The August issue of Russia's National Defense Magazine has advised the
country to buy warships from China to compensate for its own weakness
in shipbuilding and to strengthen Russia's power in the Asia-Pacific
region.
China's Type 054A frigate may be an ideal option for Russia, the report said.
With debate sparked by the suspension of a French delivery of two
Mistral-class amphibious assault ships to Russia, the need to bring in
escort ships is all the more pressing. Even if Russia receives the two
warships — the Vladivostok and the Sevastopol — and integrates them into
the fleet in the following two years, the current deploy of warships is
far less from sufficient, said the article.
Russia has few active battleships. There is only the Varyag missile
cruiser and four Type-1155 destroyers for the country's large
anti-submarine warships. These ships, all built during the Soviet era,
are old, overused, and still engaged in cruising missions in the
neighboring regions or anti-piracy campaigns off Africa. The rest
include three Type-956 destroyers, which have been placed under
long-term maintenance and are hardly functional, according to the
report.
A Mistral-class amphibious assault ship needs three to four escort
ships, while other warships, including two Project 955 Borei-class
nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, are also expected to enter
service by the end of the year or early next year and will need escorts
as well.
Russia is incapable in this stage of filling in its shortage of escort
warships, despite the many ships that are being constructed at the
country's shipywards, said the report. The delivery of two Project 20380
corvettes from the Almaz Design Bureau has been delayed indefinitely,
as well as the Type 22350 escort being assembled by the Northern Design
Bureau, due to issues related to funding and inadequate facility
technology.
Ukraine, one of the few countries capable of producing combustion
turbine engines, had been providing services to Russia before the
sanction prohibiting the engine's export to the country. Other countries
that could build combustion turbine engines include the US, the UK and
China, said the report.
China's Type 054A frigate, codenamed Jiangkai II by NATO, is a perfect
fit for the Russian navy for many reasons. First of all, the model was
designed and built with help from Russia's leading shipmaker, the
Northern Design Bureau in St Petersburg. Second, the ship is equipped
with weapons and electronic facilities that are designed according to
the specs of samples, allowing the parts to be interchanged
conveniently. Third, the advanced war ship meets Russian's demands for
powerful weapons, invisibility, adaptability and endurance. Finally, the
Type 054A frigate worked well with Russian flotillas well during the
Russia-China military drill in May, which shows its capability to work
side-by-side with Russian ships.
The Type 054A frigate has a full displacement of 4,053 tonnes, is
134.1 meters long and 16 meters wide. The ship can reach a maximum speed
at 27 kn. Its firearms include two sets of quadruple launchers for
C-803 missiles, 32 vertical launching systems for HQ-16 missiles, one
H/PJ26 stealthy 76mm dual purpose gun mount, two Type 730
seven-barrelled 30 mm Gatling gun close-in weapon systems, 2 x 3 324mm
YU-7 ASW torpedo launchers, 2 x 6 Type 87 240mm anti-submarine rocket
launchers, and can carry one Kamov Ka-28 "Helix" or Harbin Z-9C.
Russia has been a mentor to China as it builds up its national defense
technology. Now that the Chinese student has outpaced the Russian
teacher, "there is no shame" asking for assistance from China, the
report said.
Exporting battleships to Russia would be a win-win situation for
China, too, since the Russian ships could be leverage on the side of the
PLA to balance the influence of US and Japanese maritime forces in the
Asia-Pacific.
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