The Kalmar class (Project 1206,

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

Lebed) are a class of medium-sized assault hovercraft designed for the Soviet Navy. The few remaining craft are operated by the Russian Navy. Designed by the design bureau wing of

Almaz shipbuilding company The Almaz Shipbuilding Company (russian: Судостроительная фирма Алмаз) is a Russian manufacturing enterprise, specializing in military and commercial ship design, development and production. Headquartered in St. Petersb ...

early in the 1970s, production started in 1972 and continued until 1985 in plants at Leningrad and Theodosia.

Configuration

The Lebed class is the Russian Navy equivalent to the U.S. Navy LCAC, though the U.S. version entered service seven years later. The Lebed class entered service in 1975, and by the early 1990s 20 had been produced. The ship has a bow ramp with a gun on the starboard side and the bridge to port. The Lebed class can be carried by the . The type began to be withdrawn following the fall of the Soviet Union, and by 2004 only three remained. Number 533 is in the Northern Fleet, while 639 and 640 took part in the Caspian Sea exercises of 2002.

Capacity

Each hovercraft can carry up to 40 tons of cargo.

Registry

*533 *639 *640

In popular culture

Lebed-class hovercraft were featured in the 1986 Tom Clancy novel '' Red Storm Rising''. In the novel, four Lebeds were used to carry military personnel and equipment from the disguised barge carrier MV Yulius Fuchik to Iceland in a surprise invasion.

References