VILYUCHINSK /Kamchatka Region/, November 7. /TASS/: Russia’s Defense Ministry plans to place an order for the upgrade of three more Project 1234 missile corvettes for the Pacific Fleet to extend their service life by up to 16 years, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said during his visit to the North-Eastern Repair Center on Thursday.
"Today we are discussing with the enterprise the issue of modernizing a series of Project 1234 small missile ships. We are talking about three such ships. Following the upgrade, their service life will be extended by eight years with a possibility to extend it by eight more years after the factory repairs," the deputy defense minister said.
After making a corresponding decision, the upgrade will take five years, the defense official specified.
The 1234.1 modernization project envisages replacing Malakhit missile systems operational on these ships with advanced Uran weapons and increasing the number of launchers from six to 16. During the upgrade, the shipbuilders will also replace the Titanit surface search radar with the latest KRS-27 Mineral station. Also, the next-generation AK-176MA artillery guns will be mounted on the missile corvettes during their upgrade, the deputy defense minister explained.
"As a result of these transformations, the warships’ combat potential and the target detection range will be increased by more than three times," Krivoruchko said.
