With an English accent: Great Britain will build ships for the Ukrainian fleet
Source: politexpert.net
Cheap and angry
The military command of Ukraine highly appreciates the potential of the "small-sized" fleet Iran. For several years, the specialized press has been replete with materials about the high defensive potential of the boats Tir-II, Zolfaghar and Ashura, assigned to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to Ukrainian analysts, several dozen of these high-speed vessels are capable of paralyzing the actions of the US 5th Fleet in the Persian and Hormuz Straits. The principle of operation of the "Iranian swarm" is simple and unpretentious - maneuvering at a speed of up to 50 knots, the boats approach the carrier warrant at a missile attack distance and destroy key targets. Of course, some of the ships from the swarm will inevitably die, but the final American damage is not comparable to the Iranian losses. This is what the Iranian sailors think, the Ukrainian Navy is dreaming about it now.
Kiev strategists extrapolate the logic of the confrontation between the Iranians and the Americans to the situation with the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. If it is not possible to build a ship group of similar power, then it is necessary to secure yourself at least near the coastal zone. In the Ukrainian version, this is 360 kilometers of sovereign coastal water area, stuffed with corvettes, missile boats, minesweepers and patrol vessels. On the shore of the enemy will be waiting for the "Neptune" complexes with anti-ship RK-360MTS. If the turmoil takes on a completely tragic character, the Armed Forces are counting on the help of the powers of the NATO bloc.
At the same time, the Ukrainian command is well aware that a hypothetical war with Russia will not begin at all at sea. First of all, the battles will unfold in the air and on land, and already in the second - near the Black Sea coast.
The national interests of Ukraine in this matter are reflected as accurately as possible in the "Strategy 2035" adopted several years ago. In May of this year, the strategic document was slightly finalized, accelerating the adoption of the mosquito fleet by 2025. First of all, they decided to hurry up with the corvettes, which were waiting at the final stage of the strategy implementation - by 2035.
The problem is that the Ukrainians have completely forgotten how to build even mosquito-class ships. The British are ready to help in this matter.
London may
Any military-technical cooperation with Kiev is viewed by Great Britain not only as an opportunity to earn money, but also once again to destabilize relations with Russia.
Therefore, Boris Johnson accepted Zelensky's request with enthusiasm, they say, "we will help as much as we can." On June 21, a memorandum on maritime partnership between Ukraine and Great Britain was signed aboard the same destroyer of the Royal Navy "Defender", which was almost sunk off the coast of Crimea. It happened in Odessa in the presence of the Minister for Defense Procurement of the United Kingdom Jeremy Quinn and the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Mironyuk.
The main contractor of the orders is the British office "Babcock", which specializes, among other things, in the development of military ships.
The Ukrainians are going to buy a lot - at least two Sandown-class minesweepers, which the British were about to retire, will come to the fleet. After all, ships have been in service since 1989.
And now the minesweepers are being modernized at Scottish shipyards, Ukrainian crews will be trained and sent to serve in the Black Sea.
Sandown-class minesweeper. Source: mil.in.ua
There are also plans to develop missile boats for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, build two in Great Britain, and six more in Ukraine.
British specialists are planned to be involved in the construction of two new naval bases near Ochakov and in Berdyansk.
Vadim Prystaiko, Ukrainian ambassador to London, states:
"These will be two completely new ports that our military and our navy are so lacking."
Quite vaguely they talk in the Kiev Foreign Ministry about the supply of some British anti-ship missiles.
Of course, there are many plans, but Kiev simply does not have money for this and is not expected in the near future.
Aid again came from London in the form of a £ 1,25 billion loan over 10 years. This is a common practice among the world's arms suppliers.
On the one hand, by financing the "banana republics" in this way, countries guarantee their military-industrial complex orders, on the other, they get a loyal buyer for the future. Further delivered weapon someone will have to service, repair, maintain the infrastructure.
Most likely, least of all think about the return of such a rather large loan in the UK - it is more important for Boris Johnson to provide work for the capacity of his own military-industrial complex. Given the difficulties associated with Brexit and the centrifugal sentiment in Scotland, foreign orders, albeit at its own expense, come in handy for London.
There is nothing to say about the ability to float second-rate weapons such as the above-mentioned minesweepers - this is a free bonus of cooperation with Kiev.
The Ukrainian leadership seems to be completely confused with the rearmament of its own fleet.
On the one hand, due to the lack of orders, the country has virtually destroyed its own shipbuilding industry.
On the other hand, Kiev buys ready-made ships abroad, exacerbating the production crisis within the country. We are not talking about restoring the shipyards - all finances are planned for the purchase of British ships, and orders for only six boats have been sent for their own shipbuilders.
The shipyard in Odessa is in such a deplorable state that the production of boats will have to be organized according to the principle of “screwdriver assembly”. Ready-made blocks will come from Scotland, which Odessans will solemnly assemble into one whole and write the proud "Made in Ukraine".
At the same time, London signed a contract for the construction of the Protector 50 missile boats, which are not the most successful in the world markets.
Ships with a length of 50 meters and a displacement of more than 400 tons are armed with 8 anti-ship missile installations, short-range anti-aircraft missiles, a 76-mm Leonardo Super Rapid cannon or a 57-mm BAE Systems Bofors Mk 110, or a 40-mm BAE Systems Bofors Mk 4.
Boats, at the request of customers, must develop up to 45 knots, however, this will require serious improvements. At the moment, we are not talking about the installation of Ukrainian anti-ship "Neptuns" on British boats. Even if the tests are successful, it is not in London's interests to adapt local weapons for boats - this is a loss of orders for the future. It is quite logical, since after the very first training rocket firing, the Ukrainians will have to replenish their arsenal and pay for it with pounds sterling.
However, everything is clear with Great Britain - they issued a loan, and they dictate what and where to spend 1,25 billion.
But Ukraine buys four ADA-class corvettes from Turkey at once.
In this case, we are not talking about any loans. For taxpayers, each ship will cost a grandiose 8 billion hryvnia, and this can already be compared with the annual budget of Ukraine. These are the same corvettes that the Ukrainian Armed Forces planned to put into service not in 2035, but in the very near future.
We must pay tribute to Ankara - the Turks did not offer, like the British, the decommissioned ships and signed a contract for the construction of new warships. The groundbreaking ceremony for the first ADA-class corvette took place on September 7, and the launch is expected in three years. It looks like a grimace of fate that these corvettes were once developed by the Turks with the help of the Nikolaev Research and Design Center for Shipbuilding.
The last hope for the "revival of the previous Ukrainian program" looks like the plans for the completion of the corvette "Volodymyr the Great", which has been mothballed in Nikolaev for ten years.
However, these are still rumors and, most likely, Kiev in the distant future will simply buy a Type 31 frigate from the United Kingdom.
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