MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Shipbuilders are set to deliver the Project 22350 latest missile frigate Admiral Golovko to the Russian Navy in March this year, a source close to the country’s defense industry told TASS on Tuesday.

"Under the existing plans, the Admiral Golovko is set for its delivery in March. A decision on the exact date will be made by the Navy’s Main Command," the source specified.

TASS has no official confirmation of this information yet.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on December 6, 2022 that the frigate Admiral Golovko had wrapped up the first stage of shipbuilders’ sea trials in the Gulf of Finland and returned to the berth of the Severnaya Verf Shipyard (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation). The latest warship’s first deployment to the sea lasted 10 days. Over this period, the warship’s crew and its acceptance/delivery team checked the vessel’s maneuverable capabilities and the operation of its assemblies, mechanisms and systems.

The Admiral Golovko is the Project 22350 third-built and second serial-produced frigate. The Russian Northern Fleet currently operates two warships of this Project: the Admiral Gorshkov and the Admiral Kasatonov. The frigate was named after Arseny Golovko (1906-1962) who was commander of the Soviet Northern Fleet during the Soviet Union’s 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany.

Frigates of this Project carry the Kalibr-NK and/or Oniks cruise missile systems as their basic strike weapons and will eventually be armed with Tsirkon hypersonic missiles.

Project 22350 frigates are expected to become the Russian Navy’s most advanced warships in their class. These frigates are multi-purpose combat ships capable of effectively fighting enemy surface ships, aircraft and submarines and delivering strikes against ground and coastal installations from a range of over 1,500 km.

These warships displace 4,500 tons and can accelerate to 29 knots. They are armed with Oniks and Kalibr missiles and Poliment-Redut air defense missile systems.