The Zubr-class ship, or Project 12322, is a small amphibious assault ship equipped with an air cushion and developed back in Soviet times. After the project was declassified, the Zubr was recognized as the world's most powerful hovercraft. Ships of this class have in their arsenal such countries as Ukraine, Russia and Greece. It is noteworthy that the Zubr is the first ship produced in the USSR and subsequently acquired and put into service by the NATO countries.
"Zubr" is called upon to perform the following tasks: it transports personnel of military units, military equipment and is engaged in supplying cargo to unequipped coastlines. The air cushion allows landing troops on 70% of the coasts of the entire world ocean. The cargo compartment holds three tanks, the total weight of which can be up to 150 tons, or 10 armored personnel carriers (up to 130 tons) and another 140 marines.
In addition, it can accommodate 8 infantry fighting vehicles or amphibious tanks with approximately the same dimensions. When re-equipping the cargo compartment, another 366 people can be accommodated here. It turns out that the total number of people that the Zubr can bring to the shore reaches 500 people.
The ships' engine has a capacity of 50 thousand horsepower. The engine is a power plant М35, produced at the Nikolaev enterprise "Zorya-Mashproekt". The vessel has four pumping units NO-10 with a propeller, the diameter of which is 2.5 meters. Their rotation consumes all the power of the power plant. Three reversible screws are responsible for the horizontal movement of the Zubr. The diameter of each 4-blade propeller is 5.5 meters.
The Zubr is 57.3 meters long, 25.6 meters wide, and 21.9 meters high. The displacement reaches 555 tons. The fuel reserves in the tanks are designed to cover a distance of 300 nautical miles (550 km), the maximum speed limit is 60 knots (111 km / h). The ship is operated and serviced by a crew of 27 people.
The Zubr ship has artillery and missile weapons. Artillery armament is reduced to two 30-mm automatic artillery systems AK-630, installed on the ship. Ammunition for each is 3000 rounds. Two A-22 "Fire" launchers for 140-mm unguided rockets are the ship's missile armament. Their ammunition load includes 66 NURs for each. 8 portable Igla anti-aircraft systems are designed for air defense.
