This past June, Russia launched the Stavropol, the 15th and final ship of the Buyan program. This program includes three original Buyan gunboats and 12 follow-on Buyan-M–class missile corvettes.
The first three Buyan units are known as Project 21630 and are sometimes referred to as the Astrakhan class. They were built by the Almaz Shipbuilding Company in St. Petersburg for coastal operations. The first unit, the Astrakhan, entered service in September 2006. She was followed by two ships commissioned in 2011 and 2012. The first three Buyan ships displace around 500 tons and measure 203 feet long, with a 33-foot beam and draft of less than 10 feet. Crew size is reportedly between 30 and 48.
The three boats are armed with a 100-mm gun forward, 3M-47 Gibka launchers for Igla short-range surface-to-air missiles, 122-mm Grad-M artillery rocket launchers aft, and two six-barrel AK-630 30-mm close-in weapon systems (CIWS) amidships. The Project 21630 craft are powered by two diesels and two waterjets, providing a top speed of 26 knots. All three are assigned to the Caspian Flotilla.
Twelve follow-on Buyan-M (Project 21631) missile corvettes were built at Zelenodolsk shipyard in Tatarstan for delivery between 2014 and 2025. The missile variants sometimes are referred to as the Sviyazhsk class. The first Buyan-M, the Grad Sviyazhsk, entered service in December 2014. These corvettes are larger than the first three. They displace 950 tons and measure 243 feet long, with a 36-foot beam. They also have a draft of less than 10 feet. Crew size for the Buyan-M has been reported as between 30 and 52. The hull designs for both Buyan variants are closely related and feature numerous signature-reduction measures.
All 15 units incorporate similar primary sensors, including a Pozitiv search radar and MR-231 navigation radar. The paramount difference between the three older Project 21630 and 12 newer Project 21631 units is the eight-cell vertical launch system (VLS) atop the larger Buyan-M superstructure, abaft the forward mast. This VLS can house a mix of 3M-14 Kalibr (SS-N-30) land-attack missiles, which have a reported range of 1,350 nautical miles (nm), and 3M-54 (SS-N-27) or 3M-55 Oniks (SS-N-26) antiship missiles, which have ranges of 160 nm. The 12 Buyan-M corvettes do not carry 122-mm artillery rockets aft but are still armed with a 100-mm gun forward. For air defense, the Project 21631 corvettes carry two Komar short-range missile systems and one AK-630M-2 Duet CIWS.
The Buyan-Ms each operates with four diesel engines powering two waterjets that provide a top speed of 25 knots. Buyan-M–class corvettes can be found in Russia’s Black Sea and Baltic Sea Fleets and Caspian Flotilla. In 2015–16, ships of this class launched land-attack cruise missiles against targets in Syria, and since 2022 numerous Buyan-M corvettes have been active in the war against Ukraine, during which two have reportedly been damaged.
