MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. The Project 22800 (Karakurt-class) first small missile ship armed with the Pantsyr-M surface-to-air missile system entered state trials, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Monday.

"The small missile ship Odintsovo is the first corvette armed with the Pantsyr system. On June 30, its state trials began at the Baltic Fleet’s naval ranges," the admiral said.

Russia’s Baltic Fleet will soon receive a series of six Project 22800 small missile ships built at the Pella Shipyard. Four of them will carry the seaborne Pantsyr surface-to-air missile systems, the Navy chief said.

Currently, two Project 22800 ships, the Mytishchi and the Sovetsk, are operational in Russia’s Baltic Fleet. The Odintsovo is the Project 22800 first ship outfitted with the Pantsyr-M anti-aircraft missile/artillery system, which is the seaborne version of the Pantsyr-S land-based surface-to-air missile/gun launcher.

Karakurt-class corvettes are armed with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles and also with the modernized AK-176MA 76.2mm artillery system. The corvettes’ endurance is 15 days.

Overall, the shipbuilders are planning to build 18 warships of this Project for the Russian Navy.