel, aircraft, or cruise missile is not unnecessarily attacked twice.
As previously reported by Izvestia, in 2019, it was decided to suspend the construction of ships of this project. However, it was later revised. In August 2020, during a visit to the Amur Shipbuilding Plant, the head of the Defense Ministry, Sergei Shoigu, said that he had arrived at the enterprise, among other things, to understand whether it was capable of launching six more corvettes in eight years.
