ST.PETERSBURG. Feb 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The administration of the local Baltiysky Zavod shipyard made a statement on Friday expressing surprise with the position of the Navy command in relation to the order of state tests of the first Project 11356 frigate.
The Russian Navy press service announced on Thursday that Navy Commander Vladimir Kuroyedov had discarded the proposals of the Baltiysky Zavod leadership to hold all stages of the vessel's tests at the same time. Such an approach contradicts regulatory documents and does not make it clear whether the vessel will meet reliability, quality and efficiency criteria after the commissioning.
The shipyard's press service announced on Friday that a decision to start the state tests of the frigate being built for the Indian Navy was made on February 8 this year after the shipyard administration got a letter from Rear Admiral Alexander Alexandrov, head of the state acceptance commission.
Prior to the state tests, the vessel underwent mooring tests from March 30 to November 19, 2001 and sea trials from November 20, 2001 to February 6, 2002.
"Therefore, the management of the Baltiysky Zavod JSO is puzzled by the change in the position of the Navy and believes that the cancellation of the decision on the beginning of the state tests may result in the return to the already completed stage of the sea trials and interfere with the work plan," the press service said in a statement.
An interstate contract on the supply of three frigates to the Indian Navy was signed on November 17, 1997. Baltiysky Zavod started building the first ship named Talwar in March 1998. It was set afloat in May 2000. In May 2002, the vessel is to be handed over to the Indian customer.
The second frigate named Trishul was put on mooring tests on December 21, 2001. Mating of its systems and mechanisms is being checked. A crew of the Russian Navy will move to the vessel in March to complete the mooring tests in late May and transfer the Trishul to the customer in November.
The third frigate named Tabar is under construction. It is to be handed over to the customer in May 2003.
Baltiysky Zavod, one of Russia's largest shipyards, is a part of the IST group of companies.