The Russian Navy is the naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces awarded a contract to “Central Design Bureau Neptune” company for two “Manul” (project 23321) light-weight combat hovercraft, reports “Kommersant“.

The “Manul” light-weight combat hovercraft was developed on the basis of the “Pardus” hovercraft, also developed by the Central Design Bureau “Neptune”. Today the company has designed and built three “Pardus”, two of which have been produced for the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

More: Russian Ministry of Defense handed over the first hovercraft «Pardus»

The difference “Manul” from the basic model, in particular, will be a reinforced case made of aluminum and composite armor. The new combat hovercraft is a will be used principally by the military for to transport marines across shallow water at high speed.

The hovercraft has a length of 12 meters, width 5 meters, a height of 3.8 meters soaring, seating up to 23 people, the crew consists of two people. As the power plant uses two FPT S30ENT 2 diesel engines rated at 197 hp.

The hovercraft can be configured to carry troops or cargo, with optional extras such as armoured glass and ballistic protection.