Elta Class Destroyer

The Elta class destroyer, also known as Type 90 destroyer, is a class of multi-mission guided missile destroyers designed and built for the Prizyetsi and Arcer navies by Sverd Industries. The class is primarily designed for anti-air and anti-missile warfare, although the ship is also more than able to fill the surface to surface combat role, and is built around the advanced ISATS (Integrated Search, Acquisition, Targeting, Systems) system, and accompanying weapons systems. Of the initial 90 orders placed by the Prizyetsi government, 43 have been completed as of January 2014. The lead ship, PNS Elta (DDG-984) was named after the municipality of Elta, which is where the Prizyetsi Admiralty is located in the city of Vosonje. The ships in service with the Prizyetsi navy of this class will be named after municipalities.

The Elta Class as deployed by the Prizyetsi Navy.

Development

As early as 2010 it became clear that the current class of destroyers in service with the Prizyetsi Navy would not meet the demands of the ever evolving battlefield, and so it was decided that a new class of warship had to be designed to to keep ahead of all potential threats. As per tradition, the admiralty consulted Sverd Industries to design and build a new class of warship which had to meet their demands, and remain within the initial cost estimate of under NSD 1.5 billion per unit.

The ships had to have even greater sensor range and processing speed than their predecessors, which had already been outfitted with the initial ISATS system, and specific changes were requested in the area of ship automization in order to make operating the ship easier. Furthermore, the ship had to be capable of guiding more weapons than any previous vessel, and had to be able to operate more weapons system than any potential threats. As with the previous M-Class firgates which were also produced by Sverd, the ship had to be able to host a number of mission modules to allow for the ships to carry a wide range of mission-customizable units. In addition, the ship had to have a large hangar, capable of housing two medium helicopters in order to carry anti submarine and anti piracy roles. The ships also had to have accommodations for RHIB type craft, preferable in the stern of the ship.

Early on in the development stage of the project, representatives from the Armed Forces of Arcerion showed interest in acquiring several of the new ships to bolster its own aging navy, and pledged to purchase a number of the ships once development and trials were completed.

Construction

The Prizyetsi Navy contracted Sverd Industries's Marine Systems division to assemble the ships at their Vosonje and Emira locations. Due to the vastly improved construction times due to the modular design of the M-Class Frigate, it was decided that the Elta Class Destroyer would also be built in a modular fashion, but assembling various prefabricated sections of the ship. The individual sections of the ships were constructed both onsite at the two shipyards, as well as at several specialty locations belonging to the Siljebord Stahl and Inja companies.

The Elta Class Destroyers are the largest Escorts ever built by the Sverd Industries group, and are the largest and most heavily armed vassels to bear the "destroyer" designation in the Prizyetsi Navy in terms of weapons capability to tonnage.

Characteristics

Propulsion

The Elta Class is fitted with the advanced fifth-generation integrated electric propulsion system (5-IEP) designed and built by the Inja division of Sverd Industries. As opposed to older electric propulsion systems which ran on DC current, the 5-IEP system runs on AC current instead to provide constant and high quality voltage and frequency. This is achieved by computerized control, high quality transformation and electrical filtering. A pair of advanced Karjä WR-21 gas turbines and a pair of Siljeborg 12V200 diesel generators provide electrical power at 5,200 volts to a high voltage system. The high voltage supply is then used to provide power to two Siljeborg advanced induction motors with outputs of 23MW each. Ship's services, including hotel load and weapons system power supplies, are supplied via transformers from the high voltage supply at 440 V and 220 V.

The ships electric propulsion system drives dual shafts, in turn driving dual low-drag propellers which lessen the noise caused by propellor cavitation. This improves the ships' stealth abilities.

Sensor Suite

One of the key requirements of the Elta Class destroyer was the use of the upgraded ISATS systems. In addition, the Elta Class incorporates the NEWS (Naval Electronic Warfare Suite) module which gives the ship increased electronic warfare capabilities and countermeasures, as well as the new FAST (Fleet Assisted Strategy Tool) Suite which allows commanders to quickly view the assets of a flotilla through an secure integrated server system.

The ISATS sensor suite, or Integrated Search, Acquisition, Targeting Systems, was designed in the late 90's to collect all the sensors needed by a naval ship and to place it within a single tower to reduce the radar cross section of the vessel in question, and to make maintenance of the systems easier as they would be in a single location. Initially, the radar systems included only had a short range as the systems had to be compacted to fit within the shell, however after two and a half decades of research, the sensors' capabilities make it one of, if not the most advanced system in the world.

From top to bottom, the modules of the ISATS system as as follows from top to bottom.

• LASeR (Long-Range Air Search Radar), which rotates at a speed of 1,5 rotations per second. Each rotation updates the radar's search results in every direction.
• Yatta Surface Search Radar.
• RAAPR, also called "reaper", stands for Rotation Air-Search Active Phased-Array Radar and operates on the L-band. (Replacing SMART+L)
• APAR, or Active Phased Array Radar.
• Gatekeeper is a detection device used to scan the horizon for targets such as ships, low flying helicopters, aircraft, missiles and other objects which stand out against the horizon.

In 2009, Sverd Industries was contracted to develop the NEWS system. NEWS, or Naval Electronic Warfare Suite, ecorperates an impressive array of jammers covering various bands.

In addition, the ship also carries a passive radar system, which when used together with other ships also equipped with similar systems allows for the detection of stealth enabled aircraft and missiles.

The ship boasts Prizyetsa's newest sonar unit which is fitted onto the bow and forward flanks of the ship.

A new addition to the ship is the FAST (Fleet Assisted Strategy Tool) Suite which allows commanders to quickly view the assets of a flotilla through an secure integrated server system which is shared between ships in the fleet. This was contracted following the Napadanie conflict as it was realized that coordinating the weapons from several squadrons of ships proved to be a significant challenge.

Armament & Capabilities

Given the ships' main role as an anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense ship, the armament reflects this as a majority of the weapon systems carried are surface to air missiles. The Elta Class also carries a range of surface-to-surface missiles and one type of anti-submarine missile. With 122 cells in total, the ship is one of the most heavily armed vessels ever put into service by the Prizyetsi Navy.

Weapons Systems

The ships' anti-air missile compliment is dealt into three categories dependent on range. They are as follows;

• SA-10 "Svelge S": The SA-10 "Svelge" (Swallow) is a short range surface to air missile with a range of 50km and an operational ceiling of 40km designed to target and shoot down enemy aircraft.

• SA-30 "Falk S": The SA-30 "Falk" (Falcon) is a medium range surface to air missile designed for area denial and defense against aerial targets. The SA-30 system is capable of targeting both aircraft and missile systems. With a range of up to 150km at mach 2.5, and an operational ceiling of 100km, the SA-30 system is a flexible part of Prizyetsa's missile defense system.

• SA-50A "Osspri": The SA-50A "Osspri" (Osprey) surface to air missile is a medium to long range surface to air missile designed to intercept both aircraft and ballistic missiles in the A and B variant respectively. With a range of 475km at mach 3 and a operational ceiling of 400km, the SA-50A forms the long range bracket of the Prizyetsi missile and air defense program. The SA-50A tracks targets with the aid of the MGRS system, which constantly feed information to each other via either satelite link or optical transmission.

• SA-50B "Falk": The SA-50B is the premier ABM in the Prizyetsi arsenal. Details are highly classified.

The ships' surface weapons compliment is as follows;

• 127mm Rapid Fire Deck Gun

• 30mm Rapid Fire Deck Gun

• SS-10: The SS-10 is a surface to surface missile system specializing in precision strikes. The SS-10 system was originally developed as a long range anti-ship missile, however the potential of this missile system was sen as a precision-strike cruise missile. The missile is fed with constantly upgraded information from the launch unit control computer which in turn is fed by real-time imaging from satellites and radar systems. The range of the missile is 250km.

• SS-12: The SS-12 is the premier supersonic anti-ship missile in service with the Prizyetsi navy. Designed to independantly track its target, the missile is effectively a fire-and-forget system. The range is 280km.

• ASM-24: The ASM-24 system is the main anti-submarine missile system of the Prizyetsi navy. Once a submarine has been detected, the missile launches and drops a standard torpedo in the vicinity of the targeted sub, which it then tracks and destroys.

• Standard Torpedo: The Elta Class still carries torpedo launchers located in front of the hangar on both the port and starboard sides of the ship.

Countermeasures

Survivability has always been a primary concern for the Prizyetsi Navy, and so several systems are in place to safeguard the survival of the ship and it's crew.

• 3 x multi-barreled CIWS system.

• Elsevier Decoy System allows for the seduction and distraction of radar guided weapons, through active and passive means. An infra-red 'spoofing' device is planned for future retrofits.

• Floating Naval Decoy system uses reflectors to confuse smart weapon systems. The device is towed behind the ship.

• Surface Vessel Torpedo Defense System uses active and passive means to defend from enemy torpedoes.

• Sonar Pinger system is made to delay detection by sending out a loud ping which then confuses enemy sonar systems.

Aviation

The Elta class features a large helicopter landing deck that can accompany helicopters up to the size of a Chinook. The hangar is large enough to fit two medium helicopters side by side. The hangar features work stations for maintenance of the aircraft, and weapon storage for helicopter deployed missiles, torpedoes and for sonar equipment.

Additional Capabilities

Ships in Class

Operators

• Prizyetsa 305
• Malaysii 40