Russia Builds Ship-Submarine Hybrid to Fight Drug Trafficking
“The ship is being built for export, primarily for the countries of Southeast Asia with a lot of islands and shallow seas,” said Vladimir Evseev, PhD in Engineering and head of the CIS Institute Department of Eurasian Integration and SCO Development.
Strazh, which was showcased in Fabruary, is set to be the world’s first ship armed with cruise and hypersonic missiles that can hide on the sea bed, then race across the surface at the speed of the world’s fastest boats, Science and Tech website reported.
According to Evseev, this nearshore vessel will be effective in the fight against drug trafficking.
“It can hide on the sea bed and wait for a small submarine or speedboat operated by drug traffickers to pass overhead. The ship’s specification is ideal for intercepting them,” noted Evseev.
Strazh combines all the very latest shipbuilding technologies. It is a high-speed vessel that accelerates on the surface to a speed of 35 nautical knots (around 80 kph).
In addition, it carries weapons systems that modern border patrol ships lack.
“It can use both long-range missiles (sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles) and Onyx anti-ship missiles. In the future, it will be able to fire Zircon hypersonic missiles,” the analyst added.
He further noted that, judging by the design, Strazh will be fitted with a helicopter-type uncrewed reconnaissance system. That is, the ship will be able to remain underwater after launching a drone and receive intelligence data.
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