Newest Russian Project 22800 Corvette Enters Tests in Baltic Sea

Russia’s second Project 22800 missile corvette Burya armed with Kalibr cruise missiles built for the Navy’s Baltic Fleet is undergoing shipbuilders’ sea trials at Baltic naval ranges.

"The crew of the small missile ship Burya jointly with industry specialists is testing the performance of the ship’s systems and mechanisms at sea. In particular, the operation of the powerplant, the steering gear, auxiliary mechanisms, communications and navigation systems and the anchor is being checked. Following this, the ship’s speed, maneuverability and vibration tests will be conducted and a series of firings against sea and aerial targets will be held at final stages," the Fleet’s press office said in a statement Monday.

Shipbuilders’ sea trials are a required stage for concluding the process of the construction of any ship and are designed to check the performance of its systems and assemblies at sea and their compliance with the stated specifications, schemes, technical descriptions and operational instructions, the press office specified.

Burya is set to accomplish assigned missions in a formation of missile ships and gunboats of the Baltic Fleet’s Baltiysk naval base in Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad Region after it enters service with the Fleet.

This corvette will carry the seaborne Pantsir-M surface-to-air missile/gun system developed by the Design Bureau of Instrument-Making as its standard weapon.

Project 22800 Karakurt-class multi-purpose missile corvettes were developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau of Marine Engineering and have been under construction for the Russian Navy since 2015 at the Pella Shipyard in Russia’s northwest, the Zelenodolsk Shipyard in the Republic of Tatarstan in the Volga area and the Amur Shipyard in the Khabarovsk Region in the Russian Far East.

Karakurt-class warships are designed to accomplish green water missions and are outfitted with shipborne multi-purpose eight-cell launchers of Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles and AK-176MA automatic artillery guns. Their air defense armament includes Igla and Pantsyr-M surface-to-air missile systems.