Primed for defense
In an interview with Sputnik, the editor-in-chief of Arsenal Otechestva (Arsenal of the Motherland) journal Viktor Murakhovsky said that since Russia’s Pacific Fleet’s main task is to protect the country’s sea borders in the Far East, the Sovershenny fits this purpose just fine.
The subsonic Kh-35 missiles boast a high degree of immunity to enemy countermeasures and are equipped with has inertial guidance and active radar homing systems.
The Sovershenny’s defensive armament is equally impressive featuring the Redut air-defense missile system with a range of up to 150 kilometers (about 93 miles), an A-190 100 mm cannon and a quartet of Paket-NK 330 mm torpedoes.
The Sovershnny boasts a state-of-the art system of electronic warfare, satellite communications gear and can carry a Ka-27 multirole helicopter.
Even though they pack less firepower than cruisers, missile corvettes have performed excellently in the Syria and are a force to be reckoned with.
With the coastal defense mission first and foremost, corvettes are quite capable of out-of-area operations and their serial production reflects the growing capacity of Russian shipbuilding industry.
