Three Russian warships have been sent to the Mediterranean: two of these are equipped with Kalibr NK cruise missiles. Last 5 October, the Russian Admiralty ordered the class corvettes Buyan-M, Serpukhov e Zelyony Dol, operating with the Black Sea Fleet, to sail from Sevastopol. 24 hours later, even the class missile launcher Nanuchka III, Mirazh, received such orders.
The latter, in the 2008, sank a Georgian ship near the coast of Abkhazia. There Serpukhov , Zelyony Dol they will join the permanent fleet in the Mediterranean: their presence would therefore be part of the planned rotation.
The two class units Buyan-M the 5 crossed the Bosphorus last October. The missile launchers will be in a launch position from the eastern Mediterranean. With a range of approximately 2.000 km, the supersonic 3M-54 Kalibr can be embarked on submarines and small battle units. The missile is capable of carrying both a conventional and a nuclear warhead and can also be launched by class submarines Varshavyanka, Akula, Lada e Yasen. The Serpukhov , Zelyony Dol have already launched Kalibr missiles against targets of Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham (former al-Nusra), identified in the area of Dar-Taaza and in the province of Aleppo, in Syria.
Last November, the Caspian War Flotilla launched eighteen Kalibr-NK missiles from the units Dagestan, Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich e Veliky Ustyug. The same units carried out the first attack with cruise missiles from the sea last October 7, launching 26 Kalibr from the Caspian Sea. There Mirazh is equipped with P-120 MALAHIT anti-ship missiles (SS-N-9 Siren) and should be part of the battle group of the Admiral Kuznetsov, whose deployment should be imminent.
In the eastern Mediterranean, the Russians are the leader of the class missile frigates as fighting units Admiral Grigorovich, the class missile frigate Krivak II, Pytlivy and the minesweeper Ivan Golubets.
The Russian General Staff places a lot of faith in the frigate class Admiral Grigorovich. Six units of the 11356 project are currently under construction. The Admiral Grigorovich are based on the technology used for Indian frigates built in Russia, class Talwar. From the latter inherit the stealth characteristics of the hull to reduce the rcs. They will also be equipped with the new modular Shtil air defense systems, deemed capable of intercepting all the existing and future piloted and unmanned aircraft. One of the main features of the system is its high speed of standardized fire at two seconds per launch.
(photo: Navy)
