Vympel Shipyard on April 24 held a launching ceremony for the first two in a series of “Chibis” class coast guard patrol boats of project 21850, the shipbuilding firm said. The serial patrol boats are being built for the FSB of Russia.
After successful passing of dockside tests, shipbuilder's sea trials and signing of acceptance certificate the pair vessels will be delivered to their homeports by rail.
Small Chibis-class coast guard boat of 21850 design was developed to patrol coastal areas of Russia's state border. Navigation areas – five-mile littoral zone, including shallow water bays, with up to 14 miles cruising range. The boat will patrol coastal areas, inner / outer harbors, to conduct search, interception / detention of small and medium high-speed vessels. The boat will also be used as a Fast Crew Boat for transport and landing of boarder guard and counter-terrorism teams. The vessel will be assisting in search and rescue operations.
Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region based Vympel Shipyard is a fast-growing company specializing in building of medium-, small-tonnage sea-going and river vessels and boats both for military and civil sectors. Since its inception in 1930, VYMPEL Shipyard had built more than 30,000 ships of various types. For the last 40 years the company had built and delivered more than 1800 boats to customers in 29 countries in Europe, Middle East, South East Asia, Africa and South America. Vympel Shipyard is building serial new generation missile and patrol boats, fast SAR boats, fire-fighting boats, survey and fishery vessels, tugs and other crafts.