Before we took stock of India's Calcutta-class destroyers, this time we take a look at the newly commissioned Visakhapatnam-class destroyers, Which India claims to be stealth destroyers, but it does not look very stealthy, targeting the mainland's 055, the American Ali Burke III and the Haizi Maya class.
The hull is much more concise than the previous type, but the superstructure is higher and the equipment is messy, and the wind and waves may make the ship shake seriously, compared to the previous Kolkata class, there is little change, only the island and appearance have been improved to a certain extent, and the power system uses a Ukrainian-made power unit, but because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict delivery has been affected.
Basic parameters of the 15B Visakhapatnam-class destroyer, with a length of 163 meters, a width of 17 meters, a draft of 5.42 meters, a staffing of 325 people, a full load displacement of 8,000 tons, a power system of 2 sets of Ukrainian Sugon M36E power group and 2 Sets of Roro KVM-18 diesel engines, each power group equipped with two DT-59 gas turbines, with a total power of 90,000 horsepower and a maximum speed of 30 knots.
The weapon system is 1 Otto 76 mm stealth naval gun, 2 x 8-unit Type 3s14 universal vertical launch system, 16 BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missiles, 32 unit Barak-8 anti-aircraft missiles, 4 AK-630 close-in guns, 2 sets of Russian-made RBU-6000 type 12-tube anti-submarine rocket launchers, which can carry 2 Neptune-class helicopters, and 2 twin 533 mm torpedo tubes.
The radar avionics system is mainly a four-sided array EL/M-2248MF-STAR multi-function area warning radar, LW08D two-coordinate long-range search radar, equipped with bow active sonar, ACTAS towed low-frequency active and passive composite sonar, responsible for guiding the fire control system of the close defense gun, navigation system and satellite communication system, helicopter data link and other equipment.
EL/M-2248MF-STAR multi-function area alert radar, mainly used to guide the Barak eight air defense missile to strike long-range targets, the radar works in the S band, the detection distance of low-altitude anti-ship missiles is 25 kilometers, the maximum detection distance for non-stealth fighter targets is 250 kilometers, and the large aircraft is 450 kilometers, this type of radar is easy to detect small targets, good detection capabilities for slow targets and vibration targets, low logistics costs, but the accuracy of this band is poor, This requires radar to fill the blindness.
LW08D type two-coordinate long-range search radar, radar working area for the D band, this type of radar has a good anti-stealth effect, can provide the necessary medium-range monitoring for surface ships, this type of radar is also installed on many German ships, mainly guiding Brahmos anti-ship missiles, the maximum detection distance of 270 kilometers.
The main firepower against the ship is the 16-unit BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, using the Russian refrigeration and heat co-frame vertical firing system, using active radar plus GPS satellite guidance, using ramjet engines, can not be secondary ignition end maneuverability is poor, the maximum flight speed of Mach 2.8, the maximum range of 280 kilometers, anti-ship firepower can reach the level of 052D type missile destroyers.
The anti-aircraft firepower is mainly the 32-unit Barak 8 medium-range anti-aircraft missile, the full bomb weighs 275 kg, the warhead weighs 60 kg, the combat distance can reach 100 km, the warhead is equipped with an active seeker, and the maximum range of the Barak 8ER after the subsequent rocket booster can reach 150 km, the maximum flight speed is Mach 2, it can intercept hypersonic anti-ship missiles and slow-speed unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircraft, and the anti-aircraft firepower is similar to that of the 054A large frigate.
Because there is no anti-submarine missile, only anti-submarine torpedoes and rocket depth bombs, although the ship is equipped with active and passive sonar, it is necessary to carry the Neptune helicopter to provide fleet anti-submarine, able to carry light anti-submarine torpedoes and NASM-SR anti-ship missiles with a range of 55 kilometers, which is old and will be replaced by the advanced MH-60R Seahawk multi-purpose helicopter in the future.
India claims that the localization rate of this type of ship is 65%, using Italian naval guns, Israeli phased array and anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles and vertical launch systems jointly developed by India and Russia, Ukrainian engines, in addition to the hull, there are basically not many things that are domestically produced, but it is still very powerful to integrate these things together.
A total of four Visakhapatnam, Impal, Surat and Mormugao ships were built in this class, costing more than $1.2 billion per ship, and only one is in service now, the other three are being outfitted and built in sea trials, but at India's pace, the first ship will be launched in 15 years and served for 21 years, and the other types will be in service for about 27 years.
Of course, the Indian-built warships were of course accidents, and on June 21, 2019, a class 3 fire occurred on the 2nd and 3rd decks of the "Visakhapatnam" in the outfitting project of the Mazagaon Shipyard, which killed 1 person and injured 2 people, and then due to the epidemic, the phased array radar did not arrive on time, so it was delayed to 21 years of service.
On the whole, this type of ship is already the most powerful guided missile destroyer of the Indian Navy, taking into account the anti-aircraft anti-submarine and anti-ship capabilities, coupled with the more advanced high-power phased array radar, with India's strong system integration capabilities, it can still match or even surpass the 054AP type frigates of neighboring Pakistan.