The Russian Federation proposed a plan to sell military ships of its own production to Algeria, initially discussing patrol corvettes of project 22160 "Vasily Bykov," and later the missile corvettes of project 22380 (equipped with X-35 cruise missiles).
However, in this endeavor, the Russians faced failure, as Algeria opted in 2021 to purchase Type 056 corvettes from China, which have been dubbed "xerox ships" in the West due to their impressive mass production (over 70 units). This, in turn, demonstrates how China began to push the Russians out of their traditional arms markets even before the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
The traditional nature of the Algerian market for the Russian defense industry can be emphasized not only by the dry statistic that 85% of the equipment and armaments in the Algerian army are of Russian production.
Specifically, in the segment of naval armaments, it is noteworthy that Algeria has even purchased two diesel-electric submarines of project 877 and four submarines of project 636.6, which can carry "Kalibr" cruise missiles (and there are reports that the Russians did sell these cruise missiles to the Algerians as part of the submarine package).
This led to the significant story that Russia was unable to sell its corvettes to Algeria, while the contract went to Chinese shipbuilders. This involves a truly large-scale order.
Initially, it was mentioned that Algeria was buying only one Type 056 corvette from China, received in March 2023, but now, as reported by the portal Infodefensa, discussions are underway for the possible delivery of as many as six ships of this project, with one being built directly at Algerian facilities.
Interestingly, Algeria has just begun construction of relevant shipbuilding facilities with the involvement of Italy, which will enable the Algerian side to independently build corvette-class ships with an approximate hull length of 50 meters.
Let's outline the characteristics of the Chinese Type 056 corvettes:
- displacement – 1300 tons;
- length and beam – 89 meters and 11.6 meters;
- range and speed – 28 knots, 3500 miles at 15 knots;
- crew – 60 personnel;
- armament – one 76-mm H/PJ-26 gun, two 30-mm H/PJ-17 guns, four YJ-83 anti-ship missiles, one launcher for eight FL3000N surface-to-air missiles, two triple 324 mm torpedo tubes.