This is just a corvette, so it will probably be limited to littoral combat (shallow waters, near land). Therefore, it isn't any threat to the USN in the high seas.

However, this still affects our military in several ways. First of all, this is obviously only the beginning. The Russians are probably starting small and moving their way up; in the next few years, we might see a stealth frigate, then a destroyer or cruiser.

Next, as someone up there mentioned, they could sell this design to another country. Yes, they're supposed to be the "good guys" and everything, but so is France, and France sells her stuff everywhere (Argentina and Iraq, for example). This ship could end up in the hands of some Middle Eastern country and threaten USN forces deployed there.


If you think about it though, there really isn't that much of a need for a stealth surface ship right now. Our navy's stealth ships are submarines. They're fast, virtually undetectable, have very long range, and are extremely lethal to everything except aircraft.

The sea shadow does look interesting, but i think it was a test of possible naval ship stealth. The concepts i've seen for future ships look very much like the ones we have today except they have more stealthy features for smaller radar cross section. I'm telling you, take a submarine and convert it for operations like troop transport and anti aircraft, there has to be someone doing that and it would be more stealthy than the sea shadow.

It's interesting to seehow many people still use the equation Russian=Threat to the USA.

Anyway, I want to see some pictures of this Project 20380 corvette!

This was the best i could dig up. http://www.milparade.com/page.php?wo...ews=yes&t_sid=

You can tell it's a little more advanced than the ones we have now, but not far removed in terms of design.

Originally Posted by WarMachine

This was the best i could dig up. http://www.milparade.com/page.php?wo...ews=yes&t_sid=

You can tell it's a little more advanced than the ones we have now, but not far removed in terms of design.

looks kinda like the french Lafayette-class Frigate. or is it just me?

Originally Posted by gigabrain

looks kinda like the french Lafayette-class Frigate. or is it just me?

Haha, I guessed the same thing after reading WarMachine's comment, before seeing the actual pic! After seeing the pic, I don't think it bears that much of a resemblance to the Lafayette:





I guess we'll have to wait until a real photo of this Korvet turns up somewhere.

President Putin wishes for strong Russia in recent years.
In particular, there are a lot of customers for Russian weapon industry.
We may see another Red Ｏｃｔｏｂｅｒ soon.

You mean another revolution? Not that likely if you ask me.

Originally Posted by zander_0633

This would mean some threat to the US.