Russian Defense Ministry Orders Additional Project 03160 High Speed Patrol Boats

: Posted On Tuesday, 24 May 2016 08:52

Naval Forces News - Russia

Russian Defense Ministry Orders Additional Project 03160 High Speed Patrol Boats

The Russian Defense Ministry and Pella Shipyard have signed a contract for over 10 Project 03160 Raptor-class patrol boats before 2018, according to the Gazeta.ru online news agency. Under the contract, the fast boats are to be delivered before year-end 2018. In addition, the manufacturer will build Project 16609 special harbor tugboats for the Russian Navy.

Project 03160 Raptor of the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet

The Project 03160 Raptor-class fast patrol boats are designed to patrol littoral zones. The Pella Shipyard executed the previous Raptor order on schedule in 2015. According to Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov, the St. Petersburg-based shipyard was to supply the Navy with four Project 03160 boats in 2014 and four more in 2015 under the 2014 contract.

According to the military, the Raptors delivered by Pella were assigned to the Novorossiisk Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet’s Leningrad Naval Base.

Apparently, one of the boats is used by ranking Defense Ministry officials: she is moored by the quay of the National Defense Control Center at Frunze Embankment in Moscow.
The Navy needs boats like this for patrolling, amphibious landing, and search and rescue (SAR) operations. Measuring around 17 m long and 4 m abeam, the Raptor has the round-the-clock operating capability at a distance of 100 nm from her home base. Her maximum speed equals 48 knots (about 90 km/h). She is equipped with a 2,000-hp twin-waterjet power plant.
The boat can intercept and apprehend small seagoing vessels, conduct SAR and defend her home station against attacks. The naval Raptors may be configured to carry a boarding or counterterrorist team, divers or rescuers depending on their maritime applications.
The military has noted previously that the Raptor’s features include her ability to travel at any relative azimuth in Sea State 5 at a speed of 20 knots and with a wave height of 4.5 m or at 28 knots with a wave height of 2.5 m.

The boat is crewed by two personnel seated at the bow in an armored deckhouse equipped with bulletproof portholes 39 mm thick. She carries up to 20 personnel in addition to her crew. Troops can embark and disembark using the upper and lower hatches in the troop compartment or the passage to the bow ramp via the deckhouse. Landing can be via the bow ramp. In case a compartment is flooded, it is sealed off by a water/gas-tight door preventing water from getting into other compartments and sinking the boat.

The Raptors delivered by Pella are assigned to the Novorossiisk Naval Base of the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet’s Leningrad Naval Base.

The Project 03160 fast boat carries the 14.5-mm Uprava-KORD remote-controlled fighting module equipped with a gyro-stabilized electro-optical module stabilizing the machinegun at rather rough sea.

In addition, the boat has two pintle-mounted 7.62-mm Pecheneg machineguns for engaging the enemy, means of transport and aerial threats. The Pecheneg withstands the firing of 25,000-30,000 rounds at an intensive rate.
Russian Raptors are said to have been deployed to Syria’s coast recently.

According to Andrei Frolov, editor-in-chief, Arms Export Magazine/expert, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), the boats may be used for patrolling water areas and littorals.

"The boats are necessary for anticommando defense, but not so much to defend our naval task force, as civilian vessels coming to Syria," he said, commenting on media reports of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s KIL-158 vessel having brought a couple of boats under camouflage nets to Syria via the Bosphorus on May 8, 2016.
CAST analysts wrote that "judging by the characteristic shape, two Russian-made Project 03160 special fast boats were being carried to Syria." The Defense Ministry has not commented on media reports about the deployment of Raptors to the Mediterranean yet, according to the Gazeta.ru news portal.

© Copyright 2016 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.