The Buyan class (russian: Буян, ,

Buyan In the Dove Book and other medieval Russian books, Buyan (russian: Буя́н, sometimes transliterated as Bujan) is described as a mysterious island in the ocean with the ability to appear and disappear with the tide. Three brothers—Northern, ...

), Russian designations Project 21630 ''Buyan'' and Project 21631 ''Buyan-M'', are series of corvettes (small artillery and missile ships in Russian classification) developed by Zelenodolsk Design Bureau for the Russian Navy. Since 2010, all subsequent vessels are being constructed as improved Project 21631 subclass, incorporating greater tonnage,

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures, which covers a range of methods used to make personnel, aircraft, ships, su ...

and the 3S14

vertical launching system A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of ''cells'', which can hold one or mor ...

for either

Kalibr The 3M-54 Kalibr, (Калибр, caliber), also referred to it as 3M54-1 Kalibr, 3M14 Biryuza (Бирюза, turquoise), ( NATO reporting name SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A) is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by the Novator Design Bu ...

or Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles, significantly enhancing combat capabilities. The ships are primarily designed for operations within

littoral zone The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal ...

s to protect Russia's vast coastal areas. Due to the small tonnage, they can operate even within shallow parts of oceans and seas and Russia's extensive inland waterway system. The export variant is known as Project 21632 ''Tornado''.

Design

In August 2010, some information about the newly modified Project 21631, dubbed as ''Buyan-M'', were published. The Project 21631 ships are said to be an up-to-date variant of Project 21630 ''Buyan'' small artillery ship, armed with the nuclear-capable

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warh ...

s (SS-N-27 ''Sizzler'') with a claimed range of at least 1,500 km and electronic countermeasure equipment. Ships of Project 21631 are designed to defend the national economic zones of Russia. The ships' small size and displacement enable them to operate within inland river systems, including traversing the

Moscow Canal The Moscow Canal (russian: Кана́л и́мени Москвы́), named the Moskva–Volga Canal until 1947, is a canal in Russia that connects the Moskva River with the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Mosc ...

which allows them to deploy to various seas around European Russia. This is a particular advantage for the ''Buyan-M'' series, because while the

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty, formally the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles; / ДРСМ� ...

(INF) prohibits long-range cruise missiles from operating on land they can operate from ships, so a river-based corvette can deploy missiles without being subject to restrictions. The lead ship of this project, ''Grad Sviyazhsk'', was laid down on 27 August 2010 and commissioned on 27 July 2014.

Operational history

On 7 October 2015, corvettes ''Grad Sviyazhsk'', ''Uglich'', ''Velikiy Ustyug'' and ''Dagestan'', deployed in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central A ...

, launched 26 Kalibr cruise missiles at 11 terrorist targets in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The missiles flew nearly over

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and struck targets in

Raqqa Raqqa ( ar, ٱلرَّقَّة, ar-Raqqah, also and ) ( Kurdish: Reqa/ ڕەقە) is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, ...

and Aleppo provinces (controlled by the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic ter ...

) as well as in Idlib province (controlled by the al-Qaeda-linked

Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

). According to US DoD officials, several of these cruise missiles fired from Russian ships crashed in

and did not make it to their intended targets in

. An Iranian dissident organizations's TV reported that an "unidentified flying object" crashed and exploded in a village near the Iranian city of

Takab Takab or Tekab ( fa, تكاب, az, تیکان‌تپه, ) is a city and capital of Takab County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 43,702, in 10,078 families. The famous historical complex Takht-e Soleyma ...

. On 20 November 2015, the same warships launched 18 Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea at seven terrorist targets in Rakka, Idlib and Aleppo provinces. On 13 February 2016, corvette ''Zelenyy Dol'' was deployed to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

. On 19 August 2016, corvettes ''Zelenyy Dol'' and ''Serpukhov'', deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, launched Kalibr cruise missiles at positions of Al-Nusra terrorist group in Syria. As a result of the strikes, number of terrorist facilities were destroyed, including command post and base near the village of Dar Ta Izzah and weapon production plants and warehouses in Aleppo province. On 25 October 2016, ''Zelenyy Dol'' and ''Serpukhov'' were deployed to the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

to join a newly formed division in

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

. In 2020, ''Zelenyy Dol'' and the Karakurt-class corvette ''Odintsovo'' deployed to Arctic waters utilizing Russian internal waterways and illustrating the Russian capacity to transfer light units among the Russian Navy's three western fleets and the Caspian Flotilla as might be required.

Variants

* Project 21630 ''Buyan'' * Project 21631 ''Buyan-M'' – Upgraded design with modernised systems and new weapons * Project 21632 ''Tornado'' – Export design * Project 21635 ''Sarsar'' – Unveiled at Army-2022 expo, with an increased number of VLS cells, as well as a larger displacement overall

Ships

References

External links