In Russia, they are again talking about replenishing the Black Sea Fleet with new ships. This time, sources in the main headquarters of the Russian Navy reported that by 2020, 18 new ships and submarines should appear on the Black Sea Fleet. According to the source, this is included in the Russian state armament program for 2011-2020. We are talking, in particular, about six new frigates of project 22350, six diesel submarines of the "Lada" class and two large landing ships of project 11711. Let us remind you that last week the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anatoly Serdyukov, after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Mikhail Yezhel, said: in the near future we plan to sign an agreement on the replacement of equipment and weapons of the Black Sea Fleet."
The first frigate of Project 22350, "Admiral Gorshkov", is planned to be launched on October 29, 2010. After all the tests, he will join the Baltic Fleet (BF) of Russia. The second, "Admiral Kasatonov", is at the stage of "starting the assembly of the hull." It is intended for the Black Sea Fleet and, according to the plan, should become part of it in 2012. The newest diesel submarine of the "Lada" class is now available in a single copy, under the name "St. Petersburg" the submarine became part of the Baltic Fleet this year. It took 13 years from the start of its construction to its adoption, which is longer than the Russian armament program for 2011-2020 generally envisaged. Two more "Lada" - "Kronstadt" and "Sevastopol" - are planned to be launched no earlier than in 2013 and 2015, respectively. The project 11711 large landing ship began to be built in 2004, but now only the hull has been completed. It is planned to launch the ship at the end of 2011 - at the beginning of 2012, subject to proper funding.
Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Vladimir Vysotsky, announced plans for 15 new ships and submarines for the Black Sea Fleet by 2020. According to other sources, the Black Sea Fleet supposedly had to transfer the Neustrashimy and Yaroslav the Wise patrol ships from the Baltic Fleet, upgrade bombers and anti-submarine aircraft, etc. In general, the cost of fulfilling such plans is estimated at 100 billion rubles.
