KALININGRAD, May 21. /TASS/. The Project 22350 frigate Admiral Kasatonov has deployed to the sea from Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad Region for the final stage of state trials, the Baltic Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.
"At the Baltic Sea ranges, the ship’s crew will check jointly with industry representatives the operability of the frigate’s armament at sea. The frigate will accomplish a number of anti-submarine warfare tasks at sea in interaction with the Baltic Fleet’s Project 20380 corvettes Stoiky and Steregushchiy," the press office said in a statement.
The corvettes will practice combat operations by a tactical naval group against a notional enemy’s submarine, employing anti-submarine warfare weapons and torpedo defense, the statement says.
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. The Project 22350 lead frigate Admiral Gorshkov entered service with the Russian Navy in July 2018.
Project 22350 frigates are based on stealth technology and are designated to conduct combat operations in the distant oceanic area against enemy surface ships and submarines and repel air attack weapons both on their own and as part of a naval group.
Project 22350 frigates are armed with a 130mm A-192 artillery gun, a Redut surface-to-air missile system and launchers of 16 Oniks or Kalibr-NK anti-ship missiles. They also carry a Paket-NK system as their anti-submarine warfare weapon and a Ka-27 anti-submarine warfare helicopter.
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.