Russia to get new warships

It might be more accurate to call them "Ships of Battle" than Battleships

RUSSIA TO GET NEW BATTLESHIPS

Novosti

MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Navy is set to acquire 10 to 20 new battleships by 2015 that will set it back 5 to 10 billion rubles per frigate, Biznes, a business daily, reported.

The keels of a new frigate and a new large amphibious landing ship will be laid July 31 on Navy Day, said Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy.

The new Mk 22350 multi-role and long-range frigate will conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations, hitting other naval targets. It will take three or four years to complete one frigate, if this project gets regular appropriations.

"Most likely, this project will feature engineering solutions that were used to build Mk 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy," Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy director of the Center for Analyzing Strategies and Technologies, said.

"This is, in fact, a large destroyer that is called a 'frigate' for political reasons," Mikhail Barabanov, scientific editor of Arms Exports magazine, said.

Experts have some misgivings about the July 31 deadline because a contract is usually awarded after a tender, but as of yet, no tender has been laid out.

According to the navy's Kuroyedov, the keel of a new large amphibious-landing ship will be finished before the year is out. That ship will displace 8,000 to 9,000 tons.

"The Russian Navy still has two amphibious landing ships that are unfit for action," Barabanov said. "It will take at least five billion rubles to build this ship."

If the tender is completed and the contract signed, these will be the first new ships for the navy since the year the Soviet Union collapsed, a navy source said.

"Not a single warship has been designed and built for the Russian Navy since 1991," he said, adding that the state has now started setting aside money.

The Russian military ship building industry's recovery has positively influenced armed exports.

"Naval hardware sales will account for 50% of Russian arms-export volumes, or more than $2.5 billion this year," Rosoboronexport head Sergei Chemezov said.