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Not by Stealth Alone: Russian Corvettes to Get Ability to Shoot Down Enemy Jets

Sputnik News

13:29 10.10.2016(updated 13:50 10.10.2016)

One of the newest corvettes of the Russian Navy, the Buyan-M, will be equipped with the naval version of the Pentair anti-aircraft missile system and an advanced radar, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

The Russian small missile ship Buyan-M will be equipped with the naval version of the Pantsir surface-to-air missile and an anti-aircraft artillery weapon system as well as a sophisticated radar, the Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted a Russian Navy source as saying.

"The Buyan-M's design, featuring a new radar, has already been agreed. Apart from the radar, the Buyan-M will get the Pantsir-SM system," the source said, adding that the radar is currently being tested on board the Russian small missile ship Molniya.

The Pantsir-SM, which is an improved version of the Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense system, will be capable of tracking targets at a distance of 75 kilometers, in contrast to the current model's 40-kilometer capability.

Defense expert Alexander Mozgovoy told Izvestia that the new radar with an active phased array will be fully in line with stealth technology and become part of the Buyan-M's hull.

"This unique technology is related to Project 20380 and the Project 22800 ships which are becoming the main striking force of Russian Navy. Given that the enemy will try to do its best to neutralize them, it is important that the ships should have powerful air defense systems that can reliably protect them from an air and missile attack," Mozgovoy said.

The Buyan-M, which is an upgraded version of the Project 21630 Buyan-class corvette, is armed with an eight-round launcher for high-precision Kalibr-NK or Onix cruise missiles, capable of hitting floating targets up to 300 kilometers away and land targets up to 2,500 kilometers away.

The ship also carries Igla 1M anti-aircraft missiles, a 100-mm main gun and two 30-mm air-defense guns and is equipped with electronic countermeasure equipment.

Most original in this modern ship is its architectural form, which was created in accordance with requirements for low visibility.

On October 7, 2015 four warships of the Russian Navy's Caspian Sea flotilla, three of them Buyan-M corvettes, fired 26 SS-N-30A land-attack cruise missiles at terrorist forces in western Syria, a thousand miles away.

Navy Deputy Commander Rear Admiral Viktor Bursuk said late last year that ten Buyan-M class missile corvettes armed with Kalibr cruise missiles would join the Russian Navy by the end of 2019.

© Sputnik