Russia Offers Gepard Ships Carrying 24 Kalibr Missiles

17 Oktober 2020

Gepard 3.9 frigate of the Vietnamese Navy (photo : Soha)

Sharing with TASS, General Director of Ak Bars Group with Zelenodolsk Shipyard and Design Institute, Mr. Renat Mistakhov revealed his plan to increase the number of missiles mounted on Gepard and Buyan-M ships.

Specifically, when asked whether there is any request from the Russian Navy to increase the number of missile launchers aboard the Buyan-M class (project 21631)? Mr. Renat Mistakhov said:

"Such a study is underway, an increase in the number of weapons carried leads to an increase in the displacement of the ship, we have proposed an increase in the displacement of the project 21631 (the Buyan-M class) and 11661 (class Gepard).

For the Buyan-M class, for example, we propose to increase the number of missile launchers from 8 to 16. And on Gepard-class ships the number of missile launchers will be raised to 24.

Especially with project 11661, we propose to install 2 UKSK multipurpose vertical launchers clusters (each cluster has 8 launch tubes) behind the superstructure of the cockpit, located right in the middle of the hull and 1 set of pedestals. Another UKSK launchers on the bow side. The Russian Navy side is very excited about this proposal ".

The design of the Gepard ship with 2 UKSK multipurpose vertical launchers (with 16 vertical launch tubes) was introduced by Russia at the DSE Vietnam 2019 exhibition (photo : Soha)

According to Mr. Renat Mistakhov, if with project 21631 missile ships, the doubling of missile launchers will increase the displacement of this class from 900 tons to about 1,300-1,500 tons.

As for project 11661, the installation of three UKSK launchers clusters (with a total of 24 launch tubes) can be consistent with the ship's current design.

Thus, with the information provided by Mr. Renat Mistakhov, we can imagine that they will increase the number of missile launchers as follows:

- The two catapult clusters mounted in the middle of the hull will be similar to the Gepard variant introduced by Russia at the DSE Vietnam Exhibition 2019 as well as on the design of project 11664.

- A cluster of launchers mounted in the front will be located right behind the main cannon and in front of the superstructure. This type of mounting is similar to that on the Russian Navy Project 11661K Dagestan missile ship.

The Dagestan missile ship (project 11661K) of the Russian Navy launches the Kalibr missile (photo : TASS)

Placing the UKSK launch tube assembly in this position requires the removal of the extremely short-range defense system ahead.

With the increase in the number of vertical missile launch tubes on the ships of the projects 21631 and 11661, these warships will have very respectable strength.

The fact that the Dagestan, as well as the Buyan-M-class ships, used to launch Kalibr missiles at IS terrorist organization's targets in Syria showed that as the number of missiles carried increased, these ships would remain. How much more power can be raised.

They are completely worthy as mini-flagship for countries with limited economic potential and have no conditions to buy ships with larger displacement.

(Soha)