Russia to close its advanced stealth corvette project — source
Severnaya Verf and the Amur Shipbuilding Plant will continue serial production of ships from Project 20380 and Project 20385
MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. The program to built Project 20386 missile stealth corvettes for the Russian Navy will be closed, with no more ships of this class expected will be laid, a defense industry source has told TASS.
"Laying more Project 20386 projects in their present form is not planned. The program to build them will be closed. Severnaya Verf and the Amur Shipbuilding Plant will continue serial production of ships from Project 20380 and Project 20385," he said.
The lead ship of the project, the Derzky corvette, will remain the only vessel of its class.
"It is not expected that it will be commissioned in its present-day version," the source added. "The ship will be completed in accordance with a modified project and will join the Russian Navy in a totally new, more balanced version."
In his words, the ship’s high novelty factor and calculated value do not permit its serial production.
TASS has been unable to officially confirm this information at the time of the publication.
Recommendations of experts
Earlier, research director of the Krylov State Research Center Valery Polovinkin told TASS on the sidelines of the International Maritime and Defense Show (IMDS-2023) in Kronstadt that the center’s recommendations regarding the corvettes of projects 20380, 20385 and 20386 have been followed.
Speaking about the Derzky, Polovinkin said "a decision has been made to re-design this ship."
"But this project must not stop. The general idea of this ship is wonderful," he added.
The construction of the pilot ship of the series - the Derzky - started at the end of 2016 at the Northern Shipyard.
During the construction of Project 20380/20386 multi-purpose corvettes, stealth technology is used. The latest solutions to reduce the physical fields of the corvette have been implemented. In particular, radar visibility has been significantly reduced due to the use of slow-burning glass-reinforced plastics with radio absorption properties as a superstructure material, as well as due to the design of the hull and the superstructure.