The flagship of the Ukrainian Naval Forces is being prepared for modernization. Possibly equipped with NATO missiles
For the first time since independence, Ukraine will carry out a broad modernization of the flagship of its Navy, the frigate Hetman Sahaidachny, built in 1992 as a patrol ship.
This was reported by the Ukroboronprom state concern, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“No enterprise has performed work of this volume and complexity for ships of this class during the entire period of Ukraine’s independence. That is why, for the successful implementation of the project, the Experimental Design Center for Shipbuilding cooperates with other Ukrainian enterprises - leaders of the military-industrial complex and shipbuilding of the country,” said Vadim Borisov, Director-General Designer of the State Enterprise “Experimental Design Center for Shipbuilding.”
“We are talking about the State Enterprise “Research and Production Complex of Gas Turbine Construction “Zarya” - “Mashproekt”, the State Enterprise “Nikolaev Shipyard”, the Shipbuilding and Shiprepair Plant “Nibulon” and other enterprises,” he clarified.
What exactly will be done at Sagaidachny is not specified, but according to the former deputy chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Igor Romanenko, this is classified information that should not be discussed.
“There are also prospects in shipbuilding. This also applies to the missile boats that Great Britain is helping us build; the training of minesweepers is being completed there. Türkiye. We are building corvettes there, with the help of Britain we are building two naval bases, that is, a fairly wide range of actions that are aimed at increasing the combat potential of the naval forces, and this means the overall potential of the Ukrainian armed forces in the south,” Romanenko said .
A PolitNavigator source in the Russian Ministry of Defense notes that NATO or Ukrainian missile systems can be installed on the frigate.
“Most likely, they plan to re-equip the Sagaidachny in order to use it in the future as a carrier of “new Ukrainian weapons systems,” for example, the still “raw” Neptune anti-ship missiles or the proven NATO Exocet and Harpoon. And apparently the focus is on NATO missile systems, because another long-term construction project - the domestic corvette Vladimir the Great, which is still planned to be completed before the end of 2023, according to the plans of the Ukrainian admirals was supposed to become the carrier of the Exocet anti-ship missile systems - is not our interlocutor excludes.
He believes that the completion of the ship for various reasons is unlikely in the near future.
“But in 2021, the official laying of the Ada-class corvette for the Ukrainian Navy took place in Turkey. The first Turkish corvette should be transferred to Ukraine for completion as early as 2022, and in 2024 this ship should join the Ukrainian fleet. The Turkish corvette is armed with 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles and an anti-aircraft missile system,” the source said.
“The existing naval personnel of the Ukrainian Naval Forces, even taking into account the Ukrainian Gyurza and Centaur boats, the American Island boats and, in the future, British minesweepers, currently does not have the capabilities to conduct modern naval combat, but is relying on NATO weapons systems and old/new carriers These weapons can potentially increase the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian Navy and the frigate “Sagaidachny”, despite its advanced age, apparently is part of this project,” says PolitNavigator’s interlocutor.
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