Corbetas rusas Smerch modernizadas en el Mar del Japón

Russian Navy's upgraded missile corvette Smerch holds fire exercise in Sea of Japan

Naval Technology 


In the Peter the Great Gulf, the crew of the modernized small missile ship "Smerch" (project 1234.1) tested the reliability of the new anti-aircraft missile system of self-defense "Osa-MA" during the exercise in the Sea of ​​Japan.


Smerch missile corvette of project 1234.1 (Picture source: Japanese MoD)

"Today, in accordance with the plan of shipbuilders’ trials, the modernized small missile ship Smerch has held a series of missile firings against a naval and an air target in the Sea of Japan," the press office said in a statement.

The warship successfully employed surface-to-air missiles, launching them against the target that simulated a surface ship and against a simulated air target, the statement says.

The small missile ship will soon "accomplish a set of artillery firings from the modern AK-176MA artillery gun outfitted with a digital control system and a new optoelectronic station," according to the statement.

The small missile ship Smerch is also set to test its 30mm AK-630 six-barrel automatic artillery gun, the press office noted. It is specified that in the near future the ship "will carry out a complex of artillery firing from a modern gun mount AK-176MA."

The Russian shipbuilders completed the upgrade of the missile corvette Smerch in 2019. The warship was modernized at the North-Eastern Shipyard. During its upgrade, the warship got the Uran anti-ship cruise missile system and more advanced artillery armament.

Smerch is one of around 150 corvettes, patrol boats and mine-warfare ships in the Russian fleet. Each displaces just a few thousand or a few hundred tons of water. The Russian navy operates fewer than 30 large, oceangoing frigates, destroyers and cruisers.