The cruiser Moskva possesses a powerful but long-life weaponry that is difficult to deal with a modern threat such as Ukraine’s Neptune missile.
A senior defense official America on April 15 confirmed the Neptune anti-ship missile of Ukraine hit the cruiser Moskva, causing an explosion in the ammunition dump and causing her to sink a day earlier.
The official said that it is not clear why the air defense system on the Moscow ship did not work when it was hit by the missile. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the cruiser Moskva sank after the explosion of the ammunition depot due to a fire, but did not give a reason for the fire.
Military experts consider the cruiser Moskva to be the ship that possesses the most powerful multi-layered naval air defense net in the Black Sea, but that does not seem to be enough to protect it from modern threats such as missiles. Ukrainian anti-ship fire.
Armament on the flagship Moscow. Video: New China.
Moscow is a Russian Project 1164 Atlant guided missile heavy cruiser. The ship is 186 m long, 21 m wide and has a displacement of 12,000 tons. Forbes Ukraine estimated the ship to be worth about $750 million, but did not say if the cost includes weapons and sensor systems.
Moscow’s main defense weapon is 64 missiles of the S-300F “Fort” air defense system with a range of 90 km. The three-coordinate warning radar MR-710 Fregat and MR-800 Voskhod with a tracking range of 150-200 km also allows it to track many air and sea targets during patrols.
“The Fort complex allows the Moskva ships to cover most of the northern Black Sea area during patrols. This is part of a multi-layered defense network with the participation of the S-400 complex at the Sevastopol military port and the others. Similar systems are deployed throughout the Crimean peninsula,” said military expert HI Sutton.
The second layer of protection of the ship is 40 shells belonging to the short-range air defense system OSA-MA with a range of 10 km. The last defensive net is the AK-130 multi-purpose naval gun with two 130mm cannons and six 30mm AK-630M close-in defensive cannons.
“Moskva is a warship about 40 years old. Its ability to attack with P-1000 Vulkan missiles is formidable, the S-300F air defense system is still an effective system. However, the ship is not significantly upgraded to maintain combat capabilities in the 21st century. Its ability to grasp the combat situation and its defensive capabilities are relatively outdated,” said Sutton.
The S-300F system was born in 1984, based on the original S-300P version developed by the Soviet Union for ground air defense forces. The 5V55RM missile of this system uses a radio-controlled signal guidance mechanism combined with semi-active radar in the approach phase, without the addition of a guided missile method (TVM). newer versions of the S-300.
The S-300F is also optimized for large and high-flying targets, not suitable for the task of intercepting sea-based missiles like Neptune. The video of the Neptune missile test released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense shows that this anti-ship weapon model can fly close to the sea surface at subsonic speeds and destroy targets with a warhead weighing about 150 kg.
Neptune missile in test firing in 2019. Video: Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The short-range air defense system OSA-MA has also been in service with the Russian navy since 1972 and has not been significantly upgraded to date. Missile 9M33M of this complex does not have a radar detector, but uses the method of guidance by radio control commands, limiting the ability to react and the number of targets that can be attacked at the same time.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials claim they used the “diversion” tactic to fool the Russian flagship Moscow’s sensors and anti-aircraft weaponry.
Accordingly, Ukrainian forces used two Turkish-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to hover near the position of the Moskva ship, making the sailors on the Russian flagship engrossed in tracking them without noticing. two Neptune missiles were launched from a complex camouflaged near the shore. The Russian crew only realized they were hit by a missile when it was too late.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited a powerful navy, capable of reaching out globally and having strong combat capabilities, but also had many disadvantages. During this period, the Project 1164 cruisers were among the most powerful battleships of the Russian Navy, next to the Project 1144 Orlan nuclear cruisers and the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.
The economic crisis in the 1990s forced Russia to continuously reduce the size of its navy, including dismantling old warships and focusing on maintaining a lean force with high combat power. Western sanctions also make Russia’s economy difficult, forcing the country to delay the process of building new warships and upgrading warships in service.
The cruiser Moskva was sent to Syria to participate in the war in 2015, then had to return to the port for maintenance and upgrade in early 2016. However, the lack of budget made the ship’s fate uncertain.
By mid-2018, the Russian navy was determined to upgrade its combat systems and other technologies to extend its operational life to 2040. The ship’s maintenance and upgrade process was completed in early July/ 2020.
According to the original plan, the Moskva ship will set sail in August 2020 after more than 4 years of repair, but this warship in fact only started to be deployed from February 2021 and participated in sea exercises for a month. Later.
The cruiser Moskva on trial run on the Black Sea in 2021. Photo: Twitter/Capt_Navy.
Russia has planned to build many new large destroyers and cruisers, but no projects have been carried out yet. This country has only produced large corvettes with a displacement of about 5,000 tons.
“The combat activity of the Black Sea Fleet during the military campaign in Ukraine still revolves around the cruiser Moskva, despite the possession of many new and more modern warships. This shows the challenges that the Russian navy has to face. in the past 30 years. They have not invested much resources, have to rely on outdated platforms and have no alternative, “said Sutton.
Therefore, experts believe that the sinking of the Moscow flagship will make the navy Russia The loss of a very powerful anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile system in the Black Sea poses many challenges to the military campaign in Ukraine.
Vu Anh (According to Naval News)
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
