Despite the war effort, the vessel is carrying out factory trials on the Dnieper (Dnipro) River in the Kyiv area. It is the eighth and last in a series of small artillery armored cutters (MBAK – Malі bron’ovanі artilerіys’kі kateri) of the Project 58155 Gyurza-M (Viper), which were built for the Ukrainian Naval Forces.
They were designed at the State Research and Design Shipbuilding Center in Mykolaiv under the leadership of chief designer Serhiy V. Krivko. Their serial production was undertaken by the private shipyard PrAT “Kuznia na Rybalskomu” in Kiev, known until 2017 as the company PAT Zawod “Leninska Kuznia.” The first two Project 58155 gunboats began construction in October 2012, but were not launched until 2015. In 2016, the keels of four more “Vipers” were laid, which were launched a year later. Production of the seventh MBAK began in 2018. As of September 2020, seven Gyurza-M class cutters (P174 Akkerman, P175 Berdiansk, P176 Nikopol, P177 Kremenchuk, P178 Lubny, P179 Vyshhorod and P180 Kostopil) were part of the Ukrainian Naval Forces’ fleet.
Work on the MBAK-08, which is rumored to be named Bucha (after the city where the Russian Armed Forces have shown particular cruelty to civilians in the first month of their invasion of Ukraine), began in 2019. According to plans, she was to be built in just four months, after which she would be launched and sent out for shipbuilder trials. However, its production was frozen and did not resume until July 2021.
The fundamental reason for the delay was the financial situation of the “Kuznia na Rybalskom” shipyard and accusations of corruption by authorities and government officials. In December 2020, “Kuznia” halted the construction of MBAK-08, as well as the third fast assault craft of Project 58503 Kentavr-LK (Centaur). Commander of the Ukrainian Naval Forces Rear Admiral Oleksiy Nejizhpapa (now a Vice Admiral) announced that the fleet would be limited to eight MBAKs. In July 2021, the shipyard resumed work on the cutter. The vessel was successfully launched on September 30, 2021.
Of the first seven ships, the Ukrainians lost four units: Akkerman, Kremenchuk and Vyshhorod were captured by the Russians during the war against Ukraine, while Lubny was sunk during the fighting for Mariupol.
As Naval News reported previously, a vessel of the class was struck by Russian forces using a Lancet loitering munition. The strike reportedly took place in the waters of the Kakhovsky Reservoir (on the Dnieper River):
Gyurza-M
The future Bucha is armed with two KAU-30M (original designation BM-5M.01 Katran-M) modules, which are a variant of the BM-3 Shturm combat module developed for armored vehicles. Each is fitted with a 30 mm ZTM-1 automatic gun, a 30 mm KBA-117 automatic grenade launcher and a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, as well as two Barrier guided anti-tank missiles.
The Gyurza-M type cutter displaces 54 tons and measures 23.0×4.8×1.0 meters. Powered by two diesels, it provides a speed of 25 knots. The crew consists of five soldiers. The gunboat is equipped with a Delta-M navigational radar and a Sarmat observation and targeting EOS.
