Royal Thai Navy launches two Tor 997-class patrol boats


According to information published by the Royal Thai Navy on June 21, 2021, the Naval forces hold a launch ceremony for the two new Tor 997-class patrol boats, T997 and T998 at Marsun Shipyard in attendance of Admiral Chatchai Sriworakan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy.
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Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001 Tor 998 and Tor 997 patrol boats (Picture source: Royal Thai Navy)


The Tor 997-class has an overall length of 41.44 meters, an overall beam of 7.2 m, and displaces about 223 tons at full load, with a speed of over 27 nautical miles.

The patrol boats are powered by two MTU 16V4000 R41 R diesel engines and armed with a Russian weapon system, the 30mm AK-306 machine gun.

AK-306 is a derivative of AK-630M that was developed for light craft and this system. Externally, the air-cooled AK-306 can be distinguished from the AK-630 by the absence of the water cooling system (a cylindrical jacket that surrounds the barrel cluster of the AK-630). Internally, the AK-306 (A-219) used electricity to power the automatics, instead of using the exhaust.

This version also lacked radar control, being only optically guided, hence making it less of an anti-missile weapon and more of a surface-to-surface weapon, and the designation of the overall system is consequently changed from A-213-Vympel-A to A-219. The design started in 1974 and the system was accepted into service in 1980. When production was completed in 1986, 125 systems were in service.