Naval 'Leader': Russia to Fit Newest Destroyer With Nuclear Reactor

The Russian Defense Ministry has approved the initial design of the new Project 23560 Lider-class (Leader) destroyer, which will be equipped with a nuclear reactor to power the vessel, a source in Russia’s defense industry told Sputnik Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The announcement comes after Igor Ponomarev, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) vice president for military shipbuilding told Sputnik that the Russian Defense Ministry approved the initial design for the destroyer, but did not specify which type of reactor the ministry chose.

“The design project implies the presence of a nuclear [reactor] on the perspective destroyer. This project was approved by the Russian Defense Ministry,” the source told Sputnik on Thursday.

 

Project 23560 Leader-class destroyer

© Wikipedia / Artem Tkachenko

The new Lider-class destroyer is planned to have a displacement of 17,500 tonnes, length of 200 meters (over 650 feet) and a width of 20 meters. It will have anti-aircraft, anti-ballistic missile, anti-surface and anti-submarine capabilities.

The Russian Defense Ministry has also specified that the ship would equipped with advanced Grach visual optical interference stations, which are capable of "blinding" enemy troops and optoelectronic devices, such as night vision equipment, binocular glasses and laser ranging devices with bright flares of light.

The Severnoye Design Bureau, the country's leading company for designing surface ships, has been refining its plans for the construction of the ocean-going Leader-class destroyer since 2010.

The universal battleship is expected to be set up in 2019 and is expected to replace three classes of ships, including project 1155 anti-submarine destroyers.