MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The third serial-produced (the fourth-built) Project 22800 ‘Karakurt’ missile corvette will get the Pantsyr-M seaborne air defense missile system, Head of the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau (the project’s developer) Alexander Shlyakhtenko told TASS on Monday.

"Beginning from the third serial-produced ship [the fourth in succession], they will be armed with the shipborne Pantsyr-M air defense missile/artillery systems," he said.

Project 22800 missile corvettes are distinguished from similar small displacement projects (less than 900 tonnes) by their compact design (about 70 meters in length) and their speed (30 knots), Shlyakhtenko said.

"And the main thing is that they carry standardized launchers for various types of missile armament on their board… As their advantages, the ships of this Project are characterized by their high maneuverability and their enhanced seaworthiness achieved through the hull’s optimal shape," he said.

Currently, the state trials of the first ship of this type, the Uragan, are nearing completion. The trials have confirmed all the stated characteristics and indicators, Shlyakhtenko said.

Karakurt-class corvettes

As then-Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said earlier, the Pella Shipyard is set to build seven Project 22800 ships while five more corvettes have been assigned for construction at the Zelenodolsk Shipyard. In August 2017, Russia’s Defense Ministry signed additional contracts with the Pella and the Zelenodolsk Shipyards on the delivery of Karakurt-class ships. A part of Karakurts will be under construction at the Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch and three more such corvettes have been laid down at the Morye Shipyard in Feodosiya (integrated into the Pella Shipyard) and four ships will be laid down at the Amur Shipyard for the Pacific Fleet.

The first two ships of this Project (the Uragan and the Taifun) were simultaneously laid down at the Pella Shipyard on December 24, 2015. They are expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2018.

As their specific feature, Karakurt-class corvettes will be armed with the shipborne version of the Pantsyr air defense missile/gun system - the Pantsyr-M. Its land version is called the Pantsyr-S. The shipborne version can be armed with missiles of the land-based variant and also with promising Germes-K missiles that can be guided by drones. In a perspective, the Pantsyr-M is set to replace the Kortik system.

As Shlyakhtenko said earlier, the Pantsyr-M has been mounted on the Project 1241 ‘Molniya’ missile boat and is undergoing trials in the Black Sea.

As CEO of High Precision Systems Company (part of state hi-tech corporation Rostec) Alexander Denisov said, there are plans to complete the trials in a year or two and the Russian Defense Ministry has already placed orders for the system. One of the Karakurt-class corvettes is expected to become the first serial carrier of the Pantsyr-M.