Project 58155 "Gurza-M"
River armored artillery boat (RAAB)
Four armored boats of Project 58155 project were laid down for the Naval Forces of Ukraine at the capital plant "Lenin's Forge" [Leninska Kuznya] in April 2016. They are intended for duty on the Danube, as well as in the coastal zone of the Black and Azov Seas. By 2020 total of 20 units of pr.58155 series should enter the Naval Forces of Ukraine.
"Gurza-M" was designed a Nikolaev SE "Kozenyi Research and Design Center of Shipbuilding" using stealth technology. Its length is 23.0 m, width 4.8 m, draft of 1.0 m, the total displacement of 50.7 tons, crew of 5 people. Two Caterpillar diesel engine includes The structure of the power plant. Full speed of 28 knots, the economic hub 11 move the boat can take up to 700 miles. Armament: two remote-controlled naval combat module BM-5M.01 "Katran-M", including a 30-mm automatic cannon ZTM, 30-mm automatic grenade launcher, 7.62 mm machine gun and two anti-tank CT "Barrier" with laser guidance system. On board there is also a set of MANPADS. The fire control system is optoelectronic.
During Poroshenko's tenure as economy minister, the Leninska Kuznya shipyard won the order for the first two in a planned series of nine such gunboats, with keels laid at the end of 2012. After Poroshenko joined the opposition in 2013, Yanukovych cancelled the order.
Two brand new Ukrainian armored artillery boats won’t become part of the nation’s navy due to numerous defects. Two vessels which have undergone tests at the Odessa shipyard for the last eight months were originally earmarked to enter service during Ukraine’s Navy Day on 30 July 2016. However, the fleet command refused to accept the armored boats due to numerous structural defects that became apparent during the testing process.
Therefore, the tests were put on hold as the ships’ designers rushed to rectify their mistakes, and while both boats will be christened as intended, they will not officially become part of the Ukrainian Navy. Meanwhile, experts cited by the Russian newspaper Vzglyad appeared skeptical about the boats’ capabilities. "An ordinary tank (cannon) would pierce this boat right through. The only thing this boat is capable of is launch a small coastal raid – deploy a saboteur team, strafe a target – and then flee before the enemy starts shooting back," Captain 1st Rank Konstantin Sivkov remarked.
The armored boats were designed to patrol the coastal waters of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, as well as the Danube River. Each vessel has a crew complement of five and is equipped with a single 30mm artillery system, a grenade launcher and a machine gun.
The adoption in September 2020 by the Navy of the seventh small armored artillery boat of the Gyurza-M type, which received its own name “Kostopil” (board number P180), essentially meant the end of a whole era of domestically built boats. Although the contract provided for the delivery of eight units, in what form and when the last boat will be completed is a big question. It was already obvious that the vector in terms of armament of the Ukrainian Navy has changed towards foreign-made ships. Against this background, it was announced that the "Gyurza" will no longer be bought, two built assault boats of the "Centaur" type will be put into operation. There was no talk of any continuation of cooperation with Kuznya na Rybalsky.
However, it should be admitted that it was precisely seven boats of the "Gyurza-M" type that constituted the basis of the power of the Naval Forces of Ukraine in the coastal regions. Moreover, four boats are located in the Azov Sea - in the port of Berdyansk, where it is planned to create a permanent naval base. Two boats were transferred there by land transport in September 2018, two more recently - on September 22. The other three are in Odessa.
The Research and Design Center of Shipbuilding in Nikolaev, developed an armored boat - project 58150 (code "Gyurza"). Ukraine managed to interest them in Uzbekistan, which ordered the construction of two such boats at the Leninskaya Kuznya shipyard for American money. Since 2005, boats of the "Gyurza" type have been serving on the Amu Darya River near the city of Termez, where they block the smuggling of weapons and drugs on the border with Afghanistan.
In 2015, when it became necessary to quickly saturate the Naval Forces of Ukraine with boats, the project was seriously revised - first of all, the displacement and overall dimensions were increased (it was required that boats could go not only along rivers, but also in the coastal areas of the Azov and Black Seas). The composition of the armament was also seriously changed - instead of the BMP-2 and BTR-70 towers, the boats received two remotely controlled sea modules BM-5M.01 "Katran-M", which, in fact, are a variant of the combat module BM-3 "Shturm", installed on the BTR-4. Each such module is armed with a 30-mm automatic cannon ZTM-1, a 30-mm automatic grenade launcher KBA-117, a 7.62-mm KT machine gun, as well as a pair of domestic anti-tank missile systems "Barrier" with a semi-active laser guidance system.
As a result, the new project received the code "Gyurza-M" and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine ordered eight boats. The first boat for the Navy, which was named "Bilgorod-Dnistrovsky", was launched in Kiev on November 11, 2015.
The naval forces of Ukraine will be replenished by another small armored artillery boat (MBAK) of project 58155 (code "Gyurza-M"), launched in Kiev 30 September 2021. The solemn ceremony of launching the eighth, and most likely the last in a series of artillery boats of project 58155, was held in Kiev at the shipyard Kuznya na Rybalskoy (Leninskaya Kuznitsa). The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Naval Forces of Ukraine. This is the eighth boat of the series, it was laid down at the plant in February 2019, simultaneously with the third assault boat of project 58503 (code "Centaur-LK"). The construction of the boat was repeatedly suspended due to the pandemic.
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