The
Yantar Shipyard (JSC "Baltic Shipyard" Yantar) in Kaliningrad
building the Admiral Essen frigate for the Russian Navy is completing
the preparations for its manufacturer’s trials and for putting
it out to sea in the Baltic for the first time, the shipyard’s
press officer, Sergei Mikhailov, told TASS on Tuesday. |
"The
Admiral Essen - the second in the six-ship family of Project 11356 [NATO
reporting name: Admiral Grigorovich class] frigates - has left the shipyard’s
harborage and moved to the acceptance facility in the port of Baltiisk
via a seaway channel," Mikhailov said.
Yantar’s press officer also said the frigate might start its factory
trials "any day now", but offered no specific date. Then,
the ship will put out to sea for the first time.
There are the crew, trial crew and representatives of the subcontractors
aboard the Admiral Essen. The Project 11356 Admiral Essen frigate was
laid down by Yantar in 2011 and set afloat in November last year. It
is scheduled for delivery before year-end.
The official trials of the project’s lead ship, the Admiral Grigorovich
slated for delivery in November this year, are in full swing. The two
ships are to be assigned to the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet.
Under two contracts placed by the Russian Defense Ministry, Yantar will
build a six-unit series of Project 11356 patrol ships developed by the
Severnoye Design Bureau.
The ships of the class are designed for fighting enemy surface combatants
and submarines and providing air defense on the high seas both independently
and as part of naval formations. Meanwhile, it has emerged that the
first three Project 11356 frigates have been furnished with their organic
M7N.1E gas-turbine power plants, while there is no power plants to fit
the other three. The M7N.1E was developed and made by Ukrainian manufacturer
Zorya-Mashproyet in the city of Nikolayev. It comprises two DT59.1 gas-turbine
booster engines 19,500 hp each and two DS-71 cruising engines 9,000
hp each. There are two M7N.1Es per ship. Following the termination of
the Russian-Ukrainian military technical cooperation, Zorya-Mashproyekt
cut the delivery of the gas-turbine power plants to Yantar. An arms
trade source has told TASS in this connection that the other three Project
11356 frigates initially earmarked for the Russian Navy might be offered
for export.
"The [Russian] Defense Ministry is redistributing the money set
aside for the other three frigates to other ships it needs badly. One
of the proposals resultant from meetings of Defense Ministry and Federal
Military Technical Cooperation Service officials has been to offer the
ships for export," the source said.
He specified that the first three frigates of Project 11356 would be
completed for the Black Sea Fleet, because the manufacturer has all
relevant components, including the propulsion units.
At the same time, Russian engine manufacturer Saturn in the city of
Rybinsk is to develop and build the power plants for the other three
ships under the import substitution program. Since the power plants
cannot be made before 2019-2020, this does not suit the Navy. The Indian
Navy, which operates six ships in the class, has been keen on acquiring
the three Project 11356 frigates. Indian Ambassador to Russia Pundi
Srinivasan Raghavan has said India would do its best so that the Russian
frigates are built for the Indian Navy. He explained that India could
take steps to resolve the problems with the Ukrainian power plants required
for the ships.
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