The updated appearance of the patrol ships of project 11356 is presented
The loss of the flagship cruiser "Moscow" and the large amphibious assault ship (BDK) "Saratov" (both died last year), the disabling of another BDK and a submarine as a result of the rocket attack on Sevastopol on September 13, as well as the forced repair of several combat units due to damage, breakdowns and, if necessary, scheduled repairs led to to the fact that the Russian Navy (Navy) has a certain shortage of ship personnel on the Black Sea.
How can it be reduced in the conditions of Turkey's closure of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits were mentioned in previous publications (see: "The Fleet needs a "Smart" approach", "NWO" from 09/21.23, "Grain carriers will protect "Ladny" and "Agile", "NWO" from 09/14.23, "The Black Sea asks for helicopters", "NWO" from 07.09.23).
It was noted that due to the insufficient capacity of the shipbuilding industry on the Black Sea coast, it is impossible to build seaworthy ships of the 1st rank "on the spot" in the future for several years.
However, it is not good to just sit and wait for the completion of a special military operation (SVO) with the subsequent opening of the straits.
Already now for the needs of the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet) The Russian Navy needs to start building new ships of the 1st rank and finish building those laid down earlier.
Today, the largest surface warships of the Black Sea Fleet are the BDK of Project 775 and the patrol ships (TFR) of project 11356R. The latter, according to the international classification, fall under the definition of "guided missile frigates" (FR URO).
FR URO project 11356 represent the further development of the TFR projects 1135 "Petrel" and 11351 "Nereus".
In fact, the same hull and power plant are used (although with some improvements based on many years of production and operation experience), and the armament is new. Having preserved the good driving qualities and autonomy of their predecessors, the ships of the 11356R project significantly surpass them in combat power.
CONTINUITY AND SERIALITY
Based on considerations of continuity, uniformity and ensuring high seriality, it is necessary to consider ways to replenish the Black Sea Fleet with additional frigates of the family in question. At the same time, it does not make sense to start the construction of new hulls on the Black Sea due to the long time required by local shipbuilders, taking into account the available loading and the technical condition of the shipyards.
If it is decided to make new frigates from scratch at factories in Kerch or Feodosia, it is better to first carry out their technical re-equipment so that it becomes possible to build fifth-generation ships according to project 22350.
The first in the series "Admiral Gorshkov" and "Admiral Kasatonov" are part of the Northern Fleet, the third – "Admiral Golovko" is completing tests, five more are at varying degrees of readiness and two have been ordered (10 in total). They are superior in all respects to the ships of the 11356R project, which is not surprising given the difference between them in a whole generation.
So far, the construction of frigates under the 22350 project has been mastered only by the Northern Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The company is working with a full load and a large portfolio of orders for the future, it makes no sense to make changes to them.
Another large enterprise specializing in the construction of frigates is located in the Baltic.
In the period from 2007 to 2013, the Yantar plant in Kaliningrad built three FR URO for the Naval Forces of the Republic of India according to project 11356. And then three more according to the corrected project 11356R for the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.
In 2010, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) placed an order for the next three TFR project 11356R, however, adjustments had to be made during the construction process.
OFFSHORE TURBINES
As a result of the 2013 coup d'etat, power in Kiev ended up in the hands of pro-Western political forces. They set a course to break off mutually beneficial cooperation with Moscow and gave the command to the Nikolaev machine builders to stop all deliveries to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Thus, our fleet has lost the traditional supplier of the main power plants.
The state Enterprise "Scientific and Production Complex of Gas Turbine Construction "Zorya" - "Mashproekt" (hereinafter "Zorya-Mashproekt") traces its history back to 1953, when the first stage of the Southern Turbine Plant "Zorya" was commissioned in Nikolaev. For decades, it remained the only supplier of offshore gas turbines for the domestic fleet in the USSR and then in the CIS.
The rupture of long-term production cooperation has led Russia to the need to create a production of offshore turbines and gearboxes for them on its territory. Today, enterprises in Rybinsk, St. Petersburg, Perm and other cities are engaged in this. NPO Saturn (Moscow Rybinsk) has mastered the production of the M90FR afterburner turbine for the FR URO project 22350 and the less powerful M70FR for amphibious ships.
The production of offshore gas turbines is one of the recent achievements of the import substitution policy. However, the M90FR and M70FRU are not interchangeable with the turbines of the Nikolaev assembly, which are used on the TFR projects 1135, 11351 and 11356 of all variants.
After the refusal of the Kiev regime to comply with Ukraine's earlier commitments to supply Zorya-Mashproekt products to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Moscow decided to accelerate the implementation of the previously initiated program to produce M90FR and M75FR for ships of new projects, and offer unfinished hulls to India.
The negotiation process took several years, after which the government in Delhi announced its decision. As a result, Admiral Butakov and Admiral Istomin will be completed in Kaliningrad under the new names Tushil and Tamala, increasing the total number of frigates of Project 11356 in the Indian Navy to eight.
Since the Kiev regime has not established any obstacles in the line of military-technical cooperation in relation to Delhi, it turned out to be possible to directly purchase the Nikolaev turbines by a foreign customer.
"ADMIRAL KORNILOV"
The fate of another ship, laid down in 2013 under the 11356R project, remains unclear. Taking into account the rather high degree of readiness of the Admiral Kornilov hull, it makes sense to consider options for completing the ship according to some corrected project.
Perhaps this desire explains the demonstration at the International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2023" of a large-scale model of a ship with a sign "Frigate project 11356". She exhibited in the exhibition pavilion of the Expocenter of the Patriot Park in Kubinka near Moscow. Note that under the same index (frigate project 11356), a completely different model was shown in the pavilion of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) – one that reflects the appearance of six similar frigates of the Indian Navy.
To avoid confusion, we will further designate the revised version as project 11356 (2023). Why is it interesting? First of all, the fact that it can be used to complete the Kornilov, whose hull has been idle for several years on the Yantar.
Speaking about the domestic fleet, it must be remembered that all previously built TFR project 11356R are part of the Black Sea Fleet. There are no such ships in the Baltic, North and Pacific Oceans, as well as the need for them – there are enough ships of other projects, and the prospect of rearmament is primarily associated with the frigates of project 22350. Therefore, discussions about the prospect of project 11356 (2023) should be conducted only in relation to the Black Sea.
There is a special alignment here: the Black Sea Fleet has three frigates of Project 11356R, one of project 1135 and one of project 1135M. It's good if this family is replenished in some near future.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
However, a lot of questions arise. The main one: in what form does it make sense to complete the construction of "Kornilov"? As is known, all frigates of project 11356 have an M7N1 power plant with a capacity of 60,900 hp, consisting of two mainline gas turbine engines of economical running DS-71 (each with a capacity of 8,450 hp) and two afterburner turbines DT-59 (22,000 hp each).
If there is the slightest opportunity to get the missing set of Nikolaev gas turbines and gearboxes, it is better to use it. Alternatively, take used units with the remainder of the resource, removed from old ships. That's just whether those have been preserved in the warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation? Only representatives of the department can give an answer, and even then if the publication of such information does not contradict the secrecy regime.
If there are no Nikolaev turbines in stock, then the topic of completing "Kornilov" becomes significantly more complicated. Replacing them with some others will entail a significant alteration of the original project. The M-90FR turbine produced in Russia is larger and more powerful than the DT–59, and there is no close domestic analogue to the Ukrainian DS-71.
There was information in the media that domestic engine builders proposed the MA4 all-speed gas turbine unit they were developing, consisting of four modified M70FRU type gas turbine engines with a maximum capacity of 14,000 hp each. However, they need new gearboxes, they still need to be developed. Taking into account the tests, this will take several years, and with an unknown result in advance.
If "Kornilov" is interested in India, then it will have difficulties. Due to the ongoing special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine, the production of products at the enterprise "Zorya-Mashproekt" is called into question. In theory, it is possible to complete the construction of the Kornilov with LM2500 turbines. This is a very popular American development in the world for marine and industrial applications. The production of such turbines has been mastered in India under the license of General Electric. They are already on a large number of ships of the Indian Navy.
In the LM2500 line, you can find options that are suitable for the 11356 (2023) project in terms of power. Everything depends on the need to make significant adjustments to the initial project.
NEW ADD-ON
Apparently, significant changes are needed, otherwise it is impossible to explain the desire of developers to make many other corrections to the original appearance of the ship. The logic is as follows. Since the initial project will still have to be redone as part of the power plant, why cling to other solutions that are outdated by now?
Acting in line with this logic, the designers, having preserved the hull, designed the entire superstructure anew. There is no rear mast as such (instead of it there is a compact post), and the front one is made in the newfangled style of a certain tower with built-in radio and optoelectronics, reminiscent of that on FR URO project 22350.
All ships built according to the 11356 and 11356R projects are equipped with the Fregat-M2M radar, and none is visible on the 2023 model. What instead? When examining the scale model of the updated frigate, it is difficult to get rid of the impression that he has not enough electronic weapons.
Apparently, working on a new version, the designers made the main efforts to reduce radar visibility. For the sake of this, the height of the chimney was reduced to the utmost, and the question arises: why is it needed at all?!
In the matter of redesigning the superstructure, the designers could have gone even further if it were not for the requirement of the sailors to provide suitable basing conditions for the Ka-27 family deck helicopter. It was necessary to preserve the runway and the impressive hangar in its original form, and it "glows" well on radar screens. They tried to reduce the electronic visibility by "blocking" the side inside.
ARMAMENT
To the right and to the left of the hangar, modern anti-aircraft installations "Palm" (or "Broadsword") are installed. Similar ones are already used on some corvettes of the Karakurt type, as well as the Cheetah, built in Russia for the Vietnamese fleet. That's just on the frigate model of project 11356 (2023), the installation location was chosen unsuccessfully: a massive hangar severely restricts the firing sector of both the left and right "Palm".
Meanwhile, on the Odintsovo and subsequent Karakurts, the only Palm Tree is placed on top of the superstructure in the center of the ship. Perhaps such a decision was abandoned on project 11356 (2023) in pursuit of low visibility, and also because of fears that exhaust gases from an understated chimney would quickly spoil the electro-optics of the anti-aircraft gun complex.
If you do not take into account the "Palm", the ship's armament has remained the same. The AK-190M turret with a 100 mm cannon remained in the nose, and two vertical launchers were located behind it. One is for medium–range anti–aircraft guided missiles (SAM) (4x8, total 32 missiles), the other is for Kalibr-NK attack missiles (or its export version Club-N).
If so, then the armament of project 11356 (2023) is inferior to the next-generation ship of project 22350. The reason is simple: the old case cannot accommodate more. During the development of the family from the original project 1135 to the modern 11356, the standard displacement increased from 2835 to 3620 tons.
An analysis of the new presented appearance of the FR URO project 11356 indicates an attempt by the designers to refine the silhouette of the ship, for which they made a number of controversial decisions (reducing the number of antennas, abandoning the rear mast, an understated chimney, limiting the firing sector of the "Palm"). At the same time, ambiguity remains in the energy sector, without which it is difficult for non-party observers to come to a definite conclusion about the prospects of FR URO project 11356 (2023).
DEMANDING PARTNER
Much will depend on our Indian partners in the military-technical cooperation. As you know, during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Delhi in the fall of 2016, an intergovernmental agreement on four additional frigates was signed. The foreign customer wanted to build them at their own facilities, but then agreed to purchase Butakov and Istomin with completion at Yantar. Two more frigates are to be built from scratch at Goa Shipyard.
Indian sailors are a very demanding customer. After India gained independence, they managed to maintain historical ties with the Royal Navy and still operate ships built according to British designs or based on them. Strong ties have been established with the United States through ship power, and anti–aircraft missile weapons with Israel. The submarines and the license for their production were purchased in Germany and France.
In short, the circle of sellers of modern weapons and systems in India is not limited to Russia alone. To get new orders, our shipbuilders need to offer the most advanced solutions, no worse than those available in the West. In such a situation, dubious projects are unlikely to arouse practical interest among the officers of the General Staff of the Indian Navy.
Vladimir Karnozov
