Vasily Bykov (368) / (Project 22160)

History

The Russian Navy has done a great job of re-establishing itself as one of the main services in the Northern Hemisphere, and this growth after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 did not come cheap. The result, however, is a state-of-the-art combat force that can be deployed to far-flung parts of the world and attack from offshore locations, underwater, or from a fleet-dominated fleet of surface warships.

In 2014, construction began on a new stealth patrol vessel, numbered Project 22160. The team planned to build six, two were commissioned (Vasily Bykov 368 and Dmitriy Rogachev 375), and one was completed and commissioned.

Launched (Pavel Derzhavin), three more are ready to be added from 2020 to 2022.

The first ship of the class, technically the pilot ship, was Vasily Bykov (368), built by the builder of the Zelenodolsk shipyard. Her keel was laid on 26 February 2014 and launched on 28 August 2017.

Bykov officially entered service on 20 December 2018 and is in service with the Black Sea Fleet at the time of writing (September 2019).

When finished, Bykov exudes modern design lines and stealth features, the hull features a spine hull that blends the upper and lower halves of the boat with the broad board side surfaces. A closed deck gun and turret were located on the forecastle, followed by a raised part of the hull, including the bridge and closed short-section mainmast, aft. The mast houses all types of sensors, processing units and radar equipment for search, tracking, communications and weapons. The hull structure is integrated forward amidships, and then its lines taper off, elegantly shaping the midship to stern section.

A helipad is located aft to support a naval helicopter (usually a Kamov Ka-27 or Ka-226). The midship chimney features a low, fully enclosed design to limit the ship's signature.

The displacement of this class is between 13,000 and 1,700 tons. The overall length reaches 308 feet, the beam is 46 feet, and the draft is 11 feet.

Installed power represents a combined diesel and gas unit (CODAG) comprising 2 Kolomna 16D49 6,000hp marine diesel for cruising and 2 M70FRU/M90FRU gas turbine units for high speed sprint action. There is also an electrical unit consisting of 4 diesel generators and an emergency diesel unit.

The propulsion scheme allows a maximum forward speed of 30 knots and a range of 6,000 miles.

With around 80 crew on board, fuel reserves allow the vessel to stay at sea for up to 60 days before needing resupply.

The system, processing unit and self-support are provided by the Pal-N system, the Pozitiv-MK radar equipment, the Sfera-2 optoelectronic station and the EW (Electronic Warfare) kit of the TK-25 series.

In terms of armament, patrol ships allow the use of combined weapon groups against multiple target types. This is comprised of a Dual Purpose (DP) deck gun with a turret above the bow (57mm or 76.2mm caliber), 2 x 14.5mm MTPU Heavy Machine Guns (HMG), 1 x DP-65 Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL), DP -64 grenade launcher (GL) and support for 324mm packs of NK torpedoes, "Kalibr-NK" anti-ship missiles and 3M24 "Buk" air defense missile systems (AA).

With this arrangement, the relatively compact ship can be called upon to perform a variety of armed missions, including interception, reconnaissance, naval support and deterrence.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

POWER

PERFORMANCE

ARMAMENT

AIR WING