This will be the first stealth ship of the Russian navy and a message to powerful nations that Moscow will not be trifled with.
Being lethal is the key
Called project 20386 and officially dubbed the Mercury naval corvette, this stealth ship is slated to be built by 2023. It is designed to go toe to toe with the US Navy's FFGX or Future Frigate. Both are frigates, but the corvette will be smaller but much meaner, reported the SUN. The Russian craft will be bristling with high-tech weaponry like cruise missiles, anti-aircraft ordnance, and artillery, and a specialized anti-sub platform for blunting submarine attacks.
Russia had made significant investments in its fleet in past years as a result of President Vladimir Putin's effort to modernize the military, which has been challenged by Western sanctions. Western nations have been at odds with Moscow for some time now, after the break up of the USSR.
There was prior use of stealth technology like a radar-absorbing coating used on some of the Russian vessels. One exception is the Mercury that breaks all traditions and stealth profile to use fewer surfaces that cause radar deflections said one outlet.
Russia had previously used stealth technology such as a radar-absorbing coating into some of its navy vessels, but lethal Russian stealth corvette is expected to be the first fully stealth vessel with a special shape to minimize protrusions and crevices on its surface, RIA mentioned Reuters.
Construction of the ship's superstructure will be next-generation composites and improved paint for better stealth.
Mercury was almost scrapped
It was reported that before the acquisition of Crimea in 2014, there were plans to create the high-tech Frigate. According to a military source published in the Izvestia daily newspaper during 2013, the warship would be incredibly costly, with an estimated cost of up to 18 billion rubles (£175 million), and will be outfitted with "excessive" weaponry including the Kalibr cruise missiles, mentioned the Telegraph.
The Military Review was not optimistic about the Mercury project and said it will fail last April. One point is the lack of enough armament support, which will render it useless.
When Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the Kremlin started to reinforce its military due to escalating tensions with the West. Last April, there reports that the United Kingdom will be a sitting duck with the current numbers of the Russian submarine force, which can be used to disrupt vital undersea internet cables.
The subs are stowed beneath an enormous "mothership" underwater vessel and most are intended to hide at the seafloor bottom, traveling down from the Arctic to reach the Atlantic. It will utilize robotic arms to meddle with or even cut critical cables that keep the world economy functioning, causing potential catastrophic effects. Add a lethal Russian stealth corvette this will not look too good for the West.
