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New small gunship Makhachkala arrives in Caspian flotilla

It is the Project 21630 Buyan second serial warship

ASTRAKHAN, October 3 (Itar-Tass) - The new small gunship Makhachkala, which is the Project 21630 Buyan second serial warship, arrived at the base of the Caspian Flotilla - the port of Astrakhan from St. Petersburg. The command and veterans of the flotilla participated in a ceremony to welcome the small gunship to the accompaniment of the orchestra.

“The arrival of this warship is a big holiday for us. The Makhachkala was put into service in 2012, but the warship had stayed in the Baltic Fleet, where she participated in the international naval show upon the decision of the chief commander of the Russia Navy,” Assistant Commander of the Caspian Flotilla Nikolai Yakubovsky told reporters on Thursday.

He noted that the fleet of the flotilla will have been renovated by 75% within the state armament program by 2020.

The small gunship Makhachkala is armed with advanced weapons. Meanwhile, “the warship provides comfortable living conditions and this fact attracts contract servicemen to do the military duty onboard the warship,” the assistant commander noted.

For his part, commanding officer of the warship Ayup Dadayev noted that The Makhachkala passed all trials perfectly. The commanding officer particularly liked high maneuverability and universal features of the warship. Thanks to a little draught the small gunship can resolve a broad range of issues in the coastal area of the Caspian Sea, in the river and in the mouth of the river as well as other narrow channels.

The Makhachkala is the Project 21630 Buyan third warship. The head warship of this project Astrakhan entered into service of the Caspian Flotilla in 2006, the first serial small gunship Volgodonsk (formerly named Kaspiisk) joined the flotilla in 2011.

The Makhachkala was built with the use of the stealth technology that permits to make her less visible on the radars. The small gunship is planned to set out in the sea at the end of October.

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