Africa’s Most Dangerous Surface Combatants: Algeria to Receive Heavily Armed Russian Steregushchiy Class Missile Corvettes

The purchase of three Russian Project 20380 Steregushchiy Class corvettes by the Algerian Navy has reportedly been confirmed, according to a number of local news outlets, with two of the ships currently under construction at the Severnaya Verf shipyards in St Petersburg. The corvettes expected to be received from 2021, and are among the most heavily armed warships of their size in the world with no rivals for this title outside Russia. While small, displacing just 2,200 tons, carrying 90 crew and having an endurance of only 15 days, the warships each deploy twelve vertical launch cells which can accommodate a wide range of missiles. These can include long range cruise missiles for land attack and anti-shipping, as well as medium ranged surface to air missiles derived from those of the land based S-350 air defences system. The ships each further deploy a heavy 100mm naval gun, close in weapons systems, a powerful electronic warfare suite, a hanger for a single helicopter, and eight launchers for torpedoes. They are designed with a steel hull and composite material superstructure, nine watertight subdivisions, and overall have a stealthy design with a reduced radar cross section. Acoustic, infra red, magnetic and visual signatures of the warship are also reduced as part of its emphasis on stealth. With Algeria long having relied on European designs for its surface fleet, in contrast to its predominantly Russian ground forces, Air Force and submarine fleet, the acquisition of the Steregushchiy Class could represent the beginning of a shift towards greater reliance on Russian technologies in this field.

The firepower deployed by Steregushchiy Class corvettes notably exceeds that of many much larger warships, with Russia having invested very heavily in developing small warships capable of combat with much larger ones and deploying high end weapons usually only found on heavy surface destroyers. The corvette’s vertical launch cells can accomodate long range Kalibr cruise missiles for both land attack and anti shipping roles, the former which have a range exceeding 1,500km and the latter which follow a sea skimming trajectory and can impact targets at high speeds of Mach 3. The ship can also potentially deploy Zircon cruise missiles, although it is uncertain whether these will ever be offered for export, with the missiles having a speed of over Mach 9, a range exceeding 1000km and very high precision. The Zircon is currently considered the world’s most capable anti-ship cruise missile with no near-peer challengers among ship-launched missiles. Even if relying solely the Kalibr, however, the Steregushchiy Class corvette will have superior capabilities to any other class of Algerian surface combatants by a significant margin, and will likely represent the most capable warship of its kind on the African continent. The Algerian Navy notably already deploys Kalibr cruise missiles from its Improved Kilo Class attack submarines, which are also considered the most capable in Africa or the Arab and are referred to as ‘Black Hole’ ships by NATO for their extreme quietness.