The latest Russian corvettes will be armed with Pantsir-M air defense artillery guns, the Izvestia daily reported. Buyan-M-class the Stavropol corvette of project 21631 laid in early July will be the first to integrate the latest air defense weapon, the main Navy command told the newspaper. After test operation other corvettes of the project and other warships will be armed with Pantsir which will make them less vulnerable to air attacks and enhance the fight against aircraft, drones and cruise missiles.
Close up view of the Pantsir-M CIWS aboard Project 22800 corvette Shkval. Picture by Curious / forums.airbase.ru
The Stavropol was laid in July 2018 by the Gorky shipyard in Zelenodolsk. It was the 12th in the series of Buyan-M project 21631. Its factory number is 642. The handover to the Navy is scheduled in 2023. Thus, the Stavropol is the latest Buyan-M corvette ordered by the Defense Ministry.
Seaborne Pantsir has bigger target detection and fire range against its ground option Pantsir-S.
Ground Pantsir numerously confirmed its effectiveness in Syria. It repelled attacks on the Russian base in Humaymim. Syrian Pantsir-S1 downed dozens of drones, jet projectiles and aerostats.
Pantsir-M will make project 21631 corvettes less vulnerable to air attacks and will enhance the fight against aircraft, drones and cruise missiles, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov said. "Russian warships will now get full-fledged protection. The choice of the Stavropol as the first carrier of seaborne Pantsir is not accidental. Trials of the weapon on ships have not begun yet. It is a sophisticated weapon which needs considerable time to be tuned up as, besides Pantsir itself, it is necessary to streamline warship design, fixtures, power supplies and integrate the weapon into technical systems," he said.
Pantsir-M is currently undergoing trials and has not been accepted into service yet. Its test platform is the Molniya-class big missile boat the Shuya of project 12417 of the Black Sea fleet. Pantsir-M will undergo a full cycle of trials, including missile launches and artillery fire at sea, ground and air targets. It will be also tested on Karakurt-class small missile boat the Shkval.
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Keel laying ceremony for the final Project 21631 Buyan-M Corvette of the Russian Navy at Zelenodolsk shipyard.
Navy Recognition Comment
Pantsir-M is also fitted aboard Project 22800 Shkval (first ship of the class). Its keel was laid at the Pella plant on July 29, 2016. This is the first new generation Russian Navy ship fitted with the Pantsir-M. At sea trials of the Pantsir-M prototype are set to start in 2018 on the project 12417 "Shuya" (Tarantul class corvette) of the Black Sea Fleet. It was recently announced that Pantsir-M would be fitted aboard the Russian Navy aircraft carrier as well.
According to Rostec, The Pantsir-M complex combines a powerful artillery weapon system, effective multimode missiles and an integrated multispectral radar and optical fire control system fitted on the turret.
The combat capability and kill capacity of one channel of these missile and artillery systems are 2 to 4 times higher than those of systems comprising only artillery weapons.
Engagement zone:
- missiles, km: range: 1.5-20; altitude: 0.002-15
- artillery, km: range: 0.3-4; altitude: 0-3
The first two Karakurt-class "small rocket ships" (the Russian designation -MRK), "Hurricane" and "Typhoon", are fitted with AK-360 CIWS instead of the Pantsir-M.
