By TASS Russian news agency
Crews for the new corvettes have been formed. Both warships will operate in the 41st brigade of missile ships. They are to join the fleet by the end of the year, however the time may be postponed.
The sources said the Tsiklon and the Askold corvettes are built by Zaliv Shipyard in Kerch. The Tsiklon was floated a year ago and is undergoing trials. The Askold is at the final construction stage.
The Black Sea fleet will get upgraded project 22800 corvettes armed with better weapons than predecessors. In particular, they carry Pantsir-M air defense launcher. The corvettes can fire Kalibr and Onyx missiles. The body of the warships is made with stealth technologies.
“Project 22800 corvettes carry eight cruise missiles each. Kalibr can strike at coastal and sea targets.”
“The corvettes will reinforce the 41st brigade of missile ships, which is important, as NATO warships regularly sail close to Crimea. The corvettes were built by Zaliv Shipyard in Crimea, which stood idle for a long time.”
Expert Dmitry Boltenkov
NATO has been actively developing military infrastructure in the Black Sea area.
“Project 22800 warships can strike at NATO forces in the southeastern flank, where the Americans are building missile defense objects.”
Expert Dmitry Boltenkov
The Navy currently operates three project 22800 corvettes — the Mytishchi, the Sovetsk, and the Odintsovo. They all operate in the Baltic fleet. A total of 18 corvettes are to be built and equally shared by the Pacific, Baltic and Black Sea fleets. Before 2018, the corvettes were named after natural phenomena: Hurricane, Typhoon, Storm. It was then decided to name them after Russian small towns.
The Defense Ministry is actively supplying new warships to the Black Sea fleet. In the past years, it received six diesel-electric submarines of project 636.3 and project 11356 frigates. The fleet is to receive the Retivy corvette of project 20380 by the end of the year.
The Ladny escort ship of project 1135 is returning after a five-year overhaul. The Moskva cruiser is also returning after a long overhaul. The warship and the crew have been licensed for blue-water missions.
Black Sea fleet warships constantly operate in the Russian Mediterranean force. New submarines of project 636.3 and project 11356 frigates participated in the Russian operation in Syria. They fired Kalibr cruise missiles.
