MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The Project 636.3 latest diesel-electric submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which the Admiralty Shipyard is building for Russia’s Pacific Fleet, will enter state trials, a source in the defense industry announced on Wednesday.

"The Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky will today sail to the Gulf of Finland for the first stage of state trials," the source said.

TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.

The Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the first in a series of six submarines, which the Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg in northwest Russia is building for the Pacific Fleet.

Like in the tests of all vessels and submarines built at St. Petersburg shipyards in recent years, Baltic Fleet ships will provide for the state trials of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the source said.

The Admiralty Shipyard (part of Russia’s United Ship-Building Corporation) earlier built a series of six Project 636.3 submarines for the Black Sea Fleet. All of them underwent deep-water trials at the Northern Fleet’s practice ranges. The source did not specify where the deep-water trials of the first submarine from the series for the Pacific Fleet would take place.

The Project 636.3 (‘Varshavyanka’) is referred to the third generation of diesel-electric submarines. The submarines of this type have been designed by the Rubin Central Design Bureau. They can develop a speed of up to 20 knots, have their sea endurance of 45 days and a crew of 52 men. They can dive to a depth of about 300 meters. The submarines of this class displace over 2,000 tonnes in their surface position and about 4,000 tonnes under the water. Varshavyanka-class subs are armed with Kalibr cruise missiles.

The first series of six submarines for the Black Sea Fleet was under construction from 2010 to 2016. Some of the submarines from the series for the Black Sea Fleet delivered strikes with cruise missiles against terrorist targets in Syria during their operation as part of Russia’s Mediterranean Squadron.

Admiralty Shipyard CEO Alexander Buzakov earlier said the shipbuilders would deliver the submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the Russian Navy by the end of 2019.