The DSA 2026 defense exhibition took place in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, from April 20–23, 2026, with the russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport among the participants. As part of their exhibition, russians offered potential buyers in Asia the opportunity to purchase Project 22160 Vasily Bykov patrol ships.
During the full-scale war, Ukraine sank one such ship, the Sergey Kotov, using naval drone strikes on March 5, 2024. Two others, the Pavel Derzhavin and the Vasily Bykov itself, were damaged in 2023.
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According to Jane's, Rosoboronexport at the exhibition announced that Project 22160 had reportedly been modernized and displayed a model of such a vessel.
The modernization apparently involved integrating an additional compartment into the ship's design, which could be adapted to serve as a control center for UAVs or marine drones, or to house other facilities, such as field hospitals.
According to Jane's publication, russians did not offer potential buyers at DSA 2026 the option of strengthening the air defense capabilities of such ships, even by installing the naval version of the Tor-2MKM air defense system.
Furthermore, it appears that russians did not announce the possibility of installing Club-K container launchers on Project 22160 ships to carry Kalibr cruise missiles, a plan that was never implemented. Although this was part of the propaganda effort to portray the Vasily Bykov-class ships as "unparalleled."
Project 22160 has faced widespread criticism in russia for its weak armament and poor protection, which is why the program to build these ships was limited to six vessels for the russian Black Sea Fleet (one of then has been sunk and two have been damaged).
It appears that russians had two motives behind their offer to sell Project 22160 ships at the DSA 2026 exhibition: to feign a presence in the global arms market in the warship segment, and to cling to the faint hope that perhaps some Asian country might actually decide to place an order.
Ivan Kyrychevskyi, serviceman of the 413th Raid Regiment of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine and weapons expert at Defense Express.
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