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Shipbuilders to deliver cutting-edge frigate to Russian Navy late May - early June

The trials of the frigate Fleet Admiral Kasatonov at the Northern Fleet’s sea ranges were held in several stages from November 20

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Shipbuilders may hand over the Project 22350 first serial-produced frigate Admiral Kasatonov to Russia’s Defense Ministry in late May - early June, the Severnaya Shipyard said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Considering the pace of state trials, the ship’s delivery to the Defense Ministry may take place in late May - early June," the statement says.

All the points of the program of the frigate’s state trials have actually been fulfilled, the Shipyard said. The warship "is entering the final stage of state trials." They will be held in the Baltic Sea, after which the warship will return to the Shipyard for inspection and its delivery to the customer, according to the statement.

The trials of the frigate Fleet Admiral Kasatonov at the Northern Fleet’s sea ranges were held in several stages from November 20. At first, the frigate’s missile armament was tested in the White Sea and the ship’s crew fired a Kalibr cruise missile against a coastal target located at the Chizha combat range in the Arkhangelsk Region and Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles against sea targets, the Fleet’s press office reported.

In the Barents Sea, the frigate performed artillery firings against a sea and a coastal target, delivered torpedo fire against an underwater target and practiced inter-operability with aircraft and logistics vessels (refueling on the move and towing) and some other elements of the program of state trials, the press office specified.

After the program of the state trials is over, the warship is set to enter service with Russia’s Northern Fleet, the press office said.

The frigate Fleet Admiral Kasatonov is the second (the first serial-produced) Project 22350 warship built at the Severnaya Shipyard (part of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation). The cutting-edge frigate was laid down on November 26, 2009 and floated out on December 12, 2014.

In October, the warship made an inter-fleet transit from the Baltic to the White Sea to complete shipbuilders’ and state trials and in early December - an inter-base passage from Severodvinsk to Severomorsk in Russia’s northwest.

Project 22350 frigates are expected to become the Russian Navy’s most advanced warships in their class. These frigates displace 4,500 tonnes and can develop a speed of 29 knots. They are armed with Oniks and Kalibr missiles and Poliment-Redut air defense missile systems.

The Project 22350 lead frigate Admiral Gorshkov entered service with the Russian Navy in July 2018. The Project’s first serial-produced frigate Admiral Kasatonov was put afloat in 2014. The Project 22350 frigate Admiral Golovko was laid down on February 1, 2012. Four more frigates of this Project are at various stages of their construction at the Severnaya Shipyard.