MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. The Russian Navy will receive at least three Karakurt-class (Project 22800) corvettes in 2021-2022, a source in the shipbuilding industry has told TASS.

"By late 2021, we expect the handover of the Tsiklon and Burya corvettes. In 2022, another ship of this class, the Askold, is expected," he said.

TASS has no official confirmation of this information.

The Butoma Shipyard in Kerch, Crimea, is building two Project 22800 missile corvettes - the Askold and the Tsiklon. Besides, the Burya corvette is being built at the Pella shipyard in northwestern Russia’s Leningrad Region. Each of them will be armed with eight Oniks (SS-N-26 Strobile) or Kalibr-NK (SS-N-27 Sizzler) missiles in a unified launcher.

Currently, the Russian Navy operates three Project 22800 corvettes: the Mytishchi, the Sovetsk and the Odintsovo. All of them are operating in the Russian Baltic Fleet. Overall, shipbuilders will construct 18 such warships, which will be divided equally between the Pacific, Baltic and Black Sea Fleets.

Karakurt-class corvettes

Project 22800 Karakurt-class missile corvettes are a series of Russian green-water multipurpose missile/artillery warships. The corvettes of this class developed by specialists of the St. Petersburg-based Almaz Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) are characterized by high sea worthiness and handling characteristics. They are based on the most advanced domestic technologies that allow their effective operation within fleet taskforces both in the northern and southern latitudes.

Karakurt-class corvettes displace about 800 tonnes, develop a speed of over 30 knots and their sea endurance is 15 days. They are armed with Kalibr-NK cruise missiles and upgraded AK-176MA 76.2mm artillery guns.