Kalibr-Armed Frigate To Lead Russian Force In Mediterranean Sea

Admiral Gorshkov Russian frigate, 10 July 2018. Source: the Russian Ministry of Defense. http://мультимедиа.минобороны.рф/multimedia/photo/gallery.htm?id=59002@cmsPhotoGallery

The Admiral Gorshkov frigate of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet will lead the permanent task force of the country’s in the Mediterranean Sea, the TASS news agency reported on April 30, citing two informed sources. 

“After having recently crossed the Suez Canal, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov has become the lead ship of the Russian Navy’s Mediterranean Squadron,” one of the officials told the Russian news agency.

The other official said that the vessel would be in the Mediterranean “for approximately two months, while sporadically calling at Syria’s Tartus,” where a Russian naval facility is located.

Admiral Gorshkov, which has a displacement of 4,550 tons, can be armed with a mix of 16 Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles, Oniks supersonic anti-ship missiles and Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missiles. The frigate is also equipped with the naval version of the S-350 medium-range air defense system, known as Redut, and the Paket-E/NK anti-submarine torpedo system.

The Russian Navy reinforced its permanent task force in the Mediterranean Sea, based in Tartus, before the start of the special military operation in Ukraine last year.

The deployment of Admiral Gorshkov, which will further reinforce the task force, came just days after a leaked U.S. intelligence document revealed a plot by Ukrainian intelligence to attack Russian bases in Syria with help from United States-backed Kurdish forces in the country.

One of the possible scenarios discussed in the leaked document was an attack on Tartus naval base with unmanned surface and aerial vehicles.

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