After acquiring a controlling stake in Euroyachting Rybinskaya Shipyard group of companies in 2015, Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov has ventured into the boat-building business, embracing the BK-16 as a flagship model.
BK-16 is a high-speed, multi-purpose amphibious landing craft built for the Russian defense ministry.
The company has presented the boat before and is now sharing a video of the boat’s capabilities as part of the international military-technical forum “ARMY-2017” taking place in Moscow from September 22 to 27.
The landing craft is intended for a variety of missions such as coastal area patrol, personnel transportation, coastal landing operations, fire support, counter-piracy, counter-terrorism, medical evacuation, assistance to vessels in distress, and other special operations.
The vessel is 16.45 meter long, 4 meters wide and has a draft of 0.87m. It has a crew of two members and can transfer up to 19 personnel.
The front section of the upper deck facilitates launch and recovery of light reconnaissance UAVs such as ZALA 421-16EM developed by Kalashnikov Concern’s subsidiary ZALA Aero Group. The UAV provides increased situational awareness and the ability to engage targets effectively over land and sea.
The BK-16 boat can be equipped with the house-made Modul Boyevoy Distantsionno Upravlyaemiy (MBDU) remote weapon station (RWS).
Gun carriage options for the MBDU weapon station include a 7.62mm machine gun, a 12.7mm machine gun, AG-17 30mm automatic grenade launchers and 40mm grenade launchers.
The boat can also be armed with Kornet anti-tank guided missile system and mine countermeasures.
The MBDU remote weapon station features a two-axis, gyro-stabilised sighting device equipped with surveillance cameras that have a wide and narrow field of view (FOV), automatic target tracking system, and laser rangefinder.
The MBDU module is also fitted with filters for image enhancement and can acquire targets over a distance of 2.5km and memorise up to 10 static targets. It has a horizontal travel angle of 360°, a vertical travel angle between -20° and 70°, and angular velocity of rotation of 60° a second.
Powered by two 780hp engines, the landing craft has a maximum speed of 42kt and an economical speed of 30kt. It can cruise over a distance of 400mi and endure for up to 24 hours.