Revealed configuration of Vietnam's new Molniya missile ship?
Vietnam and Russia are gradually moving towards an agreement to build four more Moniya 1241.8 fast attack missile boats with stronger weapon configurations.
The above information has been mentioned many times by Russia's Sputnik news agency recently, and it is expected that the official contract can be signed in 2018.
One issue that attracts great attention is what the configuration of the improved Molniya 1241.8 missile boat that Vietnam may build will be like, how is it different from the old generation of fast attack missile boats?
This question may have been revealed when Vympel Shipyard recently released some photos of the new design of the Molniya 1241.8 missile ship built for the Russian Navy and it is entirely possible that it will be applied to Vietnam's warship model.
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| A new design Molniya 1241.8 fast attack missile boat is being built at the Vympel Plant. |
Compared to the old design, the new generation Molniya 1241.8 ship has a more angular command cabin to increase radar wave scattering and at the same time gives it a much more modern look than the old drawing.
The weapon configuration also changed when the 3M-24 Uran missile launchers arranged with 4 KT-184 container clusters with a base of 16 missiles along the body were moved to the middle of the ship and rotated horizontally. Although the number of missiles was only 8, this method is considered more ideal for the longer Kalibr or Yakhont.
In addition, the ship is also equipped with AK-176MA naval gun with stealth turret design and automatic control system more advanced than AK-176M. The anti-aircraft firepower of the new Molniya 1241.8 still only relies on 2 AK-630M rapid-fire guns.
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| Complete design of the new generation Molniya 1241.8 missile boat. |
Another notable detail is that although the Pozitiv-ME air reconnaissance radar is still retained, the Garpun-Bal anti-ship missile fire control radar is missing. It is not clear whether this is a configuration for customers to choose to add later or if the new design is just that.
However, it is highly likely that the Garpun-Bal radar has been removed because the new generation of small missile ships of the Russian Navy such as Buyan-M Project 21631 or Karakurt Project 22800 no longer have this equipment.
Hopefully there will soon be official information about the contract to build the next 4 Molniya 1241.8 missile boats for the Vietnam Navy with the above improved configuration because they really bring new power to the "Lightning" class warships.
