The history of the development of the Bora and Samum missile carriers should begin from afar - from the 60s of the last century, when both the USA and the USSR began building and renovating their VM fleets.
Each state had its own vision of the development of naval forces. The United States relied on aircraft carrier groups, and the USSR on more mobile and cheaper ships and submarines. After all, we didn't have to attack anyone - Russia (then the USSR) has enough territory. We needed to protect her.
Within the framework of this concept, the development of missile carriers began. The USSR took up the construction of MRK - small missile ships designed to drive out the enemy fleet away from its shores.
Such ships, equipped with powerful missile weapons, could operate at significantly greater distances from the coast than boats. In fact, they matched the destroyers of yesteryear, only with missiles instead of torpedoes.
The Bora project (MRK on an air cushion) appeared in 1987 and immediately aroused deep interest among military experts around the world. Its dynamic capabilities were striking, because the ship developed a speed of up to 100 km / h. After him, the Samum was launched into the water. These ships were so different from the rest of the military ships that they were singled out in a separate class - the RCVP.
By design, they are a catamaran with a platform between two hulls. In front and behind, the inner cavity is covered by a flexible lifting railing.
The design of the RKVP. 1 - flexible enclosure, 2 - inner cavity (skeg), 3 - blowing fans.
Two diesel units - 20 thousand liters. from. and 6600 liters. from. - provide a cruising speed of 25 km / h. The power reserve is up to 5 thousand kilometers. But, if necessary, the "afterburner" is turned on, that is, two injection fans powered by a gas turbine engine (capacity - 40 thousand hp), and then, an air cushion is "added", and the ship can quickly escape from the torpedo or make the desired maneuver.
Promotional video:
Displacement RKVP - 1000 tons.
It is for their frantic speed, which even now is not surpassed by modern ships, they were given the names of the winds. “Bora” is a north, changeable, unpleasant wind and “Samum” is a North African, dusty and dry wind.
RKVP Samum.
The main armament of the ships consists of eight Mosquito supersonic anti-ship missiles, which can hit targets in the range of 10–120 km. For closer range cannons are intended - two AK-630M (caliber 30 mm.) And AK-176M (caliber 76 mm.). Anti-aircraft system - SAM "Osa-M" and 20 missiles to it with a height of destruction up to 10 km. Of the equipment, we can also mention an autonomous radar and active and passive countermeasures radar stations.
The crew of the cruiser is about 100 people. RCVP are based on the Black Sea.
So what's wrong? What's a spoonful of dirt in a barrel of honey? And the fact is that the concept of their use in modern warfare is completely incomprehensible. Their speed is no longer an advantage - the rocket flies faster, they are not adapted to work on the open sea. To defeat ground targets, the enemy does not need to come closer to the shore. And their operation is much more expensive than an ordinary ship. However, just in the Black Sea they can find application - to drive away the "powerful" boat fleet of a neighboring unfriendly country.
