The Hamina-class missile boat is a class of fast attack craft of the Finnish Navy. The four vessels form what the Finnish Navy calls Squadron 2000 (Finnish: Laivue 2000). They are equipped with water jets instead of propellers, which allow them to operate in very shallow waters and accelerate, slow down and turn in unconventional ways. The Hamina class has been designed and constructed as stealth ships with minimal magnetic, heat and radar signatures. The shape of the vessel has been designed to reduce radar signature. Metal parts have been covered with radar absorbent material, and the composite parts have radar absorbent material embedded in the structure. A Hamina class vessel can monitor about 200 kilometres (120 mi) of air space and its Umkhonto surface-to-air missile system can simultaneously engage a maximum of eight aircraft, up to 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) away, while the vessel’s anti-ship missiles have a range in excess of over 250 kilometres (160 mi). The Hamina class’ primary weaponry is four RBS-15 Mk.2 anti-ship missiles. The vessels are further equipped with a Bofors 57 mm gun against surface and aerial targets as well as the Umkhonto-IR surface-to-air missiles, MASS decoy system and two 12.7 mm heavy machine guns. It is also possible to use the ships for mine-laying.
Hamina-class missile boat
