Rarely does a warship in the 1,000-ton segment have such a massive and terrifying arsenal as Russia's Bora class
This is a class of hoverborne guided missile corvettes currently operating in the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy
The class consists of two ships, the Bora 615 and the Samum 616
They are one of the few surface combat ships built solely for marine combat purposes, rather than troop landing or transport
The Bora class was built between 1987–2000
In the Soviet Navy it was known as Project 1239 or Sivuch, later renamed the Bora class in the Russian Navy
It is one of the largest combat sea vehicles with catamaran design with a displacement of 1,050 tons, a length of 66 m, a beam of 17 m, and a draft of 3 m.
The Bora class was designed primarily for coastal defense operations
The key design feature of this hydrodynamic configuration is an air cushion that separates the hull from the water surface
combined with maintaining contact with the water surface by means of sidewalls
The latter provide very low resistance to motion of the ship, but significantly reduce air loss from the air cushion area
partially unload the cushion, increase course-keeping stability and ship steering performance
The Russian missile carrying hovercraft is meant to carry out missile attacks on ships
It is the largest military hovercraft unmatched anywhere in the world
With the displacement of 1000 tons, the craft can reach a maximum speed of 52 knots, a range of 2,500 nmi at 12 knots
In addition, intermediate speed modes with reduced air supply to the air cushion zone are available
Endurance is 10 days, with a crew of 68 sailors
The missile hovercraft is intended to combat surface ships
fast boats and other enemy’s transport within all water area of closed sea battle zones and in close region of open seas
It is armed with 8 Mosquito missiles which can strike targets on the sea and on land
The hovercraft has 20 anti-aircraft missiles, an artillery complex, a machine-gun and an interference creating device
Despite possessing very high speed, powerful arsenal, but Bora is not appreciated by analysts for its overall combat ability
These vessels are quite expensive and operating costs are high
Despite carrying strong weapons, Bora is only capable of coastal combat
Perhaps that's why the Russian Navy only built two of this class
Although it has never been in a war, the number of incidents and breakdowns is constantly increasing
so many people think that these craft does not have much real combat value