New destroyers for the Russian Navy?

Russian news outlets reported on Thursday May 9 the existence of plans to build a new variant of the Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov class frigates which are currently in service in the Russian Navy. The new variant is to increase in size to a water displacement of 7.000 tons, compared to the 4.500 tons of the current Admiral Gorshkov class. At the same time, the amount of missile launchers on board of the new variant is to increase to a total of 48 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells, a significant increase compared to the current modern frigates that Russia is building. According to Russian media outlets, a total of 12 ships of this new variant are to be constructed with the first ship entering service in 2027. A finalization of the contract is expect by the end of 2019.

Project 22350, commonly known as the Admiral Gorshkov class, is one of the few modern classes of frigates that Russia is currently building. The lead ship, RFS Admiral Gorshkov, has proven itself to be a capable frigate with ocean-going capabilities. Russia envisions constructing a total of four Gorshkov frigates, with the later two being a different variant with an increased weapon capacity. These frigates are modern vessels used to modernize the Russian surface forces as well as allowing Russian ship builders to maintain their expertise in building modern vessels. These construction programs inevitably transform the Russian Navy away from a blue water navy and change into a green water navy which can only project power in nearby maritime regions but lack the range and endurance for global power projection.
 
RFS Admiral Gorshkov

Russian shipbuilders are currently developing a new and larger variant, named Project 22350M, with a water displacement of 7.000 tons, a significant increase compared to the 4.500 tons of the current Gorshkov class frigates. With a displacement of 7.000 tons, the new ships are technically better classed as destroyers instead of frigates. The larger size of these warships allow them to carry more provisions and personnel which increases both the range and endurance of these warships compared to frigates. The larger size also allows these ships to deploy  more weapons systems, most notably in the form of launching cells for cruise missiles. The new variants are expected to be equipped with 48 VLS cells, a significant increase compared to the first two Gorshkov frigates which only have 16 VLS cells. The last two frigates of Project 22350 are planned to increase the amount of VLS cells to 24. As such, the new larger warships of Project 22350M will be able to carry two to three times more missiles compared to their smaller cousins of Project 22350.

Future blue water capacity
No final contract for the construction of Project 22350M warships is currently awarded to any Russian shipbuilder. Current plans however envision the construction of 12 Project 22350M vessels in order to strengthen the Russian Navy starting from 2027 onward. These destroyers would create a potent blue water navy capability for the Russian Navy in order to project power beyond its regional maritime zones. The construction of the Project 22350M destroyers also follow the set goals of the Russian armed forces which foresaw the replacement of its Krivak IV and Sovremenny class destroyers by vessels of the Admiral Gorshkov class. By creating destroyer –sized Gorshkov class vessels, the Russian Navy will be able to replace these aging vessels without the loss of combat capabilities or power projection capabilities.
Proposed design of Project 22350M

The project 22350M vessels will not only allow Russia to maintain its blue water navy capabilities, they also allow Russia to deploy modern missiles in sufficient numbers to maintain the naval balance of power with western forces, the exception being US, Japanese and South Korean destroyers with their larger displacements and subsequent more room for VLS cells. Russia however is taking a different approach, seeking to develop quality over quantity. The development of Kalibr and Zircon cruise missiles is more aimed to offset the numerical advantage of Russia’s maritime adversaries. By using missile with longer ranges and higher speeds, Russian warships should be able to engage their opponents from further away, staying out of the engagement range of their adversaries. The hypersonic speeds of the Zircon missiles should make interception of these missiles more difficult for US defense systems, forcing US warships to launch more missiles in defense and thus reduce the amount of missiles available for returning fire.

A systematic approach
The development of Project 22350 and the subsequent 22350M appears to follow the same pattern used by the Chines People’ Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in the development of their modern frigates and destroyers. The PLAN was known to develop several small batches of different variants, each batch including a further improvement, before constructing and operating a final design. The development of the Type 052D destroyers used by the PLAN resembles the same way Russia is currently building its frigates and develop them in more potent warships. The first two Project 22350 frigates can be considered as starting designs with improvements in weapon capacity incorporated in the following two vessels. The project is now further expanded into a larger design which allows Russian shipbuilders to maintain their current level of expertise and expand their skills in the development and construction of larger warships.

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