Russia Doubles Down On Frigates With Tsirkon Hypersonic Missiles

Zarvan · Dec 15, 2023

Russia invests in frigates with hypersonic Tsirkons

Frigate "Admiral Gorshkov" launches Tsirkon missile. Photo by Russian MoD

Russia Doubles Down On Frigates With Tsirkon Hypersonic Missiles

On 11 December in Severodvinsk, Russian Navy commander Adm. Nikolay Yevmenov announced that the series of Project 22350 frigates (Admiral Gorshkov class) armed with Tsirkon hypersonic missiles will comprise 10 vessels.

Tomasz Grotnik 15 Dec 2023

Adm. Yevmenov’s speech was in connection with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin’s visit to “Admiral Kasatonov”, the second unit of Project 22350. Putin traveled to the north of Russia to attend a flag-raising ceremony on two new nuclear submarines and visited the frigate’s crew on the occasion. Unsurprisingly, the emphasis was on the fact that the frigates are armed with 3K22 hypersonic missiles of the 3M22 Tsirkon system. These are very difficult to intercept and pose a serious threat to ships of NATO and allied countries. Yevmenov was keen to remind this in the presence of the country’s president, who has just launched another presidential campaign.

Joining in the praise was the commander of the “Kasatonov” cpt. Aleksey Ryaboshtan, who reported that the frigate’s upgrade to enable the launch of the Tsirkon was completed in the last days of November. He added that four combat missiles had been loaded into the UKSK (Universal ship firing system) vertical launcher. When asked by Putin about the progress of the tests, he replied that “the firing has not yet taken place, but we are ready to perform the assigned tasks”. For the record, all Tsirkon development tests took place from first ship-in-class “Admiral Gorshkov”.

Frigate construction programme

The frigate ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ in the Norwegian Sea. Photo by Forsvaret
According to Yevmenov’s statement, the number of “10 ships in the class” includes vessels already in existence and under construction. There are currently two frigates of this class in service with the Russian Navy: “Admiral Gorshkov” and “Admiral Kasatonov”. The third one, “Admiral Golovko”, returned to the shipyard on 23 November after completing state trials for last review. She is likely to raise the flag later this year.

“Golovko” is the first Gorshkov class frigate equipped with a propulsion system entirely manufactured in Russia. The first two ships had reduction gears, gas turbine compressors and control systems made by the Ukrainian company Zorya-Mashproyekt.

The rate of construction of Project 22350 frigates is very low. Building of the prototype began in 2006 and so far two ships have been handed over to the fleet. “Gorshkov” did not enter service until end of 2018, and “Kasatonov” in 2020. This was due to technical problems during construction, and problems with the 9M96 Poliment-Redut air defence system and the Poliment radar system, which were developed at a similar time to the ship design. On top of this, the annexation of Crimea in 2014 resulted in the interruption of the supply of propulsion components and only recently has the production of Russian replacements for the Ukrainian mechanisms begun.

Currently, in addition to these three frigates, the Northern Shipyard in St. Petersburg is building three Project 22350 frigates in the base version (“Admiral Isakov”, “Admiral Amelko”, “Admiral Chichagov”) and two modified (“Admiral Yumashev” and “Admiral Spiridonov”). The latter two will receive, among other things, more powerful armament – 32 cell VLS for anti-ship and cruise missiles instead of 16. This is a total of eight ships out of the 10 announced by Yevmenov. Northern Shipyard is therefore loaded with orders. According to Yevmenov, the production pace is now set to increase, thanks to the experience gained during the construction of the “Gorshkov” and “Kasatonov”, but not only.

At the beginning of December, the Amurskiy Shipyard (ASZ) in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East was awarded a licence to build Project 22350 frigates. This will help diversify and accelerate production. The ASZ shipyard is gradually being modernised. The floating dock “Amurec” is being built, which will be used, among other things, for launching ships. A self-propelled floating transport dock has also been ordered for transporting vessels to the equipment centre near Vladivostok.

ASZ is currently hoping to conclude a government contract for the last two Gorshkov-class frigates. It cannot be ruled out that the plant thus prepared will also participate in another frigate programme for the Russian Navy – the construction of Project 22350M vessels. Despite the similar number, this is in fact an almost completely different frigate, with greater displacement and firepower. As yet, no vessel has been contracted and it remains to be seen whether, with the economy shifting to wartime operations, it will be started at all.
TAGS Hypersonics Tsirkon
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Posted by : Tomasz Grotnik
Tomasz Grotnik is a correspondent of the Polish based Military Research and Analysis Group (zbiam.pl), and also a naval editor of the „Wojsko i Technika” („Armed Forces and Technology”) monthly. Tomasz is reporting on naval technologies for Polish publications for over 20 years.