To control the many inland seas bordering its coasts, such as the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea or the Caspian Sea, Moscow has developed a large fleet of light corvettes such as Karakurt class ships. These ships, 67 m long and with a tonnage of 800 tons, are comparable to many classes of Western patrol boats in terms of performance. In contrast, the Karakurt are remarkably well armed, which makes it possible to classify them as warships, and not as sovereign buildings. In addition to its 76mm A-190 cannon, which is already very impressive for such a small ship, the corvette has two UK-SK vertical launch silo systems, allowing the deployment of 8 long missiles, such as the P800 Onyx anti-ship missile, the 3M54 Kalibr cruise missile, and in the near future, the 3M22 Tzirkon hypersonic anti-ship missile.
The anti-air defense of the Karakurt is ensured, when it comes to it, by the navalized version of the anti-aircraft and anti-missile system Pantsir-S1, called Pantsir-M. As for the land version, the Pantsir-M simultaneously deploys two 2mm OA-30KD Gatling guns at a very high rate of fire, each capable of firing 18 shells of 5000 g at 390 m in just 2000 minute. It also has 1 Hermes-K terminal infrared homing and beam-guided missiles with an announced range of 8 km ready to fire, and 20 missiles in the hold. The system is thus capable of automatically engaging up to 32 targets of the aircraft, helicopter, drone or anti-ship missile type, thanks to its PESA radar and its electro-optical and infrared guidance system.
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