The Balzam class is the NATO reporting name

NATO reporting name

NATO reporting names are classified code names for military equipment of the Eastern Bloc...

 for a class of Intelligence collection ship

Spy ship

A spy ship or reconnaissance vessel is a dedicated ship intended to gather intelligence, usually by means of sophisticated electronic eavesdropping. In a wider sense, any ship intended to gather information could be considered a spy ship....

s built for the Soviet Navy

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

 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

AK-630

The AK-630 is a Soviet fully automatic naval close-in weapon system based on a six-barreled 30 mm Gatling gun. It is mounted in an enclosed automatic turret and directed by radar and television detection and tracking. The system's primary purpose is defense against anti-ship missiles and other...

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.