Gyurza-class gunboat
The Project 58150 Gurza (Desert Viper) class is a series of small armored artillery boats built for the Uzbek Frontier Service. The whole class is produced by the Leninska Kuznya (Kiev).
The original and modernized classes are developed by the State Research and Design Shipbuilding Center (Mykolaiv).
There were only 2 ships of Project 58150 Gurza in 2004 for the Uzbek Border Guard and were financed by the United States.[1]
The modernized Project 58155 Gurza-M for the Ukrainian Navy started to be built at the Leninska Kuznya in October 2012.[2] Originally it was planned to build nine such vessels by 2017. In December 2013 the Ministry of Defense withdrew its contract.
In summer of 2014 construction of Gurza-M was revived and the first two vessels are expected to be completed in fall of 2015.[3] The new military contract is for 20 vessels that should be completed by 2017.
Operators
Uzbekistan: Uzbek Frontier Service (Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
- 2 river gunboats (Dzhaikhun and Saikhun) commissioned in 2005 and stationed in Termez patrolling Amu Darya on the border with Afghanistan.
Ukraine: Ukrainian Navy
- 2 gunboats (BK-01 and BK-02) commissioned in 2015
- 4 gunboats were ordered and laid down in 2016
References
- ^ Project of armored boat Gurza. Military Review. 1 July 2011
- ^ Ukraine is completing creation of the River battle fleet. Agency of Strategic Research. 3 January 2013
- ^ At the capital city factory in shocking pace are being built armored boats for the Odessa river division of Ukrainian Navy. Dumskaya. 3 February 2015