Matka-class

The Matka class, designated Project 206MR Vikhr by the Soviet Union, consists of hydrofoil missile boats developed as descendants of the Osa-class and modified from the Turya-class torpedo boat. Twelve units were completed in Leningrad.

The design incorporates a single forward foil, while the aft section of the hull hydroplanes at high speeds. The vessels are air-conditioned and NBC-sealed. Missile launchers installed on the class are the same type utilized by Project 61MR destroyers. Soviet assessments characterized the interior of the vessels as cramped and identified the design as top-heavy. One vessel, R-44, functioned as a developmental platform for the Black Sea Fleet to test combat data systems and new missile configurations, including quad-canister launchers and superimposed Gatling gun systems.

The class entered service in 1977, with units assigned to the Soviet Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the subsequent 1997 Black Sea Fleet partition treaty, all Matka-class boats in the Black Sea were transferred to the Ukrainian Navy. Ukraine received five vessels, one of which was refurbished and transferred to the Border Police of Georgia in 1999.

In operational service, the Georgian vessel Tbilisi was lost during the 2008 South Ossetia War. Russian 45th Guards Spetsnaz Brigade units conducted a raid on the port of Poti, where they boarded and mined the vessel while it was at anchor. By 2017, the Ukrainian Navy maintained one active unit, the Pryluky, which underwent modifications in 2018 that included the removal of its original missile system. While the majority of the class has been decommissioned and scrapped, the Karachaevo-Cherkesia was preserved as a museum ship in Engels, Russia.