Russian Project 22800 frigates: small but powerful The topic we are going to discuss today is the Project 22800 frigates. Although this frigate is not as bulky as the French Aquitaine-class frigate or the Chinese Type 054B frigate, its displacement is only about 6,000 tons, while the new generation of American Constellation-class frigates even reaches a displacement of more than 7,000 tons. So, what exactly is unique about the Project 22800 frigate?The construction of this new generation corvette began in Russia in 2015 and has a full load displacement of just over 800 tons.
In 2018, the first Project 22800 frigate entered service. Today, the Russian Navy already has 5 Project 22800 frigates, and several more are under construction. According to the plans of the Russian Navy, a total of 18 Project 22800 frigates will be built. Although the Project 22800 frigate has a small tonnage, it has strong firepower and advanced configuration, and is the main ship of Russia's coastal operations.
In terms of armament, the Project 22800 frigate is equipped with a range of up to 15The AK-176M 76mm naval gun is 5 kilometers away, and two sets of 4-pack UKSK vertical launch systems are installed in the rear of the ship's mast, which can fire Caliber ground-to-surface cruise missiles or P800 anti-ship missiles. In terms of anti-aircraft firepower, the stern of the ship is equipped with a "Pantsir-M" anti-aircraft system with integrated artillery and cannons. An active phased array radar "Mineral-M" is installed on the main mast, and there is also a Pozitiv-ME3D search radar.
Judging by the density of fire and radar configuration of Project 22800 frigates, they far exceed the overall needs of corvettes. Compared with the 1000 2000-ton frigates of other countries, in terms of firepower and comprehensive configuration, they are also inferior to the 22800 frigates. So why do Project 22800 frigates need such a powerful configuration?To understand this, we need to go back to 1991, when Russia inherited most of the Soviet naval equipment, including a range of ships, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Russian Navy as a whole was very strong.
However, since 2010, with the decommissioning of a series of old ships, the size of the Russian Navy has decreased significantly. Affected by the limited national strength and naval budget, the Russian Navy has returned to the mode of coastal defense from the decisive battle in the open ocean. In the development of the Russian Navy in recent years, it has focused on the development of 4,000-ton Type 22350 frigates, 2,000-ton Type 22380 frigates and 800-ton Project 22800 frigates, and has built a ship system suitable for coastal defense and operations. This development is similar to the situation in our Navy from the 90s to the beginning of the 21st century.
In 2018, after the commissioning of the lead ship of the Project 22800 frigate, Russia began to sell the Project 22800 frigate to China, India, Vietnam and other countries. However, in fact, in the early years of the 21st century, perhaps the Project 22800 frigates would have been able to make a difference in the export market. However, in the general environment of 2018, the export of Project 22800 frigates has become unlikely. It must be admitted that in the course of the development of the Navy, China and India have massively purchased ships or submarines from Russia.
Taking the Chinese Navy as an example, from the mid-90s to the early 21st century, 4 Hyundai-class destroyers and 12 Kilo-class submarines were successively imported from Russia. Since the 90s, the Indian Navy has also successively imported 6 Project 11356 missile frigates and 10 Kilo-class submarines from Russia. However, after entering 2010, the situation changed rapidly. Although the Chinese and Indian navies have different development strategies, they are both working hard to develop their ocean-going navies.
Taking the Indian Navy as an example, in addition to the development of a two-aircraft carrier formation, it is also developing 7,000-ton P15B destroyers and 6,500-ton P17A frigates, gradually moving in the direction of the open ocean. While the Chinese Navy is also developing various aircraft carriers, it is also developing 12,000-ton Type 055 destroyers, 7,500-ton Type 052D series destroyers, 6,000-ton Type 054B frigates and 4,000-ton Type 054A frigates. Even the 056 series frigates, which are responsible for offshore patrol tasks, have a full load displacement of between 1300 and 1500 tons.
This means that for the navies of countries such as China and India, the 800-ton Project 22800 frigate does not arouse any interest at all. Because its tonnage is too small to meet the needs of its own navy. China, for example, has been able to independently build capital ships of various types and does not need to import ships from Russia at all. As for whether the Vietnamese Navy needs such ships, in recent years, with the continuous development of Vietnam's economy, the overall strength of the Vietnamese Navy has gradually increased. The main ships of the Vietnamese Navy currently consist mainly of 4 Cheetah-class frigates, which from Russia have a full load displacement of more than 1,900 tons.
This suggests that the Vietnamese Navy does not need Project 800 frigates with a displacement of 22800 tons. In fact, ships of this type are more suitable for the North Korean Navy. At present, the DPRK Navy has six frigates, and there are a series of problems such as small tonnage, insufficient modernization, and limited multi-purpose capabilities. Given the DPRK's own scientific and technological strength and shipbuilding capabilities, it is difficult to solve the above problems. Therefore, the import of Project 22800 frigates from Russia is a very suitable option, taking into account the limitations of the North Korean Navy's combat missions and the ability to support ships, etc., they do not need ships with too large a displacement.
Project 22800 frigates are quite suitable for the DPRK Navy, since their displacement of 800 tons meets the real needs of the DPRK. However, the key issue is exports**, the overall cost of the DPRK Navy is limited, and importing 2 to 4 Project 22800 frigates will be a considerable expense.