Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Summary Currently, only one Tsirkon launch took place with the frigate RFS Admiral Gorshkov conducting a flight test on July 19. This launch was not part of the state trails. New NOTAMs for a possible testing period are in effect between August 20 to 25 but these are more likely related to a new test launch of the nuclear powered 9M730 Burevestnik missile. State trails are expected to start during the summer though at this point, the tests will start in August instead of the previously reported period at the end of July. Through the use of NOTAMs, at least two possible testing periods were identified during the second half of July, but no launches took place in both periods. This could either be caused by bad information provided to Russian press agencies or unexpected problems regarding the missile itself. Several additional NOTAMs were in effect throughout August but so far, no new launches were reported. The first upcoming launch has so far been reported against a target located on ...

On July 10 and July 12, Russia Media announced two important facts regarding the future of the Russian Navy. The first article , on July 10, announced that the Project 22350 frigate RFS Admiral Golovko will be the first Russian warship to be standard equipped with the Tsirkon hypersonic missile. On July 12 , it was announced that the frigate RFS Admiral Gorshkov was scheduled for a fourth and final test launch of the Tsirkon missile. This launch is planned to take place before the end of July. When successful, the missile will pass the state-trails and be accepted in the Russian Navy. Both articles give a clear indication that Russia will start using the Tsirkon missile as part of the standard loadout of its surface vessels in the very near future. Once deployed with its active surface fleet, the Tsirkon missile will give a temporarily advantage to the Russian Navy over its adversaries in terms of offensive strike capabilities. Russia's naval doctrine differs from the west as it pe...

Udaloy class destroyers, together with the Slava and Kirov class cruisers and the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, form the blue water navy component of the Russian Navy. Their large displacement makes them more suitable to operate in the rougher conditions of the words oceans than frigates and corvettes. While the Admiral Gorshkov class frigates have demonstrated their capabilities of operating on the high seas, most notably during the circumnavigation by the lead ship, the RFS Admiral Gorshkov, the larger tonnage of the Udaloy class means that destroyers are more stable platforms. The modernization of the Russian surface fleet is characterized by two different types of programs. On the one side their is the massive build up of corvettes and frigates to replace the aging vessels in use by the Russian Navy. On the other side there is the modernization of larger surface combatants such as the Slave class cruisers, the Kirov class nuclear cruiser RFS Admiral Nakhimov, the aircraft car...

Whenever the Russian media shows scale models of potential aircraft carriers for the Russian Navy, a widespread debate starts about the use and purpose of these vessels by the Russian Navy. While these discussions have their rightful place, there is a general ignorance that the aircraft carrier debate is part of a larger discussion, namely that Russia has always been lagging in the construction and operation of capital ships. One simply has to look to the fact that Russian shipyards are currently not building larger vessels such as destroyers and cruisers. Indeed, all capital ships currently in use by the Russian Navy date back from the Soviet era and it is unlikely that the lack in capital ships will be resolved in the near future. Lamantin class carrier - scale model Historical perspective The lack of capital warships in the Russian navy can be traced back to the end of the tsarists empire. Having lost the majority of its capital ships first in the Battle of Tsushima in ...