TASS FACTBOX. On May 8, 2026, the press service of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy announced that the Project 22800 Karakurt small missile corvette Burya had entered service with the Navy. TASS FACTBOX has prepared a report on the ships of this class.
Basic information
Project 22800 (codename Karakurt) small missile corvettes are a Russian series of multipurpose short-range missile and artillery ships (small corvettes). The project was developed in 2015 by specialists at the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau (St. Petersburg, a subsidiary of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, USC) based on the Project 12300 Scorpion missile gunboat, developed by the same bureau in the 1990s.
Project history
By the early 2010s, the Russian Navy had only 13 Project 1234 Ovod small missile ships (out of 38 built between 1970 and 1991) and 26 Project 12411 missile boats (out of 47 built between 1979 and 2003). To replace them, a series of 12 Project 21631 Buyan-M small missile ships was laid down in 2010. Then they were replaced in the construction of the Project 22800 small missile ships. The Karakurt differs from the Buyan-M in its enhanced seaworthiness: it can safely navigate in any sea state, regardless of weather conditions. The Project 22800 small corvettes can launch strikes from both rivers and sea waters.
The contract for the construction of the first seven ships in the series was signed by the Russian Ministry of Defense in late 2015 with the Leningrad Shipyard Pella (St. Petersburg). Subsequently, contracts were also signed with the A.M. Gorky Zelenodolsk Shipyard (Zelenodolsk, Tatarstan, part of the Ak Bars Corporation) and the Amur Shipyard.
Armament and equipment
The Karakurt is armed with a universal naval firing system (eight vertical launch cells for Kalibr or Oniks cruise missiles) and a Pantsir-M naval anti-aircraft missile and gun system. Karakurts are also equipped with 76.2mm caliber gun mounts, machine guns, and portable anti-aircraft missile systems.
The ship's propulsion system consists of three diesel engines and three diesel generators.
On July 24, 2018, the Izvestia newspaper reported that Project 22800 small corvettes received Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles. This type of drone can be equipped with day or night cameras and electronic warfare systems.
The ship is equipped with modern command, communications, navigation, electronic warfare, and countermeasure systems.
Ships of the series
The lead ship of the project was laid down on December 24, 2015, at the Pella Shipyard under the name Uragan. The vessel was launched on July 29, 2017, and delivered to the Baltic Fleet on December 17, 2018, under the new name Mytishchi (after a city in the Moscow Region).
Three more ships were subsequently built at Pella and delivered to the Navy between 2019 and 2026: the Sovetsk, Odintsovo, and Burya ships.
The Kozelsk, Okhotsk, and Vikhr ships were laid down at the More Shipyard in Crimea in 2016 and 2017. All of them are being completed at Pella. Among the ships laid down at the A. M. Gorky Zelenodolsk Shipyard, the small missile ships Tsiklon, Amur, Tucha, and Typhoon were commissioned into the Navy between 2023 and 2025.
Four more ships are under construction at the Amur Shipyard.