Russian supersonic missiles behave like wolves

Russian supersonic missiles behave like wolves
August 8, 2013 Viktor Litovkin, special to RBTH


Large-scale construction of the next-generation Project 885 Yasen-class submarine armed with Onyx supersonic missiles is starting in Russia. These ships will compete with the latest American Seawolf-class nuclear submarines and will be world leaders in terms of fire power.

Large-scale construction of the next-generation Project 885 Yasen-class multi-purpose nuclear attack submarine, armed with Onyx supersonic cruise missiles, is starting in Russia. The ships will compete with the latest American Seawolf-class nuclear submarines in terms of their noise profile and will be world leaders in terms of fire power.

Moscow plans to acquire at least 10 of these boats by 2020. The fourth submarine in this class was laid down in Severodvinsk on the eve of Navy Day, which was celebrated on July 28.

The Project 885 nuclear submarine is the quintessence of everything the Russian military industrial complex has achieved in over half a century of building submarines...

[Excerpted: read entire article at rbth.ru/science_and_tech...wolves_28781.html]


Image source: from article cited.

Infographic source: from article cited

[Jimbuna]

Hopefully they'll never need to use the rescue chamber then (thinking of the Kursk).

[PavelKirilovich]

Here is another, technical, article on the 3K55 / Kh-61 missile complex.

It will be interesting to see if they actually manage to build and crew these boats. The VMF has some considerable problems.

[Leandros]

Hmm...the first one laid down in 1993, launched in 2010....no hurry, obviously.......

Fred

[Leandros]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Hopefully they'll never need to use the rescue chamber then (thinking of the Kursk).

Or its weapons......

Fred

[TorpX]

I thought the Russians were short of money to spend on these kinds of things. I guess not?

Since this seems aimed at the US; I suppose we'll have to upgrade our stuff now.

[Kapitan]

The problem with the Russian navy is one of a fine balancing act right now, the fact is they need to maintain a presence at sea so keep older more costly units in service while building new ones, the defence budget has hugely decreased from 1986 to almost 0% GDP in the 90's since 1999 the defence budget has been steadily increased to fall in line with western budgets.

This culminated in 2004 with the announcement of 2 new aircraft carriers this has been shelved due to the 2008 credit crisis which means the current and single kuznetsov will require over it's extended life span quite a few million more rubles to keep her active I till replaced (predicted 2020)

Most of Russia's fleet consists of late 1980's 90's tech we even see victor III delta III and sierras still in active service, this is due to the severe budget constraints of the 90's where most vessels under construction at the time were scrapped or haulted, hence why akulas replacement the new yasen is some 13 years behind shedual.

Since 2008 Russia has notably sold to over seas customers to get much needed investment, the Indian talawar frigates are one example as is the gorshkov Fiasco.

Putin has also signed a deal in recent times purchasing five French built assault ships, which should be joining the fleet for around 2018 it is envisaged that Russia will remain a naval power but no where near the level the Soviet Union had once been a more conservative 150 ship navy ( around half the us fleet numerically) should be in full service by 2025.

The fleet although smaller than the American navy would remain one of the largest fleets in the world ranking 3rd or 4th place ahead of France and Great Britain, other nations set to surpass Russia in numbers would be china and India in the coming years. Russia currently ranks as the 2nd largest navy in the world.

I do not believe we will see a soviet style build up any time soon the fact the army and airforce has also been cut would mean Russia still wants to play on a global footing but not as active as the former Soviet Union.

It must be said Russia currently supply's 25% of European gas and oil imports, this steady rise has led to the re shuffle of the navy army and airforce and allowed production or arms to flow consistantly since 2000.

Weapons production has mainly been export orientated and no doubt will continue to do so in the future, as for onyx this will replace the SS-N-19 and 22 missile currently carried on Oscar class submarines Slava cruisers sovremenny destroyers and Kirov cruisers the future for the Russian navy does look bright not as large but still very bright.

[ikalugin]

I do wonder though if project 883 or project 958 like submarines would make it into Russian Navy any time soon.

[Kapitan]

So far we have seen borei 3 of them built and entering service soon this out of the planned 12 units these will replace current delta III and IV SSBN in service the lead unit is currently under sea trials with acceptance imminent.

The new attack submarines of the yasen class so far one is nearly ready for sea the likely production run of 16 may take years to achieve yet due to funding.

The lada class had been suspended due to the lead boat having problems these were resolved in 2012 and the two following boats are continuing construction a planned 24 are to be built but personally my estimate will be that number to be cut to around 16 with the rest being sold as export models.

[ikalugin]

I seriously doupt that there would be 16 pr. 955 and 12 pr. 885 submarines built (2 pr. 955 and 1 pr 885 have been completed so far, 3 more pr. 955 series and pr 885 series are in production, further 3 pr 955 and 4 pr 885 series are expected) , certainly not under GPV2020 program, or GPV2025 program (as only the total of 20 new nuclear boats are planned).

Hence is the question - will Russian build new "small" dedicated sub hunters? For example I believe that there is a portable nuclear power plant for the small (Kilo class size) submarines being developed from the 2009, maybe it would cover the gaps as 2-3 short divisions of pr. 885 subrmarines just dont cover the needs of the Northern and Pacific fleets.

[Kapitan]

It's all a matter of balancing the books, victor 3 and early akulas are in need of replacement within the next 5/10 year bracket so 16 project 885 submarines are about right unless the new defense paper of 2014 states otherwise and that would be a blow to the navy as it would mean around a 70% reduction in force size.

Currently 12 SSBN submarines are active down from the 2009 16 however Russia did announce 12 bories and it is very likely all will be built as this would again down size the fleet considerably.

Small sub chasers such as grisha probably won't be built in the number we have seen in previous times the russian navy has a deficit of units so the number they published in 2013 are about right as for small submarines with nuclear reactors it's highly unlikely AIP is a definate possibility if it isn't already being built into the ladas

[ikalugin]

Well there are only 6 pr. 667BDRM and 3 pr. 667BDR, did you count the pr. 941 submarines (which except one lack weapons and are not active in any way) in your "to replace" number?

In any case, there just aren't 12 pr. 955 series ordered (including the already completed subs), but just 8 in total (which make sense, as this gives 2 divisions, one in the Pacific and one in the North) under GPV 2020.

Nuclear Attack (and Guided Missile) submarine wise Russia has 8 pr. 885 series ordered under GPV 2020 (including the Severodvinsk finished), plus modernization of the Akula, Siera and Oscar II series.

Maybe there would be some further new submarines (of pr. 955 and 885 series) ordered under the future programs (post 2020, such as GPV 2025), but this is highly dependent on the future budget situation, which is not at all clear at the moment.

Hence indeed comes the question of the Victor and Akula class replacements, in my opinion it would be possible to replace those (post 2020) with new, small displacement submarines.
This is (in my opinion) possible, should the new portable nuclear powerplant (developed from 2009) be availiable, it would be possible to produce small (Lada class size) nuclear attack submarines, which should be affordable and available in sufficient numbers to fulthil the needs of the Northern Pacific fleets in attack submarines.

On the surface ASW forces, Russia has a very sad situation surface vessels wise in general.

p.s. sadly no dedicated Oscar series replacement either:

 

[Kapitan]

From what I have researched the current is active:

7 Delta IV (1 being in long overhaul due to a fire) (makes 6 active)
4 Delta III
1 Typhoon (test unit laid up plus 2 others laid up TK17 and 20)
5 Oscar II SSGN
9 Akula's
4 Sierra (1 in overhaul)
8 victor III (could be as little as 4 )
13 Kilo's (6 project 636 have been ordered)

1 Kuznetsov carrier
1 Kirov cruiser (1 undergoing overhaul and due to join fleet in 2015)
1 Kara cruiser
3 Slava cruisers
8 Udaloy Destroyers
7 Sovremenny Destroyers
2 Kirvak III (Black sea) Frigates
2 Neustrashimy Frigates
17 Nanuchka Patrol craft
23 Trantul Patrol craft
2 Bora Patrol craft air cushion
20 Grisha III corvettes
28 Grisha V corvettes
Does not include auxilaries and mine warfare vessels

Coast guard
4 Sterguschy corvette
8 tarya patrol craft
3 matka patrol craft
19 Stenka patrol craft


Now that's the main list that's active there are some 40 mine warfare vessels and auxiliaries left out, however this is what is planned as of 2014 defence papers.

6 Carriers (although cut to 2 in 2012 possibly nuclear)
No announcement has been made for the replacements of Udaloy and Sovremmenny destroyers

1 ivan gren class landing platform dock with 6 more planned
1 mistral LPH under construction in france 4 more planned
15 Planned Buyan light frigates (5 active 5 building)
8 planned Gremyashchy light frigates 2 being built
30 planned Steregushchy Light Frigates 4 active
8 planned Gepard Frigate 4 active (2 Caspian) other 6 exported
4 alexandrite Mine warfare planned 1 is active
6 planned with 4 option admiral grigorovich frigate 5 currently being built
30 Rubin patrol craft planned

It is a shame that the Oscar II SSGN will be phased out with no replacement however crew cost and platform cost are enormous, the whole unit when built is around $1.2 billion with a double reactor and crew cost of $150 million per year per boat it would make economical sense to down size.

I don't however share the same view of small nuclear attack submarines, the smallest SSN's are the French navy's rubis class I think personally if you want a small submarine your better off with AIP like the type 800 scorpene and type 212/214/218 of Germany much better value for money and has nearly the same capability as a SSN id personally see this as a way forward for many navies including Australia and Canada.

As of 2014 the Russian navy is the 2nd largest navy (in tonnage terms) in the world behind the united states what is rather strange to note despite the size of the fleet it is only a green water navy and this is due to the lack of investment in the 1990's something that is only now being caught up on.

So by 2020 we could see the Russian navy become a blue water navy once more.

[ikalugin]

I think you should recheck the active/rehaul/non combat capable statuses of the current Russian Navy, as there are no Victor IIIs active in Russian Navy (20 out of 24 where scrapped for sure, the others are non combat capable), there is one or two Victor IVs around though I think. This means that there cant be 8 Victors of any kind active, even if you count Victor III and Victor IV as one class.
Nor are there 7 pr.956 destroyers active, as those have substantial issues with powerplants. Nor are there any recent additions, such as the pr. 955 series (the subs themselves are active, the weapons issues are another matter).

I can be wrong ofc, but if need be we could look up the current lists of Russian Navy again and compare those in detail.

Where did you get the numbers for the pr. 20380 and pr. 20385 corvetes?
Why did you forget the pr. 22350?

Oscar IIs are not to be phased out (nor are the Sieras or Akulas), but upgraded with new weapons. To an extend pr. 883 submarines are their replacement, as the pr.881 was deemed too large/expensive by the Navy back in the Soviet days.

Well, you can replace the AIP unit with a portable nuclear powerplant, for example a unitary powerplant with the liquid metal coolant and magnetic pumps. Such portable powerplant has been in development for a while, and probably tested on the Sarov SSK.

Technically current Russian Navy is a blue water one at this time, as it has blue water capabilities (nuclear submarines, can outfit a decent surface action group). The issue with it is the old one - Russian Navy is split between 4 different theaters, should it be concentrated (lets say in hypotheoretical situation Russia joins NATO and thus is capable of concentrating most of it's naval forces in the Pacific) it would be fairly formidable blue water Navy in that TMD.

p.s. is it possible that your list is out of date?