Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship

Dubbed the "eyes and ears" of the Russian navy in the open sea, the reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs has the main function of organizing naval operations for an entire squadron, and is assigned to the Black Sea Fleet.

Tàu trinh sát Ivan Khurs - Tai mắt của hải quân Nga giữa biển khơi

The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship of the Russian Navy. (Source: izvestiye.ru)

Going back in history, when the confrontation between the Soviet Union and Western countries was at its peak, electronic reconnaissance became an integral part of the struggle for dominance in the oceans. To achieve this goal, re-equipping civilian ships would not be effective. In that context, the Soviet Union began building large, medium, and small reconnaissance ships.

Each version had its own specific mission and was considered the "eyes and ears" of the Soviet Union. For example, during the Falkland War between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982, or NATO exercises in the Pacific, Soviet reconnaissance ships were positioned not far away. Thus, any missile launch from the ocean could not escape the surveillance of Soviet reconnaissance ships.

In the early part of this century, Russia's reconnaissance fleet was considered relatively thin. Currently, Moscow has a total of two reconnaissance ships.

The predecessor of the Ivan Khurs was the Yuri Ivanov reconnaissance ship, both built under Project 18280. In one sense, the Yuri Ivanov can be considered an experimental product.

The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship is a completely different version; it is considered a command ship in future warfare – network-centric warfare. One of the characteristics of this type of warfare is that all participating components, from command to weapons and equipment and personnel, are connected in a unified information network. This is a crucial condition for carrying out continuous and surprise remote attacks on the enemy.

Based on its dimensions, the Ivan Khurs is believed to be a medium-sized warship, measuring 96m in length and 16m in width.

In economy mode, the Ivan Khurs has a range of 8,000 nautical miles. The ship is equipped with a rather modest armament, consisting of 2 or 4 heavy machine gun systems and a mobile Igla anti-aircraft system.

Despite being equipped with a relatively simple weapons system, the Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship is still considered a formidable weapon of Russia, no different from the Kinzhal and Poseidon hypersonic missiles.

The Ivan Khurs' power and prowess lie primarily in its state-of-the-art equipment. Thanks to its advanced reconnaissance and radio-electronic communication systems, the Ivan Khurs can serve as a central coordinating hub for an entire task force, maintaining close contact with air forces and ground units.

Notably, the Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship possesses many superior characteristics and capabilities compared to its predecessor. Russian Navy reconnaissance ships are truly key elements in the automated fleet control system.

On May 24th, the reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was attacked by a group of three suicide boats while on duty protecting the Turkish Stream pipeline in the Black Sea, 140km northeast of the Bosphorus Strait. The suicide boats were detected by the Ivan Khurs' radio and sonar systems and destroyed by Russian sailors' machine guns. The Ivan Khurs continued its operations as planned.

Former Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Navy, Admiral Valentin Selivanov, commented that if these boats were equipped with machine guns, the situation would become much more complicated. In fact, these are small boats, only three in number; if there were more, the situation would become very dangerous.

Admiral Valentin Selivanov said: "The Ivan Khurs is only a reconnaissance and information-gathering vessel, not a combat vessel, but given the situation, in high-risk waters, the Russian navy needs to take measures to protect its ships. Specific measures include deploying missile ships and escort vessels, not to mention potentially having to use even more powerful forces.”

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