ORP Metalowiec Project 1241.1 Tarantul missile corvette ship 1/400 Mirage 40032

ORP Metalowiec Project 1241.1 Tarantul missile corvette ship

1/400 military scale plastic model kit

Mirage 40032

Manufacturer: Mirage Hobby (Poland)

Scale: 1/400

Material: Plastic

Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.

Condition: New in Box

The Project 1241.1 Molniya (Lightning) are a class of Soviet missile corvettes. The NATO designation is Tarantul. These ships were designed to replace the Osa class missile boats. In the late 1970s, the Soviets realised the need for a larger, more seaworthy craft with better gun armament and higher positioned air search radars. The need for these improvements was underscored by the 1990 gulf war, when 12 Iraqi 'Osa-I's' were destroyed or damaged by short ranged Sea Skua anti-ship missiles. They were attacked by British Lynx helicopters, but the Osa crews didn't notice them because they flew below their radar horizon. In the Tarantul, both the single 76 mm main gun and the two 30 mm Gatling-type guns are used for air defence, together with a comprehensive electronic warfare suite. The boats are built by the Petrovsky yard (Leningrad), Rybinsk and Ulis yard (Vladivostok). A version of these ships for coastal anti submarine warfare and patrol was developed as the Pauk class corvette or Project 1241.2. The Indian navy paid approximately $30 million each for Tarantul-I copies in the early nineties. With over 30 sales on the export market the Tarantul has been a relative success for the Russian shipbuilding industry. Tarantul class vessels operate with the Chinese navy or People's Liberation Army Navy(PLAN) but exact figures are disputed. Some sources credit the PLAN with at least one Tarantul presently in use and more than 30 planned (licensed indigenous production), while other sources reject this estimate, mostly because of the availability of indigenous 'Houijan' missile corvettes (also with some Russian content).

ORP Metalowiec a Polish Navy Tarantul-I missile corvette in Gdynia

Class overview

Operators:

Soviet Navy

Russian Navy

Bulgarian Navy

Volksmarine

Indian Navy

Polish Navy

Romanian Naval Forces

Vietnam People's Navy

Yemen Navy

General characteristics

Type:

Missile corvette

Displacement:

480 long tons (488 t) standard, 540 long tons (549 t) full load

Length:

56.0 metres (183.7 ft)

Beam:

10.5 m (34.4 ft)

Draught:

2.5 m (8.2 ft)

Propulsion:

2 shaft COGAG turbines at 11000 hp each, plus 2 cruising engines at 4000 hp each (there were diesel and turbine versions of the cruising engines),

Speed:

32.48 knots (60 km/h)

Range:

1650 at 14 knots (26 km/h), operational autonomy for 10 days

Complement:

50

Sensors and

processing systems:

Radar: Spin trough, Bass Tilt, Peel pair,Pop group

Armament:

4 x P-15 Termit/SS-N-2 Styx or 4 x P-270 Moskit/SS-N-22 Sunburn or 8 x Kh-35 Uran/SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles.

1 SA-N-5 SAM (1x4) MANPAD air defence missiles

1 x 76 mm dual purpose main gun

2 x AK-630 30 mm gun or 1 x CADS-N-1 Kashtan CIWS (Close-in weapon system) for air defence

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