Gremyashchy Corvette, Admiral Kasatonov Frigate To Begin Sea Trials

The lead corvette of Project 20385 Gremyashchy and the new frigate under Project 22350, Admiral Kasatonov will begin sea trials on Sunday, Russian Navy Spokesman Igor Dygalo has said.

"On April 21, the new frigate of project 22350, the Admiral Kasatonov, and the new Gremyashchy corvette of Project 20385 will be put to sea from St. Petersburg’s Severnaya Verf shipyards for trials in the Baltic Sea," TASS reported quoting Dygalo as saying.

The Project 20385 corvette has a length of 343 feet, displaces 2,200 tonnes, speeds up to 26 knots and has an operating range of 3,800 nautical miles at 14 knots. The ships of this project are armed with the Kalibr-NK universal missile system, Redut antiaircraft systems, the A-190-01 100-millimeter artillery system, two AK-630M 30-mm anti-aircraft guns, and the Paket anti-submarine system. An anti-submarine helicopter Ka-27PL (Ka-27PS) may be deployed on the corvette.

Multipurpose corvettes of this class are designed to detect and destroy enemy's submarines and surface ships, support landing of troops, protect the coastal zone, and escort other ships.

It boasts artillery, missile, anti-submarine, sonar and radar systems installed on it. Due to original design and use of composite materials in combination with special coatings, as well as the built-in missile launchers, the radar, acoustic and optical visibility of the ships is significantly reduced.

The Admiral Kasatonov frigate is the second and first mass produced ship of project 22350. Ships of this type have a displacement of 4,500 tonnes and are capable of developing a speed of up to 29 knots. They are equipped with Oniks and Kalibr missile systems and Poliment-Redut anti-aircraft systems.