By the beginning of the 21st century, the Russian Navy basically had lost a decade’s worth of naval
production after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As the Russian economy recovered,
funding for the Navy improved, and Russia was keen to resume its naval production.
Owing to the limitation in resources, the focus was on securing the littoral waters.
Thus, the Steregushchiy class of corvettes was conceived, also known as the Project 2380.
They are multi-purpose corvettes designed to engage enemy air targets
and ships. They will also have stealth technology – a major improvement from earlier Soviet
naval designs. But the most important role of the Steregushchiy class is anti-submarine warfare.
The main striking force of the Russian Navy is nuclear submarines of various types.
However, they are very vulnerable to detection by foreign submarines when exiting their naval bases.
Similarly, foreign submarines pose a great threat to surface ships. Small anti-submarine ships were
built in large numbers in the Soviet Union and Russia, to ward off unwanted foreign submarines
in peacetime, and to destroy them in wartime. Despite their small size and displacement,
these boats proved to be very effective in coastal waters. The Project 2380 Steregushchiy class
fulfils the same purpose, for coastal defence against enemy submarines, but as stated before
they can also engage air and surface targets. The Steregushchiy class is built by the Severnaya
Verf Shipyard in St Petersburg. This is a dual-purpose military and civilian shipyard.
It specialises in guided missile warships, and has built various classes of frigates and destroyers
since 1949. The Steregushchiy class is also built by Amur Shipyard based in the Russian
Far East. Ships of the class are distributed to all four of Russia’s major fleets.
Production was very slow to begin with. The first four ships in the class each took between 6 to 9
years to build, which is a bit incredible for a small warship. But as the funding situation
and shipyard skills recovered, the pace of production became more normal.
The Russian Navy considers the Steregushchiy class to possess the right balance between firepower
and affordability, and hope to acquire about 20 ships. So far, around 10 have been completed.
The Steregushchiy class is a large corvette displacing 2,200 tons while fully loaded. It
has a length of 105 metres and a beam of 13 metres. It has a complement of 90. It uses a
diesel propulsion powering two propellers. It has four 4 Kolomna 16D49 diesel engines
providing a max of 23,664 horsepower. This is a domestic Russian marine diesel engine,
so unlike the gas turbines, there has never been any reliance on imports.
Top speed is 27 knots, with a cruising speed of 14 knots. Range and endurance are more limited,
at 7,000 km and 15 days, respectively. The corvette incorporates a steel hull
divided into nine watertight compartments. From the outside, the ship has a very smart
modern appearance. It incorporates stealthy angles for the hull and the superstructure.
Part of the superstructure is made out of radar absorbent composite material.
The stealthy design significantly reduces the radar signature of the ship. The acoustic,
infra-red, and magnetic signatures were also reduced by incorporating the relevant
stealth technology. So, the Steregushchiy class is basically the first Russian surface combatant
to be built with stealth as a major design consideration.
The interior is reportedly quite comfortable and the ship is overall popular with the Russian
sailors, according to the Russian Navy. The ship has abundant sleeping and recreational quarters,
and good kitchen facilities. The increase in living space onboard the Steregushchiy class
is a big improvement for crew’s quality of life compared to previous generation
of Soviet corvettes, which tended to have rather cramp conditions.
The Steregushchiy class mainly deals with submarine threats. To do this, it has 8 torpedo
tubes arranged in a pair of four-tube launchers. They launch a newly introduced Russian torpedo
known as the ‘Paket-NK’. It is a lightweight 324 mm torpedo. It has a range of about 18 km,
greater than most other torpedoes of the same calibre. The most interesting thing
is that the Paket-NK has a dual function. It can target enemy submarine, but it can also target
incoming torpedoes. It can intercept these torpedoes before they hit the corvette. So,
in addition to offensive capabilities, the Paket-NK is an ad-hoc torpedo defence system.
I will say though, what the Steregushchiy class seems to lack is a viable long-range
anti-submarine weapon. It doesn’t seem to carry anything equivalent to the US ASROC,
the antisubmarine rocket. But it does carry a single Kamov Ka-27
helicopter, which can fly to engage enemy submarines at a safe distance for the corvette.
For underwater detection, the Steregushchiy class has a standard Russian Zarya-M hull-mounted sonar.
It has an active mode and a passive mode to detect submarines and surface warships. According to the
manufacturer, the Zarya M in its passive mode can reliably detect incoming torpedoes, which
of course works really well with its Paket-NK anti-torpedo torpedo. The Steregushchiy class
also has a VIN’YETKA-EM-01 towed array sonar, with a flexible extended cable. This is a low
frequency passive sonar focused on listening for the sound emitted by submarines, rather
than actively sending out its own sound waves. The towed cable helps with this job by putting
the sonar way behind the vessel, so that sound from the ship wouldn’t interfere with the sonar.
The Steregushchiy class has some anti-surface capabilities.
It has 8 KH-35 anti-ship missiles. The upgraded KH-35 has a range of 300 km,
subsonic speed, and extreme sea-skimming quality. It is comparable to the Sea Harpoon
and the French Exocet. It is also a distant cousin of the Ukrainian Neptune.
The corvette also has a single AK-190 naval gun, which is a modernised version of the old AK-100.
It is dual purpose and can be used for both shore bombardment and the interception of aerial threats
within a close range of 20 km. The AK-190 can rotate very quickly to engage multiple targets,
and, like its predecessor the AK-100, should be able to intercept subsonic missiles.
The ship has pretty decent air defence capabilities for a corvette.
The two AK-630 CIWS are nothing to write home about, but the Steregushchiy class
does have 12 vertical launch cells. They carry the Redut naval air defence system, otherwise known
as the S-350. These carry some of the same medium and short-range missiles as the better-known S-400
system. The range of these missiles range from 10 km to 40 km, to 120 km. The short-range version
of 10 km, the 9M100 SAM, can be quad-packed inside the VLS cell, giving the corvette
more firepower for its own self-defence. For most of the ships, the main air search radar
is the Furke-2 3D S-band radar. This is a passive phased array. For the later ships, the Navy
installed a new generation multi-purpose radar called the Zaslon operating in a dual frequency,
the S and X bandwidths. The availability of the X frequency should make the Zaslon better than its
predecessor at issuing target designation data to guided missile systems and providing fire control.
The Zaslon is a far more capable modern radar, but is very expensive.
Some senior officers in the Russian question whether the Steregushchiy needs such a radar,
given main mission of anti-submarine warfare. In addition, the corvette has a Garpun-B, or 3Ts-25E,
X-band radar for the purpose of surface search. All told, the Steregushchiy class is a modern
corvette of the Russian Navy and one of the first modern warships built in Russia after the collapse
of the Soviet Union. They represent the resumption of Russian naval production, after a long pause
following the end of the Cold War. They are chiefly designed for anti-submarine warfare, but
also has very good air defence and anti-surface capabilities, especially for a small warship.