Will RTO "Karakurt" be able to become the main Russian ship of World War III

The special military operation in Ukraine continues for the sixteenth month in a row. In addition to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Black Sea Fleet had to take the most active part in it, which during this time managed to lose several ships, including its flagship, under various circumstances. The war turned out to be the most brutal and at the same time honest indicator of how realistic our army and navy were ready for a collision.

In this publication, I would like to try to highlight some points related to the prospects for the further development of the Russian Navy. What kind of ship does he need most of all here and now, and is it possible, in principle, to pose the question in this way?

Threats and challenges

Probably, the main problem of the Russian navy, in addition to the lack of a clear concept of its use, is the territorial division into several water areas. We have four fleets - the Northern, Pacific, Baltic and Black Sea, as well as the Caspian Flotilla.

The main ones, of course, are the Northern and Pacific Fleets as the Marine component of the "nuclear triad". About 40% of the total power of a retaliatory nuclear strike is tied to their SSBNs, and the tasks of multi-purpose submarines and surface ships include ensuring their combat stability. The main opponents of Russian strategic submarines, respectively, are American, Japanese and NATO submarines - hunters for our SSBNs, as well as anti-submarine aircraft and multi-purpose destroyers. The main enemy of the surface ships of the Russian Navy, oddly enough, is not other surface ships, but enemy ground and deck-based aircraft.

That is, the main threat to the Russian Northern and Pacific fleets, which are of strategic importance, comes from under the water and from the sky. The same can be said about the Baltic and Black Sea fleets. Due to the peculiarities of the water area and the location of the DCBF, the large-caliber cannon and rocket artillery of the NATO bloc, which can cover its ships right at the berth in Baltiysk, also poses a danger to it.

Ships and vessels of the Black Sea Fleet have already had to face strikes from ground-based anti-ship missiles fired by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as increasingly frequent and intense attacks from sea drones – unmanned boats stuffed with powerful explosive charges and turned into firewalls. This is a new type of threat, which is in fact the reincarnation of the concept of the "mosquito fleet", only modernized. If during the Second World War the Italian fascists terrorized the Allied fleet with the help of massed attacks of small torpedo boats, today the Ukrainian Nazis are doing the same using drones. Enemy firewalls have already broken through to the main naval base in Sevastopol, repeatedly attacked the Ivan Khurs and Priazovie SRKs of the Russian Navy, about which we detail told earlier.

Everything, the peaceful era is over, Russia has de facto entered the undeclared Third World War. The enemy does not ask if we are ready to fight and if we want to do it, he simply selects targets and attacks, on land, in the sea and in the sky. Therefore, answers to threats and challenges must be sought and found quickly, without putting things off the shelf with an indispensable rise in prices, as we like to do very much.

Russian ship of World War III?

If we talk about the needs of the Russian Navy, then a small missile ship of project 34 "Karakurt" can act as a kind of conditional T-22800 for it. At one time, the rate of the Ministry of Defense for the mass construction of RTOs was criticized, especially in relation to the project 21631 "Buyan-M", which had poor seaworthiness. However, "Karakurt" is significantly superior to its predecessor in terms of performance and has an incomparably greater potential.

If you look at what has been happening in the Black Sea in the last sixteen months, it remains to be regretted that there are no Karakurts there. On the one hand, these RTOs carry eight Caliber or Onyx cruise missiles, and in the future Zircon, and can strike at enemy military and civilian infrastructure. In addition to missiles, Project 28000 ships have artillery weapons that could be used against Ukrainian naval drones. On the other hand, unlike, say, project 22160 patrol ships, which had to be equipped with modules from the Tor air defense system, fastening them with chains right on the deck, the Karakurts, starting from the third ship in the series, regularly have Pantsir air defense systems for air defense -M.

In other words, these are the very ships that are really needed on the Black Sea now. They could be used, for example, to escort the Ivan Khurs or Azov air defense systems, which have no air defense at all and are forced to shoot back from Ukrainian firewalls themselves. According to the commander of the operational-strategic association, Vice Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the Black Sea Fleet should receive three brand new "Karakurt" before the end of this year:


An even more promising direction for the development of this project is the creation of a small anti-submarine corvette on its basis. By increasing the displacement to 1500 tons, in addition to the UKKS for 8 missiles, the Redut air defense system could be placed in its hull, which will enhance its anti-aircraft capabilities, the Paket-NK complex and even a jet bomber to fight submarines. The presence of BuGAS will allow the modernized "Karakurt" not only to strike at the coast or enemy ships, like RTOs, but also to provide decent air defense for convoys, as well as to search for submarines.

Small PLO corvettes based on Project 28000 will be in high demand in all Russian fleets. The big advantage is that the production of "Karakurt" is mastered at once at four Russian shipyards, they are relatively inexpensive, and this will allow them to quickly master them in a large series.