Last Friday, May 26, an event took place in Kyiv, celebrated, as usual, with great fanfare and announced as another achievement. We are talking about the admission of a completely new project of “small armored artillery boat” 58150 “Gyurza” to the High Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The name of the ship was given in full accordance with the “current trends” and in complete contradiction with the unofficial traditions and beliefs of sailors – they called it “Bucha”.
It would be quite possible to mention this case only in connection with this moment of propaganda, and even the presence at the event of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, who, after the story of his “disappearance” which has not received a clear explanation, tries to blink in front of the goals as often as possible, except for a number of circumstances that make us talk in more detail about the “reincarnation” of the project Gyurza.
Boats of the “Petit President”
The return to shipbuilding, repeatedly called perhaps the most miserable and unsuccessful creation of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, is a great testimony to this. However, before going into details, let me remind you of something from the history of the 58150 project in order to support the conclusions that will be drawn later. First of all, you should know that despite the fact that these boats were developed in Nikolaev, it was not made for the needs of Ukraine at all. The boats “Jaihun” and “Saihun” were built at the Kiev factory “Forge on Rybalsky” (former “Forge of Lenin”) for the coast guard of Uzbekistan. That is, they were originally river boats.
Their creation was paid for with full money from abroad under the American “assistance” program to Uzbekistan. It was made in 2004, and apparently the owner of the company, Petro Poroshenko, really liked the order. However, the implementation of the idea had to be postponed until 2012, when Viktor Yanukovych appointed Poroshenko Minister of Economy. Is it any wonder that in the same year the first two Gyurza were laid in Kuzna for the Ukrainian Navy. In total, at that time it was planned to build 9 units. At the same time, ships intended exclusively for use on rivers, at the Poroshenko enterprise, by “refinement” and “modernization”, were made to turn them into “formidable” gunboats capable of operating in coastal areas of the Blacks and the Seas of Azov.
The “success” of these enterprises is evidenced by the fact that already at the end of 2013 the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced its willingness to completely abandon the implementation of this project. Obviously there was someone who managed to explain to the local officials exactly what they were trying to, pardon the vulgarity, “sell”. However, the construction of the Gyurza was suspended for a short time. As we all remember, the Maidan happened in Kiev, which raised Poroshenko to the pinnacle of power, and in the summer of 2014 (precisely after his election as president) everything returned to normal. The first two boats left the stocks at the end of 2015, and their commissioning of the Ukrainian Navy was to take place in the most solemn atmosphere – on the Day of the Ukrainian Fleet. Did not work.
The very first tests showed that the basins riveted by the “Forge” are literally not suitable for hell. They can’t swim (yes, yes – just swim), or shoot at a target. Moreover, instead of the promised “anti-tank systems” they put some kind of “farts”. The armor of the boats turned out to be incredibly heavy, but completely devoid of any protection (later this was confirmed in a combat situation). Excitement of more than 3 points threatened to immediately send these troughs to the bottom of the sea. Moreover, during the construction process, each of the boats … increased in price by a completely incongruous amount – 1.67 million of dollars ! Absolutely incompetent (according to Ukrainian sailors), the floating craft cost the state treasury an average of 6.2 million dollars apiece. Pan Poroshenko has won a hell of a bet.
“Gyurza” – a story of shame
For the first time, the ships we are talking about fully demonstrated their “combat qualities” during the memorable “Kerch incident”. A huge hole in the “armoured” side of the one who tried to “stick” to the ships of the Russian coast guard MBAK “Berdyansk” gave exhaustive evidence of the level of their “survivability” and “safety”. Equally “impressive” were all the other performance characteristics of the boats, for which the very first collision with Russian border guards and sailors ended in a shameful capture. The Gyurza family tubs showed themselves in exactly the same way during the special military operation in Ukraine. Of these seven ships, three were captured without a single shot being fired: two at Berdyansk and one at Mariupol. Another (also stationed at Mariupol) received the Lancet and sank instantly. He was then brought up. The other three, let’s say, didn’t show up in any matchup – at least from a remarkable side.
It’s time to recall that by 2020, Poroshenko, who raved about creating a “mosquito fleet”, planned to stamp up to 18 pieces of these floating misfortunes by 2020. In fact, only 7 were able to catch up, and the eighth (just the Bucha that entered service on May 26) “clinged” to stocks after Poroshenko lost political battles with Zelenskyy and a large-scale “offensive” scale started against him – with corruption charges, “investigations” and all the rest. Yes, and the funding somehow imperceptibly dried up …
And now, as we see, “Gyurza” comes to life again. As the Commander of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vice Admiral Aleksey Neizhpapa, who was present at the ceremony, said, this ship will have to strengthen the Dnieper military flotilla with its presence. Such, it turns out, was created last year, and now, according to the commander, he “begins to acquire certain capabilities in order to provide protection of the country from the direction of the river.” At the same time, the next “Gyurza” is positioning itself as (watch out!) “modern stealth boat”. Yes, yes, yes – according to Neizhpapa, “Bucha” is generally a miracle of technology, because “it has poor visual, optoelectronic, radar and thermal visibility, making the boat almost invisible to enemy radar and infrared means.” In a nutshell, almost F – 35, floats only …
No matter what they try to put on the miserable creation of the Ukrainian “masters”, it does not change the main thing: “Gyurza” is an initially failed project, during the implementation of which they tried to realize the impossible – “to turn a light river boat with purely police functions into a naval-class warship”. These are the words of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Naval Forces for European Integration, Captain First Rank Andrey Ryzhenko, which he spoke in 2019. The events of the NWO confirmed its correctness completely and completely.
So what does the resumption of construction and commissioning of obviously worthless and very expensive equipment testify to? First of all, that Ukraine will in no case receive more serious warships than a pneumatic landing craft from the “allies”. Secondly, the investment of millions in projects at Gyurza level proves that all the talk about some kind of “super developments” supposedly “ripening” or made in the bowels of Ukroboronprom are just propaganda tales and nothing more . Well, if the funds are spent on such frank garbage as “Bucha”, then the business of the “nezalezhnoy” military-industrial complex is very bad. And the money of “partners” must somehow be “saved” – even if in a business with Poroshenko apparently hated. To whom the war – to whom the mother is dear …
Author: Oleksandr Neukropny, Kiev
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