MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - The Russian Defense Ministry will sign a contract for the construction of six small Project 22800 missile ships for the Pacific fleet, Pacific fleet Commander Adm. Sergei Avakyants said.
This will put the total number of the newest combat ships and vessels joining the Pacific fleet to more than 70 by 2027, he said.
"In 2019, the Defense Ministry will sign a contract for the construction of six small Project 22800 missile ships for the Pacific fleet. For their navigation properties, technical parameters and combat capabilities they are now considered to be among the best in this class. Four of them will be built at the Amur shipyard and two at Vestochnaya Verf. The keel of the second small sea tanker with a displacement of more than 3,000 tonnes has recently been constructed at this shipyard," Avakyants said in an interview published in the official newspaper of the Russian Armed Forces Krasnaya Zvezda on Monday.
"The units of the fleet's rescue teams are being gradually equipped with modern vessels," he said.
"Last year, they [fleet rescuers] received the vessel Igor Belousov, and they received a diving boat SMK-2177 last winter. In the current period, the fleet will procure two Project 23040 inshore diving boats manufactured by Nizhegorodsky Teplokhod," Avakyants said.
"In the near future, we will begin using the newest Project 636.3 diesel-electric submarines. Their weapons include sea-based cruise missiles Kalibr. The state armaments program envisages the construction of a whole number of submarines of such class. Thus, the total number of the newest warships and vessels joining the Pacific fleet may exceed 70 by 2027," Avakyants said.
"The modernization of the Project 1234 Smerch small missile ship is now being completed," he said.
"The plans include the modernization and re-armament of Project 949A nuclear missile cruisers," Avakyants said.