GarryB Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:59 am
Well the introduction of the UKSK launcher means that instead of a small light missile boat you can have a slightly larger corvette that is significantly better armed.
The main problem with the small missile boat is its vulnerability... it tended to have short range SAMs and limited radar performance and the equivalent fire power of a battleship with 4-8 anti ship missiles.
It was a bit too fragile and a helo with a weapon like Sea Skua was a serious threat.
A corvette on the other hand is a larger vessel with greater range, longer endurance, SIGMA C4IR systems, and even with one UKSK launcher you combine the two small missile boat and torpedo boat options together with the potential to carry up to 8 Onyx or Brahmos missiles, or 8 anti sub torpedos delivered up to 40km from the ship by a mach 1.5 rocket or a combination of them and also the subsonic and supersonic models of Klub and of course land attack missiles too.
The larger corvette will also have the capacity for a much heavier SAM defence enabling it to protect itself from helos and aircraft to much longer ranges.
The vertical launch tubes take up more internal space but are much more stealthy with no moving parts reducing maintainence requirements.
I wonder if there are plans to add Kh-35s to the UKSK missile system. There was talk of adding SAM capacity, which would mean instead of separate UKSK and SAM launchers you could just have more UKSK launchers, but the problem is that the missiles used in the UKSK system are largely similar... very long relatively narrow missiles.
I would guess that stacking missiles in modules might allow more efficient use of the space... for instance in the space you put one Yakhont missile you might be able to fit 6 small short range IIR guided missiles based on Morfei/9M100 in a module that takes the width a Yakhont missile takes up, but the huge length of the Yakhont you might be able to stack 3 modules in the space one Yakhont missile takes up.
This would mean that there are three modules in the tube and for the first 6 targets the missiles are catapulted from the top module and when the top module is empty it is ejected making the next module ready to fire and once it is empty it is ejected and the last module is ready to fire. The ejection of the modules could be by rocket launching it up and then a side rocket launching it out into the sea, or the modules could be designed and aligned so that the lower modules use the upper tubes as barrels to launch the lower missiles through.
This would make it simpler and safer with the modules removed and reloaded in port.
Big modules being blown around the place creates a problem whereas the missiles in the lower modules can launch up through the tubes of the missiles above and push out the ejection mechanism of the missile above them ahead of them as they exit the tube. They could be made disposable... using compressed air or something.
The result of course is that a Corvette with two UKSK launchers could have 8 Oniks missiles in one bin... which could potentially include hypersonic 1,000km range anti ship missiles and up to 144 short range lock on after launch IIR guided SAMs.