Project 22800 "Karakurt" - Program
Small missile ships of the Karakurt project are designed to destroy objects on the shore, water, and repel air strikes. The ship can fight sabotage and terrorist forces, search for and rescue crews of ships and aircraft in distress, and carry out coast guard missions. The project was developed by the St. Petersburg Central Marine Design Bureau "Almaz" . As part of the state defense order, the production of Karakurts is carried out by JSC Leningrad Shipyard Pella , JSC Zelenodolsk Plant named after AM Gorky and PJSC Amur Shipyard. The exact number of ships is not disclosed; the cost of one Karakurt is approximately 10 billion rubles.
The Russian Navy’s plans to order ocean-class small corvettes Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov announced in spring 2015. In summer 2015, Navy Commander-in-Chief Viktor Chirkov said the first new Project ship would be laid down by the end of 2015 and the Navy would get a total of 18 such corvettes.
In the year 2014 sanctions were imposed on Russia. And Germany then refused to supply its engines for Russian ships. And Ukraine, violated agreements and terminated cooperation with Russia through the military-technical cooperation, which also affected the supply of engines for Russian ships. Russian management made a decision - to develop their own engine building - the main purpose of which was to reduce the dependence of Russian defense industry on a foreign supplier.
Russia’s first new class corvette of Project 22800 for the naval forces would be laid down by the end of 2015, and the Navy will get a total of 18 such ships, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Admiral Viktor Chirkov said on 01 July 2015. "To keep the pace of ship construction, we’ll replace, for example, [Project] 11356 by building a new series of vessels - small missile ships, corvettes armed with cruise missiles - [Project] 22800. This work is being done today, and we hope that by the end of the year we’ll be able to lay down the first ship," Chirkov said at the St. Petersburg International Maritime Defence Show (IMDS-2015).
Petersburg company "Pella" will "build" 18 small missile ships of the new generation of the project 22800 for Russian Navy Fleet until 2022, Chief of Staff of the Navy, Vice-Admiral Andrew Volozhin told reporters on 24 December 2016. "It is expected that up to 2022" Pella "to build 18 small missile ships of the project 22800" - Volozhin said.
By 2016 the first two ships of this project were building on the St. Petersburg shipyard "Pella". They will serve in the Baltic Sea and the Northern Fleet. And for the Black Sea Fleet will build such ships at "Morye" shipbuilding company in Feodosia. However, taking into account the current situation and those ships that are building in the Baltic region, is likely to leave the Black Sea Fleet, which will receive 6 patrol ships of project 22160.
Pella is the main investor of the FSUE Shipyard "More" in Feodosia (Crimea), and in November 2016 received the capacity of the latter for lease until December 31, 2020, respectively, of the seven RTOs of Project 22800, ordered "Pelle", three ships should be built at the NW" Sea "in close cooperation with" Pella", which led to the transfer of the construction of three units in Feodosia. The first IRA of this project, Okhotsk (plant number 255), was laid in Feodosia on March 17, 2017. It is characteristic that the RTOs under construction in Feodosia received construction numbers from 254 to 256 "in a row" of the building numbers of this project at Pellet.
On August 5, 2016, the Zelenodolsky Plant named after AM Gorky (Zelenodolsk) received the contract of the Russian Defense Ministry for the construction of another five small missile ships of Project 22800 for the Navy. At the same time, Zelenodolsk plant was actually received from the end of 2014 under the temporary management of Zaliv Shipyard LLC in Kerch (Crimea). According to unofficial information, the leading Zelenodolsky IRC of the project 22800, known as the "Cyclone" (plant number 801), was not publicly announced at the Zaliv shipbuilding plant in Kerch in the summer of 2016.
By the end of 2016 the company "Pella" already had in various stages of construction of a new generation of three small missile ship (RTOs) Project 22800 - "Hurricane", "Typhoon" and "Squall". Designed by the Central Maritime Design Office "Almaz", the MRK project 22800 have a displacement of about 800 tons, and a speed in excess of 30 knots. The small missile ships will be equipped with high-precision missiles and advanced artillery systems. Among the advantages of these ships - the high maneuverability, high seaworthiness and architecture superstructure and hull, made by technology reduced reflectivity.
The project 22800 was developed by JSC "Central Marine Design Bureau" Almaz" (St. Petersburg) and should actually replace small missile ships (MRK) of project 21631 (code" Buyan-M ") in the construction for the Russian Navy of the JSC "Zelenodolsk design bureau" (The construction of the latter is limited to 12 units). Earlier it was reported that the Russian Navy planned to have no fewer than 18 RTOs of Project 22800. A total build of 18 by 2022 is well attested.
In December 2016, Chief of the Navy’s Main Staff Vice Adm. Andrey Volozhinsky said that Pella would build 18 Karakurt-class warships for the Russian Navy by 2022. It was reported in 2016 that Pella would build a total of seven vessels of this class, suggesting a build rate of one per year. Russia plans to build six more Karakurt-class (Project 22800) corvettes for the needs of the country's Pacific Fleet at the shipyards located in Russia's Far East, Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov stated 29 July 2017. The Russian official added that construction of the ships at the country's Far East is reasonable because of the issues related to logistics and to local shipbuilding capacities.
Program plans are a bit obscure. "Morye" shipbuilding in Feodosia in Crimea and Zelenodol'sk Zavod in Tatarstan are also building vessels of this class, though their annual buildrate is unspecified. It might easily be imagined that all three yards would sustain a build rate of one per year, but by late 2018 Pella was pumping them out at a rate of two per year, while the othe two yards had yet to enter the lists. Evidently Russian nomenclature draws a distinction between the "project vessel" [what Americans would call the lead ship], and subsequent "serial" units.
The first serial small rocket ship "Typhoon" of the project 22800 will be launched in November 2017, the information and mass communications department of the Russian Defense Ministry said on 05 November 2017. The project vessel "Hurricane" was already on the water at the pier of the plant where the outfitting is being done.
The project 22800 (code "Karakurt") was developed by Almaz Central Naval Design Bureau for the Navy. ships was carried out by the Military Training and Research Center of the Navy, "the report said. The ship is built on the shipbuilding enterprise "Pella" in St. Petersburg. It is noted that the armament of the ships of Project 22800 includes complexes of attack and anti-aircraft weapons, combat control and detection systems, as well as target designation and communications.
A new Russian missile corvette was launched 05 May 2018 at a shipyard in the country’s northwestern port city of St. Petersburg, the manufacturer said. "The launch ceremony of Project 22800’s second ship called Shkval will take place on May 5 at the new shipyard complex Pella," the statement read.
August 22, 2018 Russian Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with Far Eastern shipbuilding companies contracts for the construction of six small missile ships (RTO) project 22800 (code "Karakurt") intended for the Pacific Fleet. Four of them were to be built at Amur Shipyard JSC (ASZ, Komsomolsk-on-Amur) with commissioning until 2026, and two ships - at Vostochnaya Verf JSC (Vladivostok) with commissioning until 2023. The laying of four RTOs of project 22800 at the ASZ was carried out in 2019-2020, but no information about the start of construction of two RTOs at Vostochnaya Verf appeared, and apparently their construction was never started.
The small rocket ship of the project 22800 Burya ["Tempest"] for the Russian Navy will be launched at the Pella shipyard in the Leningrad Region on 23 October 2018. The official representative of the Russian Navy Igor Dygalo announced this to journalists on 15 October 2018. "The third serial small rocket ship of the new generation project 22800, built for the Russian Navy, will be launched on October 23 at the shipbuilding enterprise Pella. The order of the Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolev has been given the name Burya ["Storm"], the message received in Tass stated.
The head of Mytishchi, Viktor Azarov, and the commander of the newest small rocket ship Mytishchi, Adil Azimov, signed on 09 February 2019 in Baltiysk, the main base of the Baltic Fleet, an agreement on patronage relations between the Moscow Region and the crew of the ship. "The signing of the contract of sponsorship took place on board the Mytishchi ICC at the junction of rocket ships and boats. The captain of the ship, third captain Adil Azimov and the head of the city, Viktor Azarov, who heads the official delegation of this Moscow Region municipality, signed it," the press service said.
Zelenodolsk Shipbuilding Plant in Tatarstan began construction of a small rocket ship (MRK) "Tucha" project "Karakurt", intended for the Russian Navy. This was reported to journalists by the representative of the Navy Igor Dygalo. "The newest small rocket ship of the project 22800 was laid at the Zelenodolsk shipyard for the Russian Navy. By the order of the Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Korolev, the ship was given the name" Tucha ", Dygalo said 26 February 2019.
The ceremony of laying the small rocket ship (RTO) of project 22800 Typhoon took place on 11 September 2019 at the Zelenodolsk plant named after A. M. Gorky. "This ship - the fifth in a series - is being built by the AK Bars Corporation for the Navy. The ship of this project is certainly unique. Today, the Russian Navy is at the stage of its active development. Along with the serial construction of small missile ships, patrol, mine ships, the construction of large “Under construction classes of ships of large and small displacement allow us to have self-sufficient surface forces,” said Admiral Nikolai Evmenov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, at the ceremony. He called it important that when implementing the program for the construction of small missile ships of project 22800, a regional approach was successfully used.
“A series of 18 such ships is being built today in Zelenodolsk, St. Petersburg and Primorye,” Evmenov explained, adding that this approach allows us to equip the Black Sea, Baltic, Pacific and Northern fleets with these ships “in active mode.” The Navy commander said "The construction of this series within the framework of the state armament program until 2027 is planned to be completed by 2026. These dates clearly demonstrate the fact that you and I have preserved all the best traditions of surface shipbuilding".
The fifth in a series of ships of the project 22800 "Karakurt" was called "Typhoon". Initially, it was assigned to the first serial RTO of this project, laid down in 2015 at the Pella Leningrad Shipyard. However, later that ship was renamed Sovetsk.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation intends to recover from the Leningrad Shipyard Pella a forfeit under the contract for the construction of seven small missile ships of project 22800 for 2015. This was reported to TASS on 06 December 2019 by the press service of the plant itself. With reference to the Moscow Arbitration Court, it was reported that the amount of the claim was 2.93 billion rubles [about UD$45,000,000].
“Our company accepted with perplexity and regret the information about the lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on December 16, 2015 <...> in the amount of 2.93 billion rubles. During the execution of the state contract, the parties systematically and constructively interact to resolve the emerging organizational, technical, financial and other issues. Including repeatedly considered were the deadlines for the implementation of the stages, the reasons for delays and transfers, "the press service of the plant said.
Representatives of Pella noted that almost 3 billion rubles is a forfeit under the state contract for the construction of seven small missile ships of project 22800. However, the press service added, the customer had previously freed the plant from penalties for delaying the fulfillment of contractual obligations. The press service explained that the delay only concerned one ship, for which it was necessary to eliminate problems with the engine, but, based on the current claims of the department, it was calculated from the cost of the entire state contract.
The active construction by Russia of new ships and vessels of various projects, in particular the RTOs of project 2280, code "Karakurt", faced the problem of timely delivery of engines. In order to provide diesel engines for all small ships and vessels under construction, Russia needs to produce at least 9 engien sets per year. Which Russian enterprises are incapable of. Where in general, if before the company received an order of 3-4 engines per year. That already in 2018 there were 10 times more orders and, accordingly, the company simply can not fulfill them all on time.
The M507A and M507D engines were currently produced only at PJSC Zvezda, which is part of the Sinara group. And now he faces such a problem as the manufacturer’s reluctance to transfer technology to other domestic enterprises. Which in the end, according to the authors, is reflected in all kinds of deadlines for the delivery and construction of ships.
Despite the fact that the basic requirements of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation are to ensure complete independence from foreign suppliers in terms of equipping all the products of Russian military-industrial complex with equipment and power units. Russian enterprises had failed to meet these deadlines.
As reported on 16 September 2020 by Vostochnaya Verf JSC (Vladivostok), the enterprise is preparing to introduce an incomplete (four-day) working week due to the intention of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to terminate the contract for the construction of two small missile ships of Project 22800 (code "Karakurt"). The amount of the terminated contract is approximately 50% of the company's total order book for the next five years. It can be assumed that the cancellation of the contract for the construction of two RTOs of Project 22800 at Vostochnaya Verf is connected both with a general revision of the volumes of the State Defense Order and with continuing problems with the production of main diesel engines for ships of this project.
The trade union organization of the enterprise agreed to the introduction of a part-time working regime in order to preserve jobs for employees. If the classic "five-day period" was preserved, the enterprise would have to cut up to 500 employees. The company was forced to take this unpopular step in order to keep jobs in such a difficult and uncertain period, - the press service of Vostochnaya Verf reports. - Now it is very important for us to fulfill the 2020 program and find a replacement for the lost contract in order to ensure the regular operation of the enterprise. The amount of the terminated contract is 50% of the company's order portfolio for the next 5 years, therefore, its termination seriously disrupts all the processes operating at the enterprise. In fact, all the processes of modernization of the enterprise stop.
Project 22800 small missile ship (MRK) equipped with Pantsir-M anti-aircraft missile and cannon system (ZRPK) was accepted into the Russian Navy. The solemn lifting ceremony on the new warship of the Andreevsky flag took place on 21 November 2020 in Baltiysk, the main naval base of the Baltic Fleet in the Kaliningrad region. This was announced to TASS by the official representative of the fleet, Roman Martov. "By the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, the new Odintsovo MRK was included in the combat composition of the Baltic Fleet, which already possesses two ships of this design. The fundamental difference between the new Odintsovo MRK is that it is the first surface ship equipped with the Pantsir anti-aircraft missile and cannon system.
The Commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Alexander Nosatov, noted at the ceremony that the Odintsovo MRC, built at the Leningrad shipyard Pella, had successfully completed the sea and state test programs that were carried out at the sea ranges of the Baltic and Northern Fleets. All systems and armament of the ship passed the check. The small missile ship "Odintsovo", like its "brothers" MRK "Mytishchi" and "Sovetsk", will serve as part of the formation of missile ships and boats of the Baltic naval base.
The Amur Shipyard in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia's Far East held a keel laying ceremony for the Project 22800 Karakurt-class corvette 'Pavlovsk' on 29 July 2020. This is the 16th corvette of the Karakurt-class and it is intended for the Russian Pacific Fleet, the Defense Ministry’s press office said. “Ships of the type are being built under a contract signed with the Russian Defense Ministry. Earlier, the Amur Shipyard laid down the Rzhev, Udomlya, and Ussuriysk ships that are expected to join the Navy after 2020,”
By 2020 Russian shipyards were building 13 project 22800 corvettes — the Burya by Pella, the Kozelsk, the Okhotsk, the Vikhr by More Shipyard in Crimea, the Tsiklon, the Askold, the Amur by Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch, the Typhoon, the Tucha by Zelenodolsk Shipyard, the Rzhev, the Udomlya, the Pavlovsk and the Ussuriisk by Amur Shipyard.
Diesel engine manufacturer Zvezda PJSC must fix 11 breakdowns on three small rocket ships of the Karakurt project if the St. Petersburg arbitration decision published on 26 October 2023 comes into force. Over almost 2 years of operation, the Karakurt power plants broke down 17 times; Zvezda recognized only six breakdowns as warranty cases. This is the third major legal dispute in our region surrounding the construction of missile carriers. In the first, the Ministry of Defense tried to take away from Zvezda a contract to manufacture diesel engines for them.
The contract for the supply of sets of diesel units for three Karakurts, Pella and Zvezda, was signed in January 2016. The warranty period for diesel engines is 60 months from the date of delivery of the ships to the customer. For the first missile carrier it is calculated from January 2019, for the second - from December, for the third - from December 2020. The legal dispute covers breakdowns that occurred from May 2020 to February 2022. During this time, the diesel units supplied by Zvezda broke down 17 times, six breakdowns were repaired by Zvezda as under warranty, the parties did not agree on the remaining 11: according to Zvezda, the warranty obligations were fulfilled, according to Pella - not or not to the fullest.
At the beginning of the year, the dispute moved to the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, which satisfied all the demands of Pella. For Zvezda, this means additional or repeated repairs for 11 warranty claims. “Obligations must be fulfilled properly in accordance with the terms of the obligation and the requirements of the law, and unilateral refusal to fulfill them is not allowed, except in cases provided for by law... The court concludes that the plaintiff’s demands are justified in terms of the defendant’s obligation to carry out restoration repairs and eliminate defects specified in the claims reports..." is written in the reasoning part of the court decision published on October 26, which has not yet entered into legal force.
In addition to carrying out repair work, the court applied an “incentive measure” - it collected a legal penalty from Zvezda in the form of a monthly payment in the amount of 50 thousand rubles for each fact of failure to fulfill the requirement for warranty repairs on the day of actual fulfillment of the obligation.
According to experts, Zvezda has little chance of overturning the decision made by the St. Petersburg arbitration court. Alexander Arbuzov, a partner in the legal practice of the consulting company Althaus, believes that the chances of Zvezda challenging the arbitration award are insignificant. “Current legislation provides for the manufacturer’s obligation to ensure the quality of the work result during the warranty period. If any shortcomings are not spelled out in advance in the contract, then they should have been eliminated. This is the conscientious approach from which the courts proceed in practice. According to the text of the decision, "Pella" sent complaints, but not all of them were satisfied. At the same time, research reports established that there was a manufacturing defect. So the court, in my opinion, justifiably ordered the defendant to carry out repairs, while collecting a penalty..." says the expert.
According to Roman Makarov, partner of the law firm Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners (NSP), if Zvezda cannot prove in the appellate court, taking into account the already available case materials, that it carried out warranty repairs or that they are not required, there is a chance of changing the decision there isn't much of it.
“It is curious that in the case a judicial penalty was applied, which, according to the court, should encourage the defendant to fulfill the repair obligations. However, the amount of this penalty - 50 thousand per month - is insignificant for a dispute of this level,” the expert believes.
Zvezda said that “the parties intend to resolve the dispute within the framework of a settlement agreement, or Zvezda PJSC will satisfy the stated demands before the court decision enters into legal force.”
The construction of missile carriers of this project by Pella is accompanied by regular scandals. At the beginning of 2021, the subject of a legal dispute was the contract between Zvezda and Kingisepp Machine-Building Plant LLC ( KMZ ). The parties terminated the contract for the production of diesel units for one Karakurt, worth 350 million rubles, which delayed the delivery of the ship to the customer. During the legal dispute, it turned out that Zvezda hired KMZ under pressure from the Ministry of Defense, which was not satisfied with the way Zvezda fulfilled its obligations. KMZ tried to recover 16.2 million rubles in lost profits from Zvezda (KMZ was counting on such a profit if the contract was successfully executed), but could not win this dispute. "Karakurt", which became the subject of a dispute, was built by the Zelenodolsk plant named after Gorky.
This year, Pella lost one of the most expensive arbitration disputes of the year to the Ministry of Defense. The military department tried to recover 1.9 billion rubles from Pella for the delay in delivery of another Karakurt, but the court found that the demands were inflated and reduced them by 10 times. On October 12, the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District refused to transfer the case to the Supreme Court - that’s how it ended.
“Karakurt”, meanwhile, is being successfully built. At the end of September, the Amur Shipyard launched two missile carriers at once - Udomlya and Rzhev. In mid-July, the Cyclone ship, built at the B.E. Butoma Shipyard, entered the Russian Navy. The last one built by Pella, Karakurt - Burya, is now undergoing state tests in the Baltic Sea.
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