The Russian Navy will receive over 10 Raptor high-speed patrol boats and special purpose tugs by the end of 2018, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service said Sunday.
The «Raptor» high-speed patrol boats very reminiscent Swedish multipurpose boat project Strb 90H also known under the title CombatBoat 90 or CB90. The project 03160 «Raptor» build by JSC «Leningrad shipyard» «Pella» (Otradnoe, Leningrad region).
The boat is intended to perform the following operations at day-time and at night:
- the transportation of group of at least 20 persons providing the highest possible embarkation and debarkation;
- duties in assigned areas;
- intercept and arrest of small targets;
- rescue of people in areas of duty.
Navigation area – coastal areas, straits, estuaries standing off a place of shelter within 100 miles.
The armament is rather interesting, with a single remote weapons station with EO-sights and a single 14,5 mm heavy machine-gun. The “Range of target detection – 3000 m” is a value which naturally doesn’t tell us anything, as there is no mention of what kind of target and environment this corresponds to. The back-up weapons are two pintle-mounted PKP light machine guns, which is a somewhat strange choice. The PKP, or 6P41 “Pecheneg”, is a development of the PKM, and mainly differs from this in having a non-replaceable air-cooled barrel, and an integrated bipod, and as such is marketed as a dedicated squad-support weapon.