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Storm Shadow Killer: What We Know About Russian Warships' Pantsir-M Air Defense Shield

© Photo : rostec.ruPantsir-ME ship-based air defense at an arms expo. File photo.
Pantsir-ME ship-based air defense at an arms expo. File photo. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.04.2024
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The naval variant of Russia’s Pantsir surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery system has made its combat debut, taking on and defeating Storm Shadow cruise missiles in the Ukrainian conflict zone. What’s known about the system? How does it differ from the ground version? Where has it been deployed?
Russian Defense holding company High-Precision Systems director Oleg Ryazantsev has confirmed the first-ever use of the Pantsir-M naval air defense system.
“A ship on combat duty defeated Storm Shadow missiles. That is, we can speak about the first successful use of the series Pantsir-M system,” Ryazantsev said in an interview with Zvezda, the official television channel of Russia’s Defense Ministry.
The stealthy Storm Shadow cruise missile is one of several classes of weaponry being used by Ukrainian forces, and the Pantsir is designed specifically “to combat this kind of threat,” the director said.
Ryazantsev did not elaborate on the details of the incident, including when it took place or which Russian warship was involved.
A Pantsir-S air defense missile system shoots during the Kavkaz 2020 military drills at the Ashuluk training range, in Astrakhan region, Russia - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.04.2024
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However, according to open sources, the Tsiklon (lit. ‘Cyclone’) Project 22800 small missile ship is presently the only ship in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet armed with the Pantsir-M. In 2020, the Tsiklon’s Project 22800 sister ship, the Odintsovo, became the first warship in the Russian Navy to receive the new air defense system.
Developed by the Tula-based Shipunov Instrument Engineering Design Bureau in 2017, the Pantsir-M is the naval variant of the ground-based Pantsir (literally ‘Carapace’ or ‘Shell’) series of self-propelled combined surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems.

The Pantsir-M (‘M’ for ‘Maritime’) operates along the same general principle as its ground-based cousin, but features its own design solutions optimized for naval conditions and for dealing with sea-based threats. The platform is formally classified as a close-in weapon system (CIWS) designed to take on enemy missiles, drones, aircraft and other projectiles as they approach to within 20 km or less (at an altitude of up to 15 km) of a warship.

© Photo : RosoboronexportOdintsovo small missile ship armed with Pantsir-M combined SAM/CIWS system.
Odintsovo small missile ship armed with Pantsir-M combined SAM/CIWS system. - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.04.2024
Odintsovo small missile ship armed with Pantsir-M combined SAM/CIWS system.

The Pantsir-M is armed with eight ready to fire Germes-K (lit ‘Hermes-K’) SAMs attached in a 4x2 arrangement on either side of the system, including integrated complex control, communication and data transmission equipment. Secondary armament consists of twin AO-18KD 30x165mm rotary cannons with a range up to 5 km and a rate of fire of up to 10,000 rounds per minute. The AO-18KD is a variant of the tried and tested Soviet-built 6K30GSh anti-aircraft autocannon first adopted into service in the mid-1960s.

Ground-based Pantsirs, by comparison, come armed with twin 2A38M 30 mm autocannons, developed for the system’s "granddaddy" – the 2K22 Tunguska, and has different missiles than the naval variant: including 95Ya6 series and 23Ya6 series SAMs. The latter typically come attached to vehicles in a 6x2 configuration (although a Pantsir-SA variant features a 9x2 arrangement attached to a trailer vehicle).
© Sputnik / Evgeny Biyatov / Go to the mediabank Pantsir-S on the military parade devoted to the 73rd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945
 Pantsir-S  on the military parade devoted to the 73rd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.04.2024
Pantsir-S on the military parade devoted to the 73rd anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945
The Pantsir-M can engage up to four targets simultaneously, and is for the moment the only ship-based air defense system in the world using a combat module that combines CIWS, SAMs and a radar-optical control system – including automated target search, selection and firing capability in a single piece of equipment. The complex has a reaction time of between three and five seconds, and can hit targets flying up to 1,000 meters per second. The onboard phased array radar has an estimated target detection range of up to 75 km.
The system weighs about 7,100 kg (ammunition included), making it suitable to deploy on small and large vessels alike (the Project 22800 series of Russian corvettes, for example, displace 870 tons).
The Russian Navy plans to equip all new warships, from missile corvettes to cruisers, with the Pantsir-M, and to upgrade existing vessels with the system over the course of modernization. With time, the Pantsir-M is expected to phase out the Kortik (lit ‘Dirk’) – a Soviet combined SAM/autocannon system, which features a similar AO-18K rotary gun, but whose 9M311-1 SAMs have a shorter range, up to 10 km.
A Pantsir-S air defense missile system shoots during the Kavkaz 2020 military drills at the Ashuluk training range, in Astrakhan region, Russia - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.12.2023
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