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Project 1080 missile cruiser (Early 1970s)

In the 1970s, the development of a very specific ship was carried out, in its performance characteristics resembling the American arsenal ship project that appeared much later. The project 1080 cruiser was designed to strike coastal targets. Its main weapon was to be Elbrus-M ballistic missiles, a marine version of Elbrus missiles, developed to replace the Temp-S missiles for firing on Chinese territory. The project was to create a kind of anti-analogue of American aircraft carriers as a means of forcefully solving political problems in zones of local conflicts, or another asymmetric answer.

In the early 1970s, MIT (Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering) was developing the Elbrus operational tactical complex, which was supposed to replace the Temp-S complex by the time the warranty period set for it expired. As of 1974, the launch weight of the rocket was 7.6 tons, length 9.7 m, diameter 1.1 m, firing range 1000 km. In addition to the complex for the Ground Forces, a naval version was also developed for arming the project 1080 projected by Nevsky Special Design Bureau equipped with Elbrus-M missiles, mainly with non-nuclear warheads.

The layout of the ship promised to be very unusual. In the central part, between the two superstructures, the missile silos of the rockets were placed in packages of 50 pieces, a total of 200 units. “Elbrus-M” with a starting weight of 7.6 tons could hit targets at a distance of up to 1000 km. In addition, the ship was equipped with a “Dagger” self-defense air defense system with eight vertical drum launchers (four per side) with a total ammunition load of 64 missiles. The artillery was weak (however, like on all the other ships of the USSR Navy of that time) and consisted of two 76.2-mm AK-726 two-gun mounts (located linearly up in the bow) with a Turret control station and six-barreled anti-aircraft guns AK-630. The large hangar provided for the basing of two Ka-25 reconnaissance and targeting helicopters, for which there was a runway in the stern. Radar weapons included radar detection of air targets (long range) and radar general detection. The necessary means of electronic warfare, communications and navigation were provided. The gas-turbine unit of the M-5 type was taken almost unchanged from the BOD pr.1134-B.

As a result, the cruiser project had an unusual architecture with two superstructures spaced in the bow and stern and a smooth deck with launcher covers in the middle. The creation of surface missile carriers was not only of political importance - we have before us a means of not only pressure, but also serious non-nuclear (and if necessary, nuclear) influence on any enemy within the reach of the weapons of a warship.

However, the development of the Elbrus rocket was eventually discontinued, which led to the cessation of the design of the 1080 cruiser. MIT switched to what was then thought to be more urgent work - the creation of the Pioneer ICBM, and work on the Elbrus was discontinued. So the fleet lost its much-needed experience and project, from which an alternative version of the missile cruiser 1144 project could build on.

Several decades later, the concept of the arsenal ship was developed jointly by the US Navy and the Advanced Arms Agency DARPA, to provide for the creation of a cheap carrier ship with the maximum possible number of missiles with the smallest possible crew. The main task of the arsenal ship was to deliver missiles to the desired area and ensure quick launch. Actually, the ship is a giant remotely controlled launcher. Target designation, guidance and launch commands can be issued simultaneously from various command posts located both on AWACS or E-2 aircraft, and on the ground. It was believed that the ship will be equipped with 500 rocket launchers, and its crew will not exceed 50 people. The arsenal of the ship will consist of subsonic (885 km / h) Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 2500 km, supersonic (M = 3.5–5) FastHawk with a range of 1600 km, as well as anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. The cost of such a ship will be approximately half the cost of the missiles installed on it.