Steregushchiy frigate programme makes progress, but faces obstacles

St Petersburg’s Severnaya Verf shipyard delivered the fourth Steregushchiy-class multipurpose frigate, the Project 20381 variant Stoiky , to the Russian Navy in late May. Four additional units are in build, at Severnaya Verf and at the Amur shipyard on the Pacific coast.

Current Russian plans stipulate a requirement for 20 ships in the class, although industrial, financial, and technological challenges are complicating the completion of this programme.

The Steregushchiy vessels are the first new class of surface combatants to enter series production for the Russian Navy since 1991. Lead ship Project 20380 variant Steregushchiy was laid down at Severnaya Verf in December 2001. The St Petersburg-based Central Maritime Design Bureau developed the Steregushchiy class as a flexible, multipurpose platform with anti-surface, anti-submarine, and anti-air warfare capabilities. The frigates will operate in coastal waters and ‘near ocean zones’ across all four Russian fleets.

The first four Steregushchiy units – commissioned between 2007 and 2014 – have joined the Baltic Fleet. Two Project 20380 ships remain under construction (one since 2006) at the Amur shipyard. Two units, Provorny and Gremyashchy , laid down at Severnaya Verf in 2011 and 2012, will be improved Project 20385 variants of the class. The busy Severnaya Verf yard expects to build about ten Project 20385 ships by 2020, although how many of this variant will be built in the future remains unclear.

Amur shipyard is facing continued funding challenges. State-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation bought the yard for a nominal price in 2009. During a 2014 visit, Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu criticised Amur’s management, stating that the “tempo and order of work organization existing in [the yard’s] enterprise [did not] satisfy the Ministry of Defence.” He called for the addition of second and third labour shifts, and ordered the navy’s Pacific Fleet commander to exercise “strict control” over Amur’s fulfillment of its naval contracts. At the same time, Shoigu provided additional funds for the yard to support the completion of the two Project 20380 ships.

At about 2,200-tonnes displacement, 104.5 m long, and featuring a composite superstructure, the Steregushchiy vessels are compact with fairly low observability. Their maximum speed is reported to be 26 kt, with a 3,500 n mile autonomous cruising range at 14 kt. The ships have a stern flight deck and hangar for a Ka-27 Helix helicopter. They are armed with eight Kh-35 (SS-N-25 ‘Switchblade’) anti-ship cruise missiles, mounted amidships.

Some of the combat systems to be fitted to the ships have faced delays. First-of-class Steregushchiy entered service with a short-range Kortik (Kashtan or CADS-N-1) hybrid gun-missile air-defence system because of delays in fielding the advanced shipborne Redut surface-to-air missile system. Second ship Soobrazitelny has a 12-tube vertical launch system (VLS) for Redut missiles, and fired the weapon against a cruise missile target during testing in early June 2014, according to state news agency ITAR-TASS.

Reports suggest that Project 20385 variants will be larger, and have an eight-cell UKSK VLS launcher for SS-N-27 missiles, providing an improved anti-surface capability and the possibility of striking targets ashore. The Redut VLS may also be expanded to 16 tubes.

The first three Steregushchiy vessels took part in major exercises in the Baltic Sea in mid-June. The Defence Ministry reported thatSteregushchiy fired its new Paket anti-submarine/anti-torpedo system as part of the training.