Original title: The Ukrainian army sank the Russian frigate, and the anti-ship missile may become the most worried weapon of the Russian navy
After the sinking of the cruiser “Moscow”, the flagship of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, the Ukrainian army once again claimed to have sunk a Russian frigate, but doubts continued.
On May 6, local time, a number of Ukrainian media quoted Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) member Goncharenko as saying that the Ukrainian army used the “Neptune” anti-ship missile to sink the Russian Black Sea Fleet “Admiral Makarov”. “The frigate.
In response, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov responded that day, saying that the Kremlin did not have the news that the Ukrainian media said that the so-called confirmation of the attack on the Russian warship in the Black Sea.
Frigate “Admiral Makarov”.
The main frigate of the Black Sea Fleet was sunk?
According to Ukrainian media, the frigate “Admiral Makarov” was attacked and caught fire while sailing in the waters near Snake Island about 20 miles (about 32 kilometers) away. The Ukrainian army used the “Neptune” anti-ship missile.
The “Admiral Makarov” frigate is the most advanced frigate of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, belonging to the 11356M frigate. The ship has a full-load displacement of about 4,000 tons and is equipped with two vertical launchers that can launch air defense missiles, anti-ship missiles and land attack cruise missiles. At present, the Black Sea Fleet has three frigates of type 11356M, including “Admiral Grigorovich”, “Admiral Essen” and “Admiral Makarov”.
According to the information previously released by the Russian military, the Russian Navy originally planned to build six 11356M frigates, all of which were equipped in the Black Sea Fleet, to alleviate the problem of insufficient number of modern warships in the fleet. However, because the gas engine used by the ship was produced by Ukraine, the relationship between the two countries broke down after the Crimea incident in 2014. Ukraine stopped providing gas turbines to Russia, resulting in the failure of the delivery of the two 11356M frigates under construction at that time. Finally, after negotiation Sold to India.
“Before the 11356M frigate was commissioned, most of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, except the ‘Moscow’ cruiser, were small frigates or missile boats with weak air defense capabilities, and they were ships built in the Soviet era.” Military expert Han Dong told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn), “The Type 11356M frigate is equipped with vertically-launched medium-range air defense missiles and ‘Caliber’ land-attack cruise missiles, and its comprehensive combat capability is significantly improved compared to the previous Type 11356 frigate.”
“The single-arm air defense missile launcher used by the Type 11356 frigate exported to India can only launch one missile at a time, while the Type 11356M frigate equipped by the Russian military uses a vertical launch system, which greatly enhances the multi-target engagement capability.” Wang Yunfei added Say.
The sister ship of the “Admiral Makarov” has already achieved results in air defense operations in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. According to the TASS news agency on April 26, on April 12, the Russian frigate “Admiral Essen” shot down a Ukrainian TB-2 unmanned aerial vehicle by firing the “Shikili”-1 anti-aircraft missile over the Black Sea.
Regarding the Ukrainian media’s claim that the Ukrainian army sank the Russian frigate, the Russian official said that it “does not have such information”, and the Ukrainian presidential adviser Arestovich did not directly respond to whether it was hit or not, and the US Department of Defense did not confirm the authenticity of the news. .
U.S. Defense Department spokesman Kirby said on May 6 that the authenticity of the news could not be confirmed at this time. “We’ve seen reports about this second[warship]and I think they’re saying, at least on social media, that it’s a Russian frigate,” Kirby said. “We’ve been following this all day,” Kirby said. There is currently no information to confirm the reports.”
The U.S. military website “The War Zone” (The War Zone) published an article stating that the Ukrainian media did not provide evidence that the Russian Navy frigate was hit. The blurred pictures circulating on social platforms can see that the warship that was hit indeed looked like a Type 11356 frigate. Or other members of this type of frigate family, but considering that after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, many realistic simulation battle videos appeared and were adopted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. Therefore, the outside world is still skeptical about the video of the Russian frigate being hit on social platforms. .
The picture of the “Admiral Makarov” frigate being hit has been circulated on social platforms, but its authenticity has been questioned.
Ukrainian officials have also reported false results in naval battles before. The “War Zone” website reported on March 19 that at that time, some Russian netizens photographed the sailing of the lead ship “Vasily Bekov” of the Russian Navy’s Type 22160 patrol ship at the Port of Sevastopol in Crimea. In the propaganda of the Ukrainian army, the ship was sunk by Ukrainian rockets a week ago.
If the “Admiral Makarov” frigate is damaged or sunk, it will be another huge loss for the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet. On April 14, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the guided-missile cruiser “Moscow” sank. Before the sinking, the Russian Ministry of Defense said the ship was in a fire and caused the explosion of ammunition carried by the warship, and the ship was severely damaged.
The Ukrainian military said that the “Moscow” was sunk by the “Neptune” missile launched by the Ukrainian military, but so far Russia has not announced the cause of the “Moscow” fire and explosion, nor has it responded positively to the Ukrainian military’s statement .
“The ‘Moscow’ is equipped with long-range air defense missiles, and the 11356M type is equipped with medium-range air defense missiles. Both types of warships are the main force of the regional air defense of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet. If the ‘Admiral Makarov’ is injured or sunk, then It will have a relatively large impact on the regional air defense capabilities of the Black Sea Fleet.” Han Dong said.
The 11356M frigate launches anti-aircraft missiles. Due to the vertical launch device, it has stronger regional air defense capabilities.
Ukraine seeks US-made missiles to “control sea by land”
At present, the anti-ship missiles and drones equipped by the Ukrainian army have become the biggest challenge of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet.
After the explosion of the “Moscow”, U.S. officials revealed to the media that Russian naval warships were evacuated to waters 80 nautical miles (about 148 kilometers) away from the Ukrainian coast.
The “Neptune” missile is a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile developed by the Ukrainian National Design Bureau “Luch”, with a maximum range of about 280 kilometers. It was tested for the first time in 2018. After the test, Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said: “Ukrainian cruise missiles are capable of providing reliable defense of the Black Sea and the coast of Azov, if necessary, at a distance of 300 kilometers, even within their The port where the base is located, which affects enemy ships.”
At present, the Ukrainian army is equipped with the shore-based version of the “Neptune” missile. At the beginning of 2021, Ukraine announced that its 65th Independent Shore-to-Ship Missile Battalion began to field Neptune missiles, but it was not full.
The shore-based version of the “Neptune” missile adopts a high-mobility wheeled truck, which quickly drives to the scheduled launch position in wartime. It has the characteristics of good mobility and strong concealment, and can perform various mobile combat missions.
The “Neptune” shore-to-ship missile equipped by the Ukrainian army.
“Because NATO led by the United States has been providing battlefield intelligence information to Ukraine, it has solved the problem of target information most needed for ‘Neptune’ shore-to-ship missile operations, and guerrilla operations can be carried out based on the situation information provided by NATO in the direction of the Black Sea.” Navy expert Li Jie It was pointed out to The Paper earlier.
According to U.S. media reports, a U.S. official said that intelligence shared by the U.S. with Ukraine in April helped Ukraine sink the missile cruiser Moscow, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. But the Pentagon rejected that claim, and on May 5, Pentagon press secretary Kirby denied that the U.S. had provided “specific targeting information” to the Ukrainian military. Kirby said that as for Ukraine’s ability to sink the “Moscow” warship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in April, their decision-making and action process were independent.
It is worth mentioning that the US Naval Association News Network reported on March 17 that the Director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, previously stated at a US Congressional hearing in March that the US Information and intelligence sharing with Ukraine is “revolutionary”.
“Harpoon” shore-to-ship missile system launch vehicle, each launch vehicle is equipped with 4 missile launchers.
Judging from the current information, Ukraine is seeking US-made “Harpoon” anti-ship missiles to further counter the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet.
According to a report by the Russian Satellite News Agency on the 5th, U.S. Congressman Crow said that Ukraine asked the U.S. government to provide it with Harpoon anti-ship missiles, long-range drones and multiple rocket launcher systems.
Igor Korochenko, a Russian military expert and editor-in-chief of the “Defense” magazine, believes that Ukraine’s request for the “Harpoon” anti-ship missile from the United States will first be used to attack the ships of the Black Sea Fleet. This is an anti-ship weapon. Therefore, It is extremely important to prevent the delivery of such weapons to Ukraine. If Ukraine gets the anti-ship missiles and the Ukrainian anti-ship missile forces pass operational training, the balance that is currently formed will be upset.
“It is crucial to prevent Ukraine from acquiring the above-mentioned weapons. To this end, Russia needs to increase its efforts to destroy the Ukrainian transportation and logistics system, especially the railways, including strikes on key targets such as bridges and other railway infrastructure, completely cutting off traffic including Romania and Russia. A channel for third countries, including Poland, to export weapons to Ukraine,” said Igor Korochenko.
The “Harpoon” anti-ship missile produced by the Boeing Company of the United States can be divided into four types: ship-to-ship, air-to-ship, submarine-to-ship and shore-to-ship according to the platform. The latest “Harpoon” Block2 anti-ship missile has been replaced with new engines and guidance components, the range has also been increased to more than 240 kilometers, and the strike range has nearly doubled. or the capabilities of ships in a port.
Considering that the Ukrainian air force and navy are basically destroyed, if the United States provides Ukraine with the “Harpoon” anti-ship missile, it is most likely to be a shore-based version. This version of the missile is less exported, and only South Korea and Norway have imported this type of missile. The most recent export record was the sale of the missile to Taiwan, China. In October 2020, the U.S. government notified Congress of plans to sell $2.37 billion worth of Harpoon shore-to-ship missile systems to Taiwan.