Karakurt vs Shahid Soleimani

The Russian Project 22800 Karakurt class and the Iranian Shahid Soleimani class are small surface combatants designed to pack heavy offensive payloads into sub-1,000-ton displacements. Operating in confined waters—the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Persian Gulf—these corvettes function as distributed missile batteries, prioritizing surface strike over anti-submarine warfare or sustained blue-water operations.

Development and Design

Russia developed the 800-ton Karakurt as a seaworthy successor to the Buyan-M and a stopgap for larger frigates stalled by the loss of Ukrainian gas turbine engines. Designed by Almaz, it uses a conventional monohull with an angled superstructure and integrated mast. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) built the 600-ton Shahid Soleimani as a catamaran. Constructed at the Shahid Mahallati Shipyard, the twin-hull configuration provides a 14.5-meter beam—3.5 meters wider than the Karakurt. This beam width supports a stern flight deck for helicopter operations, a requirement absent from the Russian vessel.

Weapons and Sensors

The Karakurt centers on an eight-cell UKSK vertical launch system for Kalibr or Oniks missiles. Air defense relies on the Pantsir-M system on later hulls, guided by Mineral-M and Pozitiv-M radars. The Shahid Soleimani distributes its payload across multiple distinct launchers rather than a single VLS block. Its armament includes:

• 16 vertical launch cells for Sayyad-2/3 surface-to-air missiles
• 6 Abu-Mahdi surface-to-surface cruise missiles
• 4 Noor or Ghadir anti-ship missiles
• 2 Nasir mid-range anti-ship missiles

The Russian ship mounts a heavier, long-range land-attack payload, while the Iranian catamaran carries a higher volume of localized anti-ship interceptors.

Propulsion and Performance

Both vessels achieve speeds over 30 knots. The Shahid Soleimani operates with a 5,000-nautical-mile range, doubling the Karakurt's 2,500-nautical-mile radius. Russia's Project 22800 suffers from chronic propulsion bottlenecks. The reliance on domestic Zvezda M-507D1 turbodiesels in a CODAD arrangement delayed production, leaving several hulls at the Pella Shipyard waiting for engines and sparking litigation between the builder and the Russian Defence Ministry.

Deployment and Combat Record

Both classes experienced total hull losses when operating in contested littoral environments. Russia deployed Karakurt-class vessels to the Black Sea, where Ukrainian missile strikes destroyed the Tsiklon in May 2024 and gutted the Askold in a drydock in Kerch in November 2023. These vulnerabilities forced the Russian Navy to relocate surviving hulls to the Caspian Sea. The IRGCN deployed four Shahid Soleimani catamarans prior to the 2026 Iran war. During Operation Epic Fury in March 2026, US CENTCOM strikes sank the lead ship and the Shahid Sayyad Shirazi at Bandar Abbas.

Conclusion

The Karakurt holds the edge in land-attack missions, utilizing the Kalibr missile to strike targets hundreds of kilometers inland. However, for littoral warfare and sea denial, the Shahid Soleimani is the more effective platform. The Iranian catamaran design extracts higher utility from a 600-ton footprint, yielding twice the operational range, organic aviation facilities, and a wider firing arc for its anti-ship weapons. The IRGCN vessel integrates its payload for choke-point combat in the Strait of Hormuz, whereas the Karakurt functions as a floating heavy missile battery that has proven highly vulnerable to asymmetric strikes in confined waters.