Russia has launched its first Project 22350 frigate, the Admiral Gorshkov, to execute long-range strike, anti-submarine and escort missions in remote areas, at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St Petersburg.
The Admiral Gorshkov has a displacement capacity of 4,500t and can cruise at a speed of 29kt with an endurance period of 15 days and can carry a crew of 210 and an assortment of weaponry.
The weaponry includes a 130mm A-192 gun, a Kashtan close-in weapon system (CIWS), eight Oniks 3M55 (SS-N-26) anti-ship missiles and the Shtil I (SA-N-12 Grizzly) medium range anti-aircraft missile complex.
Four 533mm torpedo tubes, RPK-9 Medvedka-VE (SS-N-29) anti-submarine rockets, 24 Uragan SAM missiles are also included in the weaponry aboard the vessel, which can also carry a Ka-27 or Ka-32 helicopter.
The Russian Navy will receive ten such ocean-going frigates in the next ten years, which will be the 21st century’s main ocean-going surface ship, a Defence Ministry source said.
The next frigate, the Admiral Kasatonov, is still under construction and is expected to be launched in 2012, according to RIA Novosti.
