Masters of the seas

1


Modern politicians offer two geopolitical views of the future. In reality, there is a single-pole world with a sole leader - the United States. The second view implies the movement of the world community to a bipolar (the second pole led by China, is developing rapidly) or a multipolar system of interstate relations. Accordingly, the intensification of rivalry among the leading countries in the political and military-technical fields, especially in the field of weapons development, will not cease. The most significant is the transition to arms A new generation - highly accurate and “informational”, which makes the war a little or no contact at all.

Some recent conventional weapons have destruction parameters close to nuclear weapons, and the destruction of nuclear power plants, hydroelectric dams, and chemical industry enterprises during hostilities can have disastrous consequences. Even with a developed anti-aircraft defense system, modern “smart” weapons leave little chance for the targets to survive.

The theoretical foundations of the use of the latest weapons are also being worked out. So, in the United States, two main interconnected strategies were born. The first is the National Missile Defense (NMD). Based on the fact that its territory should be reliably protected from possible missile attacks, it is planned to build a missile defense dome over the entire territory of the United States. The second is a strategy for fighting at sea. Experts of Western countries dubbed this type of military operations “littoral” (“littoral” - the coastal strip of the sea with depths of up to 400 m above the continental shelf). “Littoral” combat operations involve striking deep into the land from sea directions. By the way, military operations against Iraq and Yugoslavia began precisely with the sea-based Tomahawks attacks with the support of aviationEvents around Libya only confirm this.

Consequently, this is no longer the theory of naval art "fleet against the coast", but a qualitative leap in military operations. The development of the US Navy shows that the “littoral” version is gaining momentum. Nuclear submarines of the type "Virginia" were built, which are intended for operations in "littoral" waters. The task of the submarines is to search for foreign shores, destroy ships and formations in the coastal zone, strike cruise missiles at industrial targets, and land the sabotage groups.

Masters of the seas

Zamvolt type destroyer


Also, up to 2015, it is planned to build 32 prospective destroyers of the Zamvolt type DD-21 (estimated cost is $ 30 billion). In each of such destroyers, fleet versus coast can be used from 126 to 256 cruise missile launchers, which will have a range of about 1500 nautical miles.

What is and what is needed

Let us analyze the naval armament in Ukraine, in particular, the ship composition. The basis of the substantiation of calculations regarding the quantity and quality of the ship structure of the Ukrainian Navy is the existing and foreseeable threats and interests of the state, primarily from the sea. Now the Ukrainian Navy can adequately respond only to certain specific threats in maritime operating areas.

Almost all the ships that today are part of the Ukrainian Navy were received by Ukraine as a result of the separation of the Black Sea Fleet former USSR. And those that were completed during the years of independence were designed in the 60-70s of the last century. Ukraine did not get the latest technology from the USSR. So, the naval composition of the Ukrainian Navy is unbalanced, morally and physically obsolete.

There is another extremely negative point: chronic underfunding of the needs of the Armed Forces over the past two decades has led to non-compliance with the ship repair times and violation of the principle of their cyclical use (priority of operation and repair for each class and ship project), which is the basis of long-term service . Therefore, the question arose not only the modernization of existing ships, but also the construction of new ones. It was decided to build a series of the first domestic ships of the Corvette class. And the state even paid an advance to begin construction of one section of the main ship hull in Nikolaev.

Unified and multipurpose

The first sign that distinguishes a warship from civilian ships is its armament.

In the conditions of changing the priority of the fleet's combat missions, giving multifunctionality to promising warships becomes the main direction of development of the naval forces of the maritime powers of the world. The versatility of the ships provides for a balance of combat capabilities in solving the full range of combat missions - from anti-submarine defense to striking coastal targets. However, most of the leading countries in the development of the fleet consider the strengthening of air defense of the formations of ships, that is collective defense, with the subsequent equipping of ships with percussion weapons to combat ground targets.

The main attack weapons of the fleet, not counting the naval forces of nuclear deterrence with intercontinental ballistic missiles, are sea-based cruise missiles. Thus, now only the American fleet, armed with nuclear modifications "Tomahawks" (BGM-109C and BGM-109D), corresponds to new military technologies. The next modification of “Tomahawk” - Block IV Tactical Tomahawk (tactical “Tomahawk”) - adds the ability to patrol in the area of ​​the attacked object for two hours for additional exploration and target selection.

In the 90s, the United States began to develop a promising ALAM missile system for use by warships against enemy coastal targets. Further development of this program (2002 year) was the project FLAM (Future Land Attack Missile). The complex should occupy a “niche range” between artillery guided projectile ERGM Zamvolt destroyers and the Tomahawk cruise missile. It is planned to equip them with ships of the new generation, although the final appearance of the rocket has not yet been determined.


FLAM project

Similar in characteristics complexes are being developed by the French-English concern Matra / BAE Dynamics - the Scalp Naval rocket. The EADS concern is developing the KEPD 350 Taurus aviation cruise missile and the KEPD 150 SL anti-ship missile.

However, the need to find a fleet during an air offensive near the enemy’s coast, in the face of active opposition of the enemy by all means of air attack, requires serious measures to ensure the safety of the fleet connections from the air. If during the Great Patriotic War the means of self-defense of the ship focused only on enemy aircraft, then such a tactic today will definitely lead to the death of the ship.

Modern warships for European fleets were designed as air defense ships in the official classification as frigates. However, this did not mean abandoning strike weapons to combat coastal targets. The armament of the ships with medium-range and long-range anti-aircraft missile systems required an increase in the weight and size characteristics of the anti-aircraft missiles, deck launchers and, of course, radar systems. It is quite natural that attempts to create highly specialized ships ended at the design stage. The only way out for designers was the desire to create a multi-purpose ship due to the universalization of the missile weapon itself, which has always been achieved due to the deterioration of combat characteristics in comparison with specialized samples.

Gradually it became obvious that the creation of a ship as a single multipurpose combat system within reasonable dimensions and construction cost is possible on condition of creating models of high-precision weapons of increased range and unification of the overall dimensions of samples of ship weapons for various purposes, which allows you to create universal launchers for storing and launching unified samples of guided missile weapons for various purposes.

Palm

The United States was the first in the creation of multipurpose warships. The advantages are obvious: the composition of the rocket ammunition is no longer determined at the design stage of the ship, but directly when setting a specific combat mission.

So, for example, the standard ammunition of the Bunker Hill cruiser (modification of the Ticonderox URO combatant), which in the standard consists of Standard 78 anti-aircraft missiles, Standard 20 anti-submarine missiles Asroc, 6 BGM-109A, 14 anti-aircraft missiles SGM BXMNMMNMX BGM-NNMX anti-submarine missiles BGM-XNMX, 109 anti-aircraft missiles SGR BGM-XNMX. BGM-4B Tomahawk missiles, was completely replaced by 109 cruise missiles BGM-122C in accordance with the objectives of the campaign 109 of the year. Ie the transformation of a multipurpose warship into a highly specialized, in this case - purely shock.


Ticondero type cruiser


The basis for this transformation is the multifunctional Aegis weapon system ("Aegis") and the universal under-deck vertical launcher of the cellular type Mk. 41, which has 14 modifications.

The Aegis anti-aircraft missile system is based on Standard anti-aircraft guided missiles with more than 25 modifications of anti-aircraft missiles, including the SM-2ER Block IVA modification, which is used to develop an anti-missile defense system.


Weapon system "Aegis"


The development of European fleets is objectively associated with similar processes in the US Navy. Moreover, the American approach to the creation of multi-purpose ships was the most rational and fully justified.

Move in response

An interesting situation has developed in Russia - the initiator of the creation of supersonic anti-ship missiles and the strategic cruise missile ZM-10 Granat. However, the Russian fleet today does not have multi-purpose ships that would be able to influence the outcome of the sixth generation wars. However, a missile weapon system has been created in Russia, the export version of which is known by the code Club. The system includes the ZM-14E cruise missile, created on the basis of the ZM-14 “Caliber” and ZM-54 “Turquoise” missiles. The system is a multipurpose complex of military equipment, taking into account the physical environment of its use - CLUB-N is designed for surface ships, CLUB-S for submarines. The system includes anti-ship cruise missiles ZM-54E and ZM-54Е1, a cruise missile to destroy ground targets ZM-14Е and two ballistic anti-submarine missiles 91PXXUMUM and 1PXXUMUM.


Club system


Despite the information in the Russian media about the development of high-precision and small-scale anti-aircraft missiles for the fleet, there are no anti-aircraft weapons in the Club system, which is a significant drawback to the development of a multi-purpose ship.

In addition, there is information about the development of the Northern PKB project of an export squadron with the Rif-M anti-aircraft complex and the CLUB-N missile system with the ZX14 universal vertical launcher. It is worth noting the use of the CLUB-N standard launcher for launching The new supersonic anti-ship missile ZM14 Onyx / П-55 “Yakhont” created in NPO Mashinostroenie.

Such a multipurpose missile system, but with different names of missiles, can serve as a basis for creating a multifunctional surface ship for the Russian Navy, and the 1144 heavy nuclear cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which will modernize the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise, can be one of the first such ships.

Project 58250 - Corvette "Haiduk" is the future of the Ukrainian Navy.

Any country that considers itself a maritime power is obliged to constantly retool its ships and build new ones in order to protect its own interests at sea and remain a participant in various international programs in which naval forces are involved.
After several years of uncertainty with the Ukrainian program "Corvette" it was finally decided what to have. For three years, the project was developed by the Nikolaev enterprise Research and Design Center for Shipbuilding.


Project 58250 - Corvette "Haiduk"


This ambitious project is the desire of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to take real steps on the ability of the Navy to ensure national security of the state and its interests at sea, because today, given the insufficient number and narrow specialization of existing warships, it is extremely difficult to carry out these tasks. There is only one conclusion - it is necessary to provide the Ukrainian Naval Forces as soon as possible with universal warships.

According to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Mikhail Ezhel, the construction of Corvette-class ships remains one of the priorities.

Construction of the first corvette will begin this year. The ship was named "Haiduk". The cost of the “main” ship of the series is estimated at the level of 250 million euros, but the predicted price for other corvettes will fluctuate already within the limits of 200-210 million euros. The Black Sea Shipbuilding Plant (Nikolaev) will build corvettes.

On the corvette, they plan to install a number of completely new Ukrainian promising developments: a diesel-gas turbine unit, a communications complex, a new radar, a hydroacoustic complex, and refrigerators. By the way, 60% equipment of the corvette will also be of Ukrainian production.

The hull of the corvette “Haiduk” (project 58250) will be made of high-alloy steel. The superstructure of the ship will be made of a durable alloy resistant to corrosion, while the mast and the bulwark will be constructed of composite materials. The main feature of the silhouette of the corvette should be the almost complete absence of sharp corners, the inclination of the faces of the deck superstructures. In addition, the entire surface part of the corvette will be painted with radio absorbing paint. These design features are expected to significantly reduce the radar visibility of a warship. Corvette “Haiduk” may be operated at sea excitement up to 6 points inclusive, for this purpose an active pitching damper will be installed in the hold.

It is planned that the maximum speed of navigation of the new ship should have a 32 node. In order to reduce the level of produced underwater noise, in fact most of it will be installed using a two-stage damping system (springs). In addition, the main diesel engines, as well as diesel generators will be covered with a special soundproof material. Also on the corvette under construction there will be no chimney of standard design, which will reduce the thermal visibility of a warship.

On the "Haiduk", for the detection and destruction of submarines, provides for the basing of the middle-class ship helicopter and two torpedo tubes. To identify and recognize different surface and air targets, to establish their coordinates and to obtain other data about them, missile guidance, a warship will be equipped with radar stations of Ukrainian origin. Also on the corvette to automate the processes of combat control will be mounted combat information-driven system.

The implementation of the 58250 project will allow Ukraine to offer competitive ships and related weapons and military equipment on the international arms market.
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    1. +3
      7 October 2011 16: 36
      "We will analyze the naval weapons in Ukraine, in particular the naval composition. The basis for the justification of calculations regarding the quantity and quality of the naval forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is based on the existing and forecasted threats and interests of the state, primarily from sea areas. Now the Ukrainian Armed Forces can only adequately respond on selected specific threats in offshore operating areas. "

      or maybe it wasn’t worth it to the homeless people who steal the cable and sell it like scrap of non-ferrous metal?
      how many ships of varying degrees of readiness sold as scrap

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