Russian Navy’s latest Project 22350 frigate Admiral Kasatonov has arrived the naval base of Baltiysk on the Baltic coast for the final stage of state trials, the Russian Navy Baltic Fleet’s press office reported on 14th April.
“The frigate will shortly enter the final stage of state trials at the Baltic Fleet’s naval ranges. During the trials, representatives of the Shipyard delivery team will check jointly with the ship’s crew the operation of all the assemblies, systems, mechanisms, navigation and radio-technical equipment, and will also accomplish a set of artillery firings against sea and air targets,” the press office said in a statement.
The Baltic Fleet’s ships, support vessels and naval aviation will provide support during the state trials, the statement says.
The frigate Fleet Admiral Kasatonov earlier held trials at the Russian Northern Fleet’s sea ranges that started on November 20. At first, the frigate’s missile armament was tested in the White Sea with the ship’s crew firing a Kalibr cruise missile against a coastal target located at the Chizha combat range in the Arkhangelsk Region and Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles against sea targets.
In the Barents Sea, the frigate performed artillery firings against a sea and a coastal target, delivered torpedo fire against an underwater target and practiced inter-operability with aircraft and logistics vessels (refueling on the move and towing) and some other elements of the program of state trials.
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), which was laid down on November 26, 2009 and floated out on December 12, 2014.
In October, the warship made an inter-fleet transit from the Baltic to the White Sea to complete shipbuilders’ and state trials and in early December – an inter-base passage from Severodvinsk to Severomorsk in Russia’s northwest.
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. They are armed with Oniks and Kalibr missiles and Poliment-Redut air defense missile systems.
The Project 22350 lead frigate Admiral Gorshkov entered service with the Russian Navy in July 2018. The Project’s first serial-produced frigate Admiral Kasatonov was put afloat in 2014. The Project 22350 frigate Admiral Golovko was laid down on February 1, 2012. Four more frigates of this Project are at various stages of their construction at the Severnaya Shipyard.
