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The developers of Project 22800 ‘Karakurt’ missile corvettes expect a whole group of countries, including Iran, to display their interest in the warship’s export version, CEO of the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau Alexander Shlyakhtenko told TASS on Monday. Project 22800 Karakurt-class small missile boat (corvette) Uragan. Picture: via Russianarms "In experts’ estimates, the Project 22800 ships can expect strong demand from a considerable part of our traditional partners in the field of military and technical construction. These are countries of the Asia-Pacific region: Vietnam, China, India, and also Indonesia, Algeria, Iran and others," he said. The Almaz Central Marine...

The Russian Navy will receive two upgraded Molniya-class missile boats of project 1241 by the beginning of 2019. They were initially planned for a foreign customer but the contract was cancelled and the Russian Navy displayed interest in the boats. They will be equipped with modern navigation and communication means and the latest arms. The architecture will change and crew conditions will improve. The boats will be armed with antiship Kh-35U missiles and Pantsir-M seaborne air defense, the Izvestia daily writes. The Russian Navy will receive two upgraded Molniya-class missile boats of project 1241 by the beginning of 2019. Vympel...

INS Eilat - Wikimedia commons creation CAIRO – 29 May 2018: Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi decreed issuing a commemorative Golden Jubilee medal for the Egyptian naval forces on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the sinking of Israeli Eilat destroyer. The medal will be awarded to all members of the naval forces in service until October 21, 2017. The presidential decree no. 236/2018 was published in the Gazette. Eilat, built in 1944, was originally serving in the British Royal Navy under the name of HMS ZEALOUS during the Second World War, participating in operations in the North Sea...

Israeli missile boat flotilla on maneuvers. (Israel Government Press Office) On New Year’s Eve 1970, Israel Radio reported the arrival in Haifa of five newly built Israeli patrol boats which had escaped from a Cherbourg shipyard where they had been embargoed by the French government for political reasons. The brazen getaway on Christmas Eve into the teeth of a Force Nine gale raging in the English Channel galvanized the international media. News organizations sent up planes looking for the boats during the coming week as they raced for home. I had joined The Jerusalem Post just a few months before...

At the Surface Navy Association's (SNA) 2017 National Symposium held last year, Lockheed Martin was showcasing a Mark VI patrol boat scale model fitted with an erectable launcher for four missiles at its stern. This conceptual model was representative of an unmanned Mark VI patrol boat fitted with LRASM next generation anti ship missiles. Conceptual scale model of a Mark VI fitted with 4x LRASM anti-ship missiles on Lockheed Martin stand at SNA 2017 Lockheed Martin representatives told Navy Recognition at the time (SNA 2017), that the Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to study the...

The Royal Norwegian Navy has been around, in one form or another, for over a millennium. Though once a loose conscription of seafaring coastal communities, the Royal Norwegian Navy has, for the last 200 years, been an organized force responsible for the defense of the Nordic country’s deceptively long coast. During the Cold War, the Norwegian Navy turned to fast patrol boats armed with guided missiles and torpedoes. Most of these vessels were armed with the “Penguin” anti-ship missile, which had a range of roughly 34 miles and used infra-red homing for deadly precision. Additionally, some of the Norweigan patrol...

For the first time in the fleet’s history, it will be equipped with high-tech vessels that will be almost invisible to enemy radar and brimming with deadly weapons. This November the first serial small rocket ship of the 22800 project known as “Karakurt” (or Mediterranean Black Widow) will join Russia’s Fleet. These rocket cruisers are named after the world’s deadliest arachnid for a reason: They are loaded with some of Russia’s most devastating weapons. A force to reckon with Project 22800 vessels are small littoral combat ships. They each displace 800 tons of water, are 60 meters in length, and...

Source: Zelenodolsk shipyard Russia builds small missile ships of Karakurt project at the Zelenodolsk plant named after A.M. Gorky. The Russian Navy plans to receive 18 of such ships. The new ships are said to surpass their predecessors in their combat power and seaworthiness. They are believed to become the new formidable weapon to strengthen Russia's maritime borders and enhance the presence of the Russian Federation in the Mediterranean Sea. The ships are named "Karakurt" after a species of spiders from the genus of black widows, whose bite can be lethal to animals and humans. The new ships, 60 meters...

With the Pakistan Navy seeking four to six new fast attack craft (FAC) missile boats, the Turkish shipbuilder Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş. (STM) is offering its newly unveiled FAC-55. The Turkish news outlet Deniz Haber Ajansi reports that the STM FAC-55 was showcased in Karachi during the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS), and had attracted interest from Pakistan and a few other countries. With a top speed of 55 knots (102 km/h), STM designed the FAC-55 to exhibit several capabilities typically found in larger corvettes, such as STM’s Ada-class. For example, the FAC-55 appears to be armed...

The Russian Project 1241 class R-32 missile corvette has been handed to Egypt, RIA Novosti quoted Russian Navy spokesman Viktor Kochemazov as confirming on Saturday. The warship will help Cairo counter terrorism not only on land but also at sea, Kochemazov said, without elaborating on when the vessel was delivered to Egyptian Navy. In August 2015, it was reported that the Egyptian Defense Ministry said that they received the R-32, equipped with the Moskit missile system.The Ministry said at the time that a group of Egyptian sailors and engineers will be sent to Russia, where they will be trained ahead...

The Norwegian Navy released footage and images showing a Skjold-class corvette launching a Naval Strike Missile (NSM) against a land target. The test took place on Monday, in Andøy is the northernmost municipality in Nordland county. It was a first for the Norwegian Navy. Skjold class corvette Storm hits a simulated control center with an NSM missile The Storm corvette launched the NSM against a simulated enemy control center. The target was located right on the coast but the test demonstrates the Norwegian Navy's new capability to strike land targets (even ones located further inland) with its Skjold-class corvettes or...

In the early 1970s, with the Vietnam War winding down, the U.S. Navy worried about how to keep its fleet effective during the inevitable budget drawdown at war's end. Their innovative solution: build small, fast ships that could, thanks to new technologies of the time, tackle the missions once performed by much larger ships. The Navy had studied hydrofoil ship concepts for two decades. Hydrofoils were large joined wings that lifted the ship into the air, above the water, at high speeds. Mostly free of the drag imposed by sitting in liquid, a hydrofoil ship could go much faster than...

Admiral Sergei Gorshkov was arguably the greatest naval strategist of the 20th century. In his book, ‘The Sea Power of the State’, the man who transformed the Russian Navy into a global force, wrote: “Naval warfare aimed directly against land targets will play an ever greater part in any future major conflict.” On the night of October 5, four Russian missile boats with a displacement of a mere 1000 tons each started raining down cruise missiles down the throats of ISIS and US-backed terror groups. Flying at treetop level over a distance of 2600 km through Iran and Iraq, and...

Russia has ‘gifted' Egypt with a new missile corvette that was part of the inauguration of a new Suez Canal expansion project earlier this month, Egypt's army said. The move by the Russian government to "gift" Egypt the Molniya missile boat is "part of military cooperation between the Egyptian and Russian armed forces" as well as indicative of "Russia's support for Egypt and the matching visions of both countries on the war against terrorism," Egyptian military spokesman Mohamed Samir said in a statement Saturday. He added that the highly advanced missile ship will be a new addition to Egypt's "development...

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam took delivery of two new missile boats on Tuesday made locally and modeled on Russian vessels, the latest move by its military to strengthen maritime defenses as tensions simmer over sovereignty in the South China Sea. The two Tarantul-class corvettes, known as Molniyas, are equipped with 16 missiles and automatic weapons and are among six ordered by the navy, two of which were delivered last year. The missiles have a range of 130 kilometers. The announcement was carried on the Vietnamese government's news website and comes amid diplomatic rumblings over land reclamation work by rival claimants...

During Indodefence 2014, the international defence exhibition held in Jakarta in November, SAAB and local shipyard PT Lundin presented a redesigned Stealth Fast Attack Craft (FAC) trimaran. The first hull of the original project called KRI Klewang 625 (solely designed and built by PT Lundin) was destroyed in a fire in Septembre 2012 shortly after its launch. The new project, presented by SAAB as a turnkey system solution, incorporates many modification and improvements. Compared to the original KRI Klewang, the redesigned stealth FAC includes a raised bridge, modified wave-piercing hull and a higher mast. The new Sea Giraffe 1X 3D...

At Eurosatory 2014 CMS unveiled the latest concept design of its new C Sword 90 stealth corvette, a direct descendant of the Combattante family of compact missile boats that was first introduced in the 1960s. Part of its efficiency results from the inversed stem, contributing for enhanced propulsive efficiency and sea keeping. The round bilge shaped hull also contributes to better endurance in strong wind and rough sea conditions. Image: CMS The distinctive shape of the C Sword 90 depicts an innovative hull formation and superstructure design with sloped surfaces, developed in collaboration with naval architect Thierry Verhaaren, who also...

Germany does about-face on refusal to grant 30-percent discount for vessels Germany has agreed to slash about one-third off the price of three fast missile boats, which Israel wants to buy, putting to rest a crisis between the two countries. he vessels, priced at almost $1 billion, are intended to protect the gas rigs off Israel’s shore. According to the daily Haaretz, Israel had asked for a 30-percent discount such as it had received on the purchase of German submarines. But at the beginning of May, German’s national security adviser Christoph Heusgen told his Israeli counterpart Yossi Cohen following the...

Defense procurement authorities are preparing to issue a Request for Proposal (RfP) for the acquisition of indigenous fast attack craft that will cost around $800 million, according to sources, who say some of Turkey’s leading shipyards are expected to take part in bidding Turkey’s ambitious program for the acquisition of up to 10 indigenous fast attack craft (fast assault boats) may cost Ankara up to $800 million, officials and industry experts say. The contract covers a batch of four boats with an option to buy six more. A defense procurement official said the program, although it will come with a...

Egypt will soon receive the first two of four Ambassador IV fast missile craft from the United States, which are being prepared for delivery. The two vessels were loaded onto a civilian transport ship in Pensacola Bay, Florida, on May 25, according to the Pensacola News Journal. The fast missile craft involved are the first of class S Ezzat and F Zekry. S Ezzat was on November 19, 2013, transferred to the Egyptian Navy at a ceremony in Pensacola, Florida, where the US has an international student programme, reports Defense News. The vessel, launched in October 2011, is named after...