Balzam-class intelligence ship

The Balzam class is the NATO reporting name for a class of Intelligence collection ships built for the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. These ships are also known as the Lira class. The Soviet designation was Project 1826.

Design and role
The ships were 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 air missiles. No radar fire-control systems were fitted (presumably to prevent interference with the electronic equipment already carried), so the weapons instead relied on a remote Kolonka pedestal director. The ships were also equipped for under way replenishing.

Ships
Four ships were built by Yantar shipyard, Kaliningrad.

One ship, the SSV 571 Belomore, is in service; of the other three units, the Lira was decommissioned in 1998, the Azia and Pribaltica are in reserve.