(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - March 11, 2009: Libya has signed with Russia a contract worth up to an estimated $200 million to buy three missile boats, a Russian military journal reported on Tuesday. 
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).
A contract with Vietnam for the Project 12418 Molniya missile attack boats valued the vessels at $45 million apiece without weapons, so the Libyan contract could be worth a minimum $150 million, and as much as $200 million with arms and spare parts, said Mikhail Barabanov, science editor of the Eksport Vooruzheny (Arms Export) journal.
Russian-Libyan military cooperation was unfrozen when then-President Vladimir Putin visited Tripoli last April, with relations further strengthened by Muammar Gaddafi's subsequent visit to Moscow.
During Putin's visit, the two countries signed a deal to write off $4.6 billion of Libya's debt in exchange for a host of new deals, including $2 billion in arms agreements.
The Molniya contract was awarded to the Rybinsk-based Vympel shipyard.
No further details are currently available on the deal.
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).
A contract with Vietnam for the Project 12418 Molniya missile attack boats valued the vessels at $45 million apiece without weapons, so the Libyan contract could be worth a minimum $150 million, and as much as $200 million with arms and spare parts, said Mikhail Barabanov, science editor of the Eksport Vooruzheny (Arms Export) journal.
Russian-Libyan military cooperation was unfrozen when then-President Vladimir Putin visited Tripoli last April, with relations further strengthened by Muammar Gaddafi's subsequent visit to Moscow.
During Putin's visit, the two countries signed a deal to write off $4.6 billion of Libya's debt in exchange for a host of new deals, including $2 billion in arms agreements.
The Molniya contract was awarded to the Rybinsk-based Vympel shipyard.
No further details are currently available on the deal. 
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