The ships are being built by Russia's Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg and will supposedly enter into service in 2020. The vessels are being built as part of a larger naval procurement strategy that will help fortify Moscow's designs on the Arctic region. This strategy includes Russia's new Project 21900 icebreakers and planned Project 22600 diesel electric and 2220 nuclear powered icebreakers , as well as Project 03182 multi-purpose tanker and Project 20180 armament support and logistics ships.

One of five Project 21900 icebreakers that have come on line since 2008. Russia is building a whole armada for arctic operations.

The truth is that Russia's Ice class patrol vessels do have peer competitors that accomplish similar missions: Most notably the ice-capable Svalbard operated by the Norwegian Coast Guard —the same design that Canada's upcoming Harry DeWolf class —and even the smaller Knud Rasmussen class that belongs to the Denmark. But where Project 22550 ships differ is that they are capable of carrying heavy missiles that can strike targets hundreds of miles away, whereas these other ships are used more for localized security and ice navigation missions.

The inclusion of long-range anti-ship and land attack missile capability in the Ice class design is intriguing. Considering that even the most powerful ships are slow-moving sitting ducks in many parts of the Arctic operating environment, and that bases in the region are small and highly localized in configuration, this makes both very susceptible to cruise missile attacks.

With this in mind, Russia's plug-and-play canister missile system is definitely a niche capability aimed at threatening any vessel or land station within its missiles' reach. Targeting over very long ranges against fixed targets in the region is not as challenging an issue as doing so against moving vessels, but maritime patrol aircraft or even satellite surveillance could provide good enough targeting information to get an anti-ship missile into the general area of a target. At closer ranges, the Project 23550 own Ka-27 helicopter could provide real-time targeting telemetry against other vessels.

But like everything in the Arctic, it just isn't that simple. Changing sea ice and well-known navigational issues associated with the poles would make successful strikes on surface or land targets more challenging in certain aspects than when doing so in the the open ocean or other littoral environments.