Pantsir-M missile system onboard Odintsovo corvette of project 22800 able to destroy cruise missile strike.

According to information published by the Russian press agency TASS on October 29, 2020, the latest Pantsir-M air defense missile system onboard the Odintsovo corvette of project 22800 successfully repelled a massive air and cruise missile strike. It downed all targets at various distances. Experts believe the launchers will make Russian warships a difficult target for airstrikes, the Izvestia daily writes.
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The Odintsovo Project 22800 corvette is equipped with a Pantsir-M air defense missile system mounted at the rear deck. (Picture source Twitter account Miso)

Pantsir-M test-fired in mid-October 2020. The Defense Ministry said M-6 small aircraft targets were launched by Su-27 jets of the Baltic fleet. Russian Defense Ministry and industry sources said the trials were successful. The targets imitated a massive air raid and strikes at the Odintsovo with anti-ship cruise missiles.

Pantsir-M successfully destroyed the targets at a major distance and downed the remaining targets by gunfire close to the warship. The analysis showed that the launcher fully coped with the mission.

The Odintsovo is the third Karakurt-class corvette of project 22800. Pantsir-M is the main difference from predecessors. In future, all corvettes will be armed with the launcher, although there were doubts about whether the small warship could carry such a sophisticated weapon.

“Sea operation has to take numerous factors into account, such as a rough sea. It demands different equipment. Successful live-fire opens a way to batch production of Pantsir-M. The Odintsovo is the first warship to be armed with it,” expert Dmitry Boltenkov said. Pantsir-M will make Russian warships practically invulnerable to airstrikes, he added.

The Odintsovo is to operate in the 1st battalion of the 36th brigade of missile boats of the Baltic fleet based in Baltiisk in Kaliningrad region. The Mytischi and the Sovetsk first corvettes already operate there.

Pantsir-M comprises eight launchers with guided antiaircraft missiles and two six-barrel 30mm speed guns. It can down cruise and anti-ship missiles, drones, airplanes and helicopters. The weapon operates by two-line air defense principle capable of protecting the warship from any airstrike. Antiaircraft missiles are the first to attack the adversary at a distance of 20 km. The remaining targets are attacked by 30mm speed guns at a distance of 4 km. The guns can fire armor-piercing and fragmentation projectiles at a speed of ten thousand shots per minute.

Pantsir-M can destroy sea and coastal targets. It can repel an attack of small warships or boats in the destruction range of its missiles and guns.

The ground Pantsir properly operated in Syria. The first launchers were deployed at Humaymim airbase in 2015. The Defense Ministry said they downed 54 MLRS missiles and 16 terrorist drones in two years.

Project 22800 corvettes have a displacement of 800 tons and carry Kalibr missiles and 76.2mm AK-176MA gun.

The Odintsovo was on Arctic trials from early August to late September 2020. It was previously unknown whether the small corvettes can operate in bitter cold and bad weather. The Odintsovo fulfilled all missions in the Barents and the White Seas in the two-month sortie, fired missiles and returned to the Baltic Sea by internal waterways, the Izvestia said.

Close-view of Pantsir-M air defense missile system mounted on Odintsovo Project 22800 corvette. (Picture source Twitter account Miso)

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