Combat Approved
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Mi-28 UB: Combat, Training, One-Of-A-Kind Helicopter. Advanced Night Hunter with Dual Control System
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The Refueller: Docking Masters. Russia’s Il-78 refuelling tanker
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Nebo-M Radar Complex: The Stealth Buster. Multi-range radar station that tracks ballistic missiles, stealth planes & drones
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Kremlin Fireworks. The soldiers and workers behind the bangs
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A Pirate's Nightmare: Russia's Special Operations Craft. Armed and armoured - the powerful little assault craft that packs a big punch
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The Missile Capable Buyan-M Corvette: High Seas Hellraiser. The stealthy, shallow-hulled warship that launches cruise missiles
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Submarines of the Northern Fleet: The Beast Division - Part 1. Welcome aboard Russia’s deep-sea nuclear Shchuka-B class boats
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Submarines of the Northern Fleet: Beast Division - Part 2. Getting under the skin of Shchuka-B nuclear subs
The Missile Capable Buyan-M Corvette: High Seas Hellraiser. The stealthy, shallow-hulled warship that launches cruise missiles
The Buyan-M Corvette, or Project 21631, pushes the limits of what a shallow-draught warship can do. Designed for rivers and the relatively calm waters of the Caspian Sea, the Buyan-M has already seen action during the Syrian war, launching Kalibr cruise missiles on ISIS positions. Join Combat Approved to see just how versatile the small ‘Hell-raiser’, using its Russian name, actually is.
Climb on board the Grad Sviyazhsk during a Caspian Fleet exercise and test the powerful, 100 mm, A-190 guns with a range of dozens of kilometres. Inspect the impact of the Kalibr missile during combat training. See how the Duet, a double-barrelled 30 mm weapon system with a rate of fire of 10,000 rounds a minute, can save the Buyan-M from both airstrikes and naval mines, and learn about its radar-resistant cowling.
This is not the only stealth feature of the Corvette, built, as Combat Approved finds out during a tour of the Zelenodolsk plant, without portholes for invisibility. Project 21631 can also deploy a decoy aerosol curtain of chaff clouds to confuse enemy missiles.
The surprisingly manoeuvrable corvette can also lay mines so that it can carry out a wide range of missions. The designers have more up their sleeve and Combat Approved gets to ride on the scale model of the next generation: a trimaran, complete with helipad.
