So, the news are that two hulls of Project 1241 Molnya missile boats which remained in the state of limbo for a while will be completed by the shipyard Vympel to specifications of Project 12418 missile corvettes.
For those who do not remember, those ungainly ships went into existence as Tarantul-class missile boats in 1970s and even US Navy had one (former DDR Navy's Hiddensee) serving at Naval Air Warfare Center in Maryland in 1990s. Latest iterations of venerable Tarantuls, however, are a different game. Project 12418 corvettes are armed with....drum roll..16 Uran-E (Switchblade) missiles.
Here is the model:
Here is a movie:
Here are Vietnamese Navy's (export) versions:
There will be obvious upgrades, including latest electronic suite for corvettes for the Russian Navy.
What does it all mean? Considering the fact that in Sea Denial and A2/AD business a salvo means a lot, it means that theoretical salvo of Russian Navy in the theater, where these corvettes will be serving, grows by additional 32 anti-shipping missiles. That is a lot, to put it mildly without resorting (which I will eventually) to the specifics of Salvo Equations and coefficients which constitute them. Obviously, such corvettes have very limited Air Defense (for now) and no ASW suites to talk about, but they fit perfectly into the littoral A2/AD settings where other heterogeneous forces will be taking care of air defense and ASW. Now consider the fact that Russian Navy is actively building Project 22160 Patrol Ships (these ones carry UKSK and have a very respectable air defense) and this clearly indicates that Russia is building her Navy "from the shore" thus indicating a very defensive posture. Will Russia eventually build full blown Blue Water Fleet? Here is the puzzle: will it be Power Projection or Sea Denial Navy? I guess the latter is the most likely scenario.
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