Both Egypt and Turkmenistan have expressed interest in acquiring Buyan missile boats from Russia.
In an annual report from Zelendolsk Shipyard, as reported by BMPD, the firm noted that customers 818 and 795 (the customer codes for Egypt and Turkmenistan, respectively) were interested in purchasing Project 21632 ‘Tornado’ missile boats. The countries were individually interested in acquiring the ships with various modifications.
The report did not seemingly specify how many vessels the two countries were interested in.
Project 21632 is the export variant of the Buyan class missile boats in service with the Russian Navy.
It is unclear how long Egypt and Turkmenistan have been interested in the vessels, but it is likely that their successful use during Russia’s military campaign spurred discussions about possible acquisitions.
Buyan vessels operating in the Caspian Sea drew attention in October 2015 after they conducted a missile firing at militant positions in Syria. Three Buyan missile boats fired Kalibr-NK cruise missiles at Raqqa, Aleppo, and Idlib. Some of these are believed to have faltered part of the way through flight but the rest hit their targets.
Two Buyan-M class vessels — Zelenyy Dol and Serpukhov — were involved in cruise missile launches in August 2016, firing from the Mediterranean Sea and targeting militants in Syria.
Egypt in recent years has acquired a number of naval vessels as part of a major effort to modernize its fleet. The country has purchased two helicopter-carrier vessels, four corvettes, and a frigate from France as well as four submarines from Germany. Cairo has been in negotiations with Russia over purchasing equipment for its new helicopter-carriers, including maritime helicopters to be stationed on board the ships.
Turkmenistan has acquired new ships as well, though of much smaller size than the Egyptian procurement. Ashgabat is believed to have purchased six fast attack craft from Turkish shipyard Dearsan.
Military markets analyst, covering Eurasia, Middle East, and Africa.
