ST. PETERSBURG. June 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The Gremyashchy corvette boasting massive firepower, including Kalibr cruise missiles, was launched in St. Petersburg on Friday.
The float-out ceremony took place at the Severnaya Verf shipyard, an Interfax-AVN correspondent reported.
"This corvette is different from corvettes of Project 20380; it is armed with advanced weapons," head of the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau Alexander Shlyakhtenko said at the ceremony.
"We had to substitute imports while building this ship yet we tackled that problem," he said.
Severnaya Verf General Director Igor Ponomaryov told Interfax-AVN earlier that Severnaya Verf would deliver five missile corvettes to the Russian Navy in the next few years.
Sea trials of the Gremyashchy will begin in spring, and the corvette will be delivered to the Navy before the end of 2018, he said.
Severnaya Verf (an affiliate of United Shipbuilding Corporation, USC) has built four Project 20380 missile corvettes and delivered them to the Navy. The first ships of the series were armed with the Uran missile complex. Corvettes of Projects 20385 and 20386 will carry Kalibr-NK missiles.
The Gremyashchy is armed with Kalibr-NK missiles, the Redut anti-aircraft missile complex, the A-190-01 100mm artillery system, two AK-630M 30mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and the Paket anti-sub complex. A Kamov Ka-27PL submarine warfare helicopter will be based onboard the Gremyashchy.
The Gremyashchy has a displacement of over 2,000 tonnes, a length of 104 meters, a width of 13 meters, a speed of up to 27 knots, a range of about 4,000 miles, and a crew of 99 men.
Engines made in Russia were installed on the Gremyashchy in 2016, in the course of substitution of imports in the construction of military surface ships.
Multirole corvettes (patrol ships) are built to chase and destroy submarines and surface ships of the enemy, to perform landing operations, and to accomplish a variety of missions in the close-range sea zone.
Ships of Project 20385 employ technology which reduces their radar visibility at sea.