Russian Black Sea Fleet operates new scout vessel of Project 18280.

The Russian Black Sea fleet received the Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship of project 18280 in 2018. It was built by Severnaya verf Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The St. Andrew’s flag was hoisted on it on June 25, 2018, the Zvezda weekly writes. The Ivan Khurs medium scout ship is the second reconnaissance warship of project 18280 designed by Iceberg Bureau.

The second Project 18280 intelligence ship, the Ivan Khurs, ready for sea trials in November 2017 (Picture Source: Alexey Akentyev / PJSC Shipyard "Severnaya Verf")

The first scout ship the Yuri Ivanov joined the Navy in 2014. "It was mostly an experimental ship which proved the viability of our ideas," Iceberg CEO Alexander Ryzhkov said.

"The project has to provide communications, reconnaissance and electronic warfare to the Navy and monitor the US missile shield. The warships are equipped with the latest electronic means. Open sources cannot disclose all the components of the scout ships. I can only say that we planned four warships, one for each fleet. Today two of them are operational. The project is upgraded as the series advances. Drawbacks are eliminated in any new warship and tactical and technical characteristics are improved. Thus, a set of improvements was introduced after the first ship was built. They increased combat and operational characteristics and improved comfort for the crew," he said.

Over 900 enterprises participated in the construction of the Ivan Khurs. They supplied various systems, hardware and equipment. Iceberg said the warship enjoys a major modernization resource.

The navigational, communications and reconnaissance complex of project 18280 comprises, firstly, MR-231-3 radar, secondly, Mostik-18280 positioning, localization, and detection electronic system, and thirdly, the basic electronic compatibility system Podzagolovok-23 for radars, detection and navigational stations, artillery and missile fire controls, and information exchange.

Modern communication and reconnaissance mean to develop the Ivan Khurs into the coordinator of a whole squadron or attack force of warships in interaction with aircraft and ground forces. The scout can receive and process a major volume of information by several channels. At present the Ivan Khurs crew are training to operate the scout ship in the Black Sea, the Zvezda said.

The Ivan Khurs is a completely new warship for the Russian Navy which exceeds all predecessors in tactical and technical characteristics. Its multirole character, a high automation and integration level of the systems allow suggesting the warship will become a key element of the fleet control which will be a component of the single automatic troops' control system headed by the Russian National Defense Command Center.

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