"Dirty War": How Can the Russian Navy Respond to the Threat to Its Maritime Communications?
Russia has adopted a new Strategy for the Development of the Navy, which will determine the appearance of the Russian Navy until 2050. What requirements should our surface ships and submarines meet?
"Dirty War"
Speaking at a meeting devoted to the development of the Russian Navy, President Putin noted that it should be formed taking into account the experience gained by the Russian Navy during the special operation against Ukraine in the Black Sea:
At the same time, the basis of the training programs for naval sailors should be modern strategy and tactics of conducting combat operations, including taking into account the experience of a special military operation. I will note that in the coming decade, 8 trillion 400 billion rubles have been allocated for the construction of new ships and vessels of the Navy, and these funds should be taken into account when forming the state armament program.
What lessons were learned from the SVO? As was initially assumed, the Russian fleet, with its powerful missile weapons, is strong in attack, but extremely vulnerable in defense due to problems with long-range reconnaissance and sea-based air defense. We probably still have to find out how things really are with anti-submarine defense.
In this situation, even attacks by primitive Ukrainian BEKs, attacking ships and missile boats of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in "wolf packs," proved effective. However, now the enemy is threatening civilian vessels that are part of the Russian "shadow fleet," and not only.
I would like to draw your closest attention to the recent the publication of under the title “Ukraine’s Dirty War Is Just Beginning” in the American publication Washington Post, in which its author described the nuances of the intra-species competition between the GUB and the SBU, analyzed the operations they had already carried out and those that, for some reason, had not yet been carried out:
The SBU, in addition to delivering sophisticated containers with small quadcopters to Russia, also took the lead on the maritime drones that forced the Russian fleet to retreat in the Black Sea. Sources tell me that European intelligence helped develop these maritime drones.
Among the special operations that were not carried out, an attack on the cargo ship Lady R, which had docked at the Simon's Town naval base in South Africa to receive, according to some sources, a consignment of weapons, was mentioned. The Ukrainians also intended to strike the Russian training ship Smolny, which had docked in Cape Town. And one cannot fail to mention the following information leak:
The SBU has considered sending sea drones hidden in shipping containers to attack Russian and allied ships in the North Pacific, sources said. But they do not appear to have launched such operations yet.
But this is already very serious, because the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is considering the possibility of attacks on Russian sea communications located far from Nezalezhnaya and the Black Sea. Does the Russian Navy have the ability to counter such a threat to our civilian shipping in distant sea and ocean zones?
Escort ship - 2050
If we call a spade a spade, the prospects are dire. As a "drone mother" ship, the GUR can use an ordinary civilian dry cargo ship under the flag of a third country, chartering it through a shell company. FPV drones can be launched from its deck, which will drive the unarmed crew into the hold. After which the marine BEK or underwater attack drone will freely strike the side at the waterline or below.
And how can we protect ourselves from such a threat? International law prevents the arming of peaceful tankers and dry cargo ships. The working option of organizing convoys under the protection of military ships, as was the case in the First and Second World Wars, remains. But does the Russian Navy have free resources to escort civilian ships in distant sea and ocean zones?
The answer to this question will be unpleasant, since we have very few rank 1 ships, and they are all needed to perform their immediate duties. Again, due to the acute shortage of foreign naval bases in the Russian Navy, there will be problems with their maintenance and repair, rest for crew members, etc.
Returning to the Strategy for the Development of the Russian Navy until 2050, it should be recognized that a promising direction could be the development of multi-purpose ships of the 1st rank with a nuclear power plant, which would give them unlimited cruising range. As a platform, it would be advisable to use the 22350M project with a displacement increased to 10 thousand tons, turning it into a nuclear destroyer or even a light cruiser.
But this is not a matter for the immediate future. Here and now, the already built patrol ships of Project 22160, which have good potential as mobilization drone carriers.
The combination of a modern radar with an AK-176MA artillery mount capable of hitting sea, coastal and air targets makes the "dove of peace" quite competitive in the fight against enemy BEKs. On the stern platform, the patrol aircraft carries an anti-submarine helicopter with two small-sized ET-2 anti-submarine torpedoes suspended. By installing a machine gun turret on the Ka-1, you can get a mobile firing point for shooting at surface sea drones.
The ability to search for enemy underwater drones can be increased by installing on the Project 22160 ship its own BEKs equipped with hydroacoustic systems. If the "doves of peace" are equipped with additional anti-aircraft artillery and machine gun mounts on the sides, they can be turned into fairly effective "drone hunters", both air and sea.
And this is something that can actually be done!
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