Russian corvette Gremyashchiy to be armed with Tsirkon hypersonic missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Yantar Shipyard, a subsidiary of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), in St Petersburg on 31 October, and boarded the Project 20385 guided missile corvette Gremyashchiy now completing factory sea trials, the Kremlin’s website announced.

The Project 20385 guided missile corvette Gremyashchiy will join Russia’s Pacific Fleet. (Nikolai Novichkov)

The Kremlin reported on 31 October that Gremyashchiy commander Captain Roman Dovgaylov said the ship is 94.5% built and will be delivered to the Russian Navy (VMF) on 26 December. Its state trials will be conducted at Northern Fleet ranges.

Unlike Project 20380 corvettes, the Project 20385 ship is armed with Kalibr missiles that can engage coastal and surface targets at ranges of 1,500 km and 450 km, respectively. The modernised corvette has a new bridge with automated commander and operators’ workseats and the Sigma combat management system developed by Morinformsistema-Agat.

The Project 20385 guided missile corvette has a displacement of 2,200 tonnes and is 104 m long and 13 m wide. It is powered by two Kolomna 1DDA-12000 diesel powerplants producing a speed of up to 27 kt, a cruising range of 3,500 n miles, and an endurance of 15 days. The corvette has a 99-strong crew.

The ship’s 3S-14 vertical launch system can fire three types of missiles: the 3M-14 against land targets, 3M-54 against surface targets, and 91R against submerged targets. In future it will be armed with the Tsirkon hypersonic missile.