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Naval
Forces News - Russia |
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Russia's Kirov Class Cruiser Admiral Nakhimov to be Fitted
with 48N6DMK Missiles From S-400 |
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Project 11442M heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov,
now undergoing modernization, will be armed with the ship-based anti-aircraft
missile system Fort-M /index 3M-48/ whose ammunition will include 48N6DMK
anti-aircraft guided missile from the S-400
Triumph weapon system. This news has been placed at the state
defense procurements site. |
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 The Admiral Nakhimov nuclear-powered missile cruiser (project 1144.2) in the dry dock at Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk in November 2014. Picture: Sevmash |
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The document
published there says that the Almaz-Antey Aerospace Concern must provide
PO Sevmash Joint-Stock Company /incorporated by the United Shipbuilding
Corporation, USC/ with two sets of the 3M-48 system. The total contract
value is 4.758 billion rubles. It is expected that the cruiser being upgraded will be fitted at the fore and aft of the ship with B-203A revolver-type vertical launchers and Fort-M 3Ts-48 air defense system target designator. The contract to supply the anti-aircraft missile system expressly specifies the need for optimizing the designator soft- and hardware. In addition, the published documents specify the types of anti-aircraft guided missiles that will be used by the Fort-M anti-aircraft missile system. Those include both previously used kinds of ammunition and a new anti-aircraft guided missile. The former group includes 5V55RM missiles /a version of AAGM from the ship-based S-300P/, 48N6 and 48N6E2 /anti-aircraft guided missile of the S-300FM weapon system/. Previously those missiles were included in the S-300F and S-300FM air defense system component package that arms Project 11442 Pyotr Velikiy /Peter the Great/ heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser. |
 File picture: Aerial starboard quarter view of the Russian Northern Fleet Kirov class nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Admiral Nakhimov (CGN-080) underway. |
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The
documents expressly specify the 48N6DMK item, a version of the 48N6DM
anti-aircraft missile of the ship-based S-400 Triumph weapon system. Thus Project 11442M heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser that is being upgraded will get more advanced air defense systems than the Pyotr Velikiy. According to unclassified sources, the 48N6DM AAGM can intercept aerial targets at a range of up to 250 km, which exceeds by 100 km the similar parameter of the 48N6E2 missile from the S-300FM anti-aircraft missile system. The Kirov-class cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, known as the Kalinin until 1992, was commissioned in 1989 and mothballed in 1999. It has since been docked for upgrades at the Sevmash shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk, on the White Sea. Sevmash deputy head Sergei Marichev said in a statement in June 2013 that the Admiral Nakhimov would become the most advanced heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser in the Russian Navy. A press release at the time mentionned that the vessel should rejoin the fleet in 2018. Originally four Kirov-class cruisers were built for the Soviet Navy. As of today only one vessel, the Pyotr Velikiy, is still operational. Russia initially planned to return two other Kirov-class vessels to service (in addition to Admiral Nakhilov) after several years of disuse. However, it was later indicated that the condition of the reactor cores of both ships was such that it would prove difficult, expensive and potentially dangerous to remove the spent nuclear fuel and repair the cores. © Copyright 2015 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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