Russia’s Severnoye Design Bureau has started working on the Project 23560 Leader-class destroyer that will combine the features of a destroyer, large antisubmarine warship and guided missile cruiser. The ship will most likely be nuclear powered. It will be capable of spending up to 90 days offshore without additional refueling or support.
“The Leader will be a universal ship, triple-hatted as a destroyer, large ASW ship and guided missile cruiser while being smaller than Project 1144 ships and carrying far more weaponry,” news publication The Defence Talk reported Valeriy Polovinki, advisor to the director general of the Krylov State Research Center that worked out the destroyer’s preliminary design military, as saying.
He further said that the self-contained operation of such ships is usually based on their stock of provisions and their nuclear propulsion plants can go on without refueling for years.
The Leader-class destroyers are expected to be equipped with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles and S-500 air defense systems.
As exhibited by its mockup, the destroyer will be 200 meters long and 20 meters wide. It will be able to travel at a maximum speed of 32 knots.
The multipurpose warship will have anti-aircraft, anti-ballistic missile, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities.
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It will further be equipped with P-800 Oniks supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of more than 300 kilometers. The Zircon hypersonic missiles could also be added to the arsenal.
The next-generation warship will also have a landing pad for two Kamov Ka-27 or Kamov Ka-32 helicopters.
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“Finally the Leader will also get a 130-mm A-192 versatile gun. Overall, the destroyer’s weapons arsenal will include a total of 200 missiles,” Izvestia reported.
“Nuclear-powered cruisers that have the self-sustained operating capability and formidable weaponry can operate anywhere in the world. The Russian Navy has not ordered ships like that since 1989, which means that the country has regained geopolitical interests in remote corners of the world,” Russian news publication Izvestia reported former Russian Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Igor Kasatonov as saying.
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