Balzam Class (Project 1826 Class) Russian Intelligence Collection Ship

Balzam Class (Project 1826 Class) Russian Intelligence Collection Ship is a class of intelligence collection ships built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy during the 1980s. They are also known as the Lira class, after the first vessel of the class. Built by the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, they were the first Soviet vessels specifically designed to gather SIGINT and COMINT electronic intelligence via an extensive array of sensors. The data could be transmitted to shore via satellite link antennas housed in two large radomes. They were the first Soviet AGIs to be armed, carrying one AK-630 CIWS gun system and Strela anti-aircraft missiles. The last remaining Balzam class ship in active service is 344 feet in length, mounting a medium-frequency sonar, a High-Frequency dipping sonar, and Electronic warfare gear, including jammers, interception devices, and code-breaking software. These ships were revolutionary when built, as they carried not only intercept and direction-finding electronics but also the necessary computing power to feed raw signal data into onboard information processing computers. The ships have an underway replenishment system, similar to two four-round Strela-2M (SA-N-5 Grail) IR-guided surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and a single six-barrelled 30 mm gun. The weapons rely on a single remote Kolonka pedestal director instead of fire control radars, presumably to avoid interfering with the electronic support suite.[