Eight new missile cruisers for Russian Navy

A contract with the Ministry of Defense is under planning, Deputy President of the United Shipbuilding Corporation Igor Ponomarev says to RIA Novosti. That will include the first of a total of eight ships.

A draft is currently under review in the ministry and that will be followed by technical specifications and documentation, Ponomarev explains to the news agency. 

The new missile cruiser (project 23560) is expected to have a deadweight of 17,500 tons, a length of 200 meter and be equipped with more than 200 missiles of various purposes. Among them will be a version of the S-500, the newest and most lethal Russian missile system, Izvestia reports.

The ships will be Russia’s first new missile cruisers since the 1990s. The Northern Fleet’s current flagship, the «Pyotr Veliki», was included in the Navy in 1998.

It is the Severnoye Design Bureau in St. Petersburg, which is in charge of designing the vessel, Izvestia informs.