The Diplomat:
In yet another sign that Russia’s ambitious naval rearmament program is facing difficulties, the head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, Alexei Rakhmanov, announced that the delivery of the second Admiral Gorshkov-class (Project 22350) guided missile frigate, Admiral Kasatonov, will be delayed by around eight months.
“The second warship of this series, the Admiral Kasatonov, was due to have been delivered this year but considering that the ceremony of hoisting the flag aboard the [Admiral] Gorshkov has been postponed, we simply won’t be physically able to prepare the next ship,” Rakhmanov told TASS news agency last week.
“The delay with the delivery of the lead ship always automatically shifts the delivery of the second ship by about eight months. So, it turns out that we are now planning this for October-November 2019.” Originally, the Admiral Kasatonov was expected to be handed over to the Russian Navy already in February 2018, with the first round of sea trials supposed to kick off in the summer.
