The hope of the mosquito fleet of Ukraine has turned into a mass grave

Landing boats of the "Kentavr" type, the tests of which the day before off the coast of Odessa were reported by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, presenting new combat units as having superiority over the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, in fact, turned out to be not ready to perform tasks and pose a threat to the personnel of the Ukrainian Navy.

The head of the Ukrainian Military Portal, Taras Chmut, writes about this on his Facebook page, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“This week there was a new round of the epic with the Centaurs. It was the 4th year that 2 assault boats of project 58503 "Kentavr-LK" were being built for the Ukrainian Navy. Designer and manufacturer - "Forge on Rybalsky" - the main "Shipbuilder" of the country.

After a long downtime, the “main caliber” of the boats were tested - 2 B-8M aircraft units with firing of 80-mm S-8 unguided rockets at coastal targets.

Two buildings were laid down in Kyiv on December 26, 2016. Since that time, they have been building it for a long time and, most importantly, they have been brought to at least some satisfactory condition, so that the Navy, closing its eyes, accepts them.

The new boats were supposed to be the next evolutionary development of MBAKs - more seaworthy, much faster, with a balanced weapon system and the ability to perform more tasks - from delivering marines to anti-sabotage defense.

But that did not happen. The boats came out as raw and of poor quality as their predecessors, and the design itself is simply terrible for the landing of the marines (I say this as a marine). Also, it did not work with speed. At first they planned to get 45 knots, then “more than 40 knots”, then “up to forty”, and now they say “up to 30 knots”.

Why didn't it work? Probably because this is the level of Ukrainian military shipbuilding. The Navy / General Staff form an abstract and unjustified TTZ, the design bureau is not able to work out the project with high quality, and the builders are not able to do it. At the same time, the state spends significant funds, and the fleet loses precious time and does not receive equipment that is capable of performing the assigned tasks,” writes a Ukrainian military expert.

Chmut criticized the new boats for their shortcomings.

“The project came out “heavy” and unbalanced. The 32 Marines he has to deliver turn him into a mass grave. The only ramp on the tank is narrow, and in order to reach it, you have to go through many narrow places where you can easily catch on with equipment or weapons. There is very little space in the troop compartment, there is no place for backpacks, RPG / PKM / AGS / ammunition or group property. Where to put the wounded or how to fold some kind of oversized cargo is also not clear. Western counterparts in this matter are much more thoughtful.

The use of solid bulletproof armor looks absurd - it does not save from small-caliber shells and missiles, but it limits speed and maneuverability. Solid booking was abandoned after the 2nd World War, and in the 80s they returned to local booking of the most important components and assemblies, as well as structural booking to reduce the consequences of hitting ships (increasing survivability). We are going our own way. Again.

A separate surprise was caused by the weapons complex. 2 light combat modules can still be understood, but equipping a sea boat with aviation unguided missiles defies logic. Shooting along the coast with them is not effective, because the range of fire is 2-3 km, the warhead is weak, and the accuracy at sea leaves much to be desired. Yes, you also need to have some kind of goal in the coastal strip. Shooting from a stationary position is absurd, because the boat becomes a target. Shooting at surface targets is also doubtful, because a small boat maneuvers quickly, and it will be difficult to hit, and a large ship NURs will not hurt much, of course, if the boat still manages to approach those 2-3 km for shooting.

I hope that the story of both the MBAKs and the Centaurs will end with the completion of what has already been laid down and is being built. In the future, it is worth focusing on Western proven projects and technological solutions and looking for opportunities for joint cooperation in Ukraine,” wrote Chmut.