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Home» News»Russia postpones Leader destroyer construction – Part 1
Project 23560 Lider Leader Russia
The Lider class, also referred to it as Shkval class, Russian designation Project 23560 Leader

Russia postpones Leader destroyer construction – Part 1

The construction of Leader-class nuclear-powered destroyer of project 23560 has been postponed for a long time. The conclusion comes from the documentation of the designer. The Vzglyad business newspaper explains the decision of the Defense Ministry.

Martin Manaranche 27 Apr 2020

By TASS Russian news agency

The construction of green-water Leader-class nuclear-powered destroyer of project 23560 has been postponed for a long time. The conclusion comes from the documentation of the designer. The Vzglyad business newspaper explains the decision of the Defense Ministry.

Boring procurement reports and statements of corporations sometimes contain interesting information. The annual 2019 statement of Severnoe Design Bureau appeared in public domain. It is a major designer of warships. The statement said “the customer suspended the planned work (for 2017-2019) of project 23560 after the rough design was completed in 2016.”

Thus, the Defense Ministry suspended all work to build the Leader-class nuclear destroyer four years ago. The ministry approved the project in 2013. The Severnoe bureau produced the rough design in 2013-2016. Media reports said the Defense Ministry approved it. Optimistic reports claimed the lead warship would be laid in 2019.

It was all quiet after that. Officials did not promise to launch the construction although they displayed the model of the destroyer at various shows.

project-22350M
The modernized frigate of project 22350 (Project 22350M for the Russian Navy) was first unveiled during the IMDS 2017 naval show. Picture by Curious via Forums.airbase.ru.

The reason is that the Defense Ministry considers upgraded frigates of project 22350M as the main green-water warships. They have a displacement of 8000 tons and are powered by Russian-made M70 turbines and M-90FRU boosters. It is easier to build and improve the frigates rather than create a gigantic nuclear missile warship which is unprecedented in the world. Orlan-class project 1144 represented by the Petr Veliky cruiser is bigger than the Leader but has modest capabilities against it. Project 22350M is definitely cheaper.

It is difficult to estimate the cost of an unbuilt ship, but some things are clear. Project 22350M frigate costs several dozen billion rubles. The Leader will cost hundreds of billions. The price of a series of destroyers will be comparable to the whole military shipbuilding program or a manned flight to the Moon. Besides, the necessity to have such an attack missile ship is not evident.

Naturally, big warships capable of operating in green waters are necessary in peace in wartime. However, a nuclear-powered, high-speed and heavily armed missile warship is not urgently needed and can be replaced by frigates. There is only one war scenario which can demand Russia to have such warships. It is a full-scale non-nuclear sea war with the United States.

In such a war, attack groups of destroyers in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans would pose a major problem for any adversary.

Read Part 2 of this story at this link

Project 22350M Project 23560 Russia Russian Navy TASS 2020-04-27
Tags Project 22350M Project 23560 Russia Russian Navy TASS
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Authors

Posted by : Martin Manaranche
Martin Manaranche is based in Brittany, France. He is currently studying Applied Foreign Languages at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest. Martin conducted an internship at the French Navy's Ecole Navale in Brest and is therefore particularly fond of naval defense issues.

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