Russia has commissioned the frigate Admiral Golovko, the country’s first ship built to launch Zircon hypersonic missiles, the government announced at the Dec. 25 flag-raising ceremony. President Vladimir Putin said that by 2035 the Severnaya Verf shipyard will build a series of small- and medium-displacement corvettes, while the Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had announced that all frigates and corvettes under construction would be armed with Zircon missiles.
Despite the statements about the start of serial production, this is still a piece-by-piece production, according to Pavel Luzin, senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. The Severnaya Verf shipyard, a subsidiary of United Shipbuilding Corp., is currently under contract to build or prepare to launch seven Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates, also known as Project 22350.
Meanwhile, it’s unlikely industry can produce the Lider-class destroyer and the battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy is set to be decommissioned, per Russian media. Earlier this week, Ukrainian aircraft damaged a Russian ship moored in the Black Sea off Crimea, in a recent setback in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. The planes fired guided missiles at the landing ship Novocherkassk, which is moored at a base in the city of Feodosia, Russia’s Defence Ministry said. Video on Russian and Ukrainian social media showed an explosion in the port. Ukrainian authorities claimed the ship was destroyed, and the 360-foot Novocherkassk can carry 10 tanks and 225 sailors.
Maxim Starchak is a Russia correspondent for Defense News. He previously worked as an editor for the Russian Defence Ministry and as an expert for the NATO Information Office in Moscow. He has covered Russian nuclear and defense issues for the Atlantic Council, the Center for European Policy Analysis, the Royal United Services Institute and more.
