All news

Russia will start construction of two new generation small missile ships Dec 24

The ships will be codenamed Uragan and Taifun and will enter service in the Navy in 2017 and 2018
A model of a warship seen at an exhibition (archive) ITAR-TASS
A model of a warship seen at an exhibition (archive)
© ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. The Pella shipyard in St. Petersburg in northwest Russia will lay down two new Project 22800 small missile ships for the Russian Navy on December 24, Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief for Armament, Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk said on Wednesday.

"The ships will be codenamed Uragan and Taifun and will enter service in the Navy in 2017 and 2018 after their construction and trials are over," he said.

In the near term, various Russian shipyards will build over a dozen ships of this new Project developed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau, he said.

According to the admiral, the ships have a displacement of about 800 tons and are capable of developing a speed of over 30 knots and accomplishing missions at a distance of around 3,000 nautical miles from their bases.

The ships will be armed with a set of high-precision missile weapons and modern artillery systems and will also receive domestic engines.

"These ships’ advantages include their high maneuverability, increased sea-going performance, and also the architecture of superstructures and the hull based on the stealth technology," the admiral said.

The Russian Navy’s plans to order ocean-class small corvettes were announced in spring by Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov. In summer, Navy Commander-in-Chief Viktor Chirkov said the first new Project ship would be laid down by the end of the year and the Navy would get a total of 18 such corvettes.

According to Chirkov, the armament of the new Project ships will match the weapons suite of Buyan-M-class missile ships armed with Kalibr missile systems. At the same time, the new corvettes will differ "by ocean-and sea-going characteristics," he said.