I never said money wasn't an issue, it absolutely is, it's just not the main one. Rather, poor and inefficient design choices coupled with lack of an UVLS are the main culprits behind this clusterfuck.That is an interesting theory but it fails as soon as it's applied to every Russian and pre-Type-52D Chinese ships.
Type-52C for example is a 7kT ship, tad bit lighter than Kolkata but still packs 8x AShMs and 48x S-300 class SAMs
Or even Slava class (definitely bit heavy) with 16x AShMs, 64x S-300 class SAMs and 40x SR-SAMs
None of these use an Universal Vertical Launching System.
Just take a look at the SAM component of the Delhi and Rajput class DDGs.
They have got two different type of VLS systems in place, since the Oniks and Zircons are far too large to fit inside an UVLS without ridiculously increasing the size of the whole system.*Before someone points to the Russian UVLM, then no, it's not a true U-VLS...it is called "Universal" because it can launch two similar types of surface to surface missiles, nothing more than that.
The Redut VLS system can house quad-packed SAMs, I think.
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