Russia’s Massive Kirov-Class Battlecruiser: S-300 Air Defenses at Sea

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) Russia’s Soviet-era Kirov class guided-missile cruiser was second in size only to aircraft carriers and armed with a massive arsenal of guns, rockets, missiles, and torpedos. And yet, its most distinctive feature may be its sea-based deployment of Russian S-300 air defenses.

Kirov-Class: Attack at Sea

There is only one Kirov-class left in active service; it is currently being repaired. The existence of a ballistic missile defense and counter-air capability such as the S-300 on the ship clearly impacts the threat equation. Russian-built S-300 air defenses, long thought of as highly effective and lethal road-mobile weapons, were configured to fire from the deck of the Kirov-class battlecruisers.

Integrating S-300s at sea certainly places attacking aircraft at great risk and, at the very least, complicates efforts to destroy the ship from the air. Along with the S-300s, the Kirov-class battleships integrate 9K33 short-range tactical air defenses into the warship.

A Russian media report from Sputnik details the S-300s on the Kirov-class ship, claiming its radar can track multiple aerial targets at altitudes of 30km and ranges out to 300 km.

“Pyotr Veliky is armed with 48 S-300F Fort and 46 S-300FM Fort-M (SA-N-20 Gargoyle) medium-range surface-to-air missiles (with effective range of up to 200 kilometers), 128 3K95 Kinzhal (SA-N-9 Gauntlet) short-range SAMs, and six CADS-N-1 Kashtan gun/missile systems,” as explained by Russian state media.

Russian and U.S. Navies Compete on Technologies

The question of greatest relevance related to the Kirov-class, however, may exist when it comes to comparing the Kirov-class ballistic missile defense to the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Combat System.

The operative factor here is the extent to which Russia’s ship-integrated S-300s can truly rival the integrated, software-enabled fire control, interceptor launch, and radar target tracking abilities of the Aegis system.