Wild Rumor: Russia Buying Chinese Frigates

Mozgovoy argued that the Russians could purchase the Jiangkai II frigates to shore up obvious gaps in its aging surface fleet while Russians wait on their 4,500-ton Sergei Gorshkov (Project 22350) class frigates to enter the fleet in numbers.

For the Chinese, a naval ship building contract with Russia would be a boon to its emerging arms export trade which sold three frigates to Algeria, a missile defense system to Turkey and unmanned aerial vehicle sales to Africa, according to a March report from the Swedish Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank.

While Russian submarine construction is widely regarded among world’s best — second only to the U.S. — its surface construction capability has suffered since the end of the Cold War.

For example, it took shipbuilder Severnaya Verf in St. Petersburg seven years to for first-in-class Sergei Gorshkov — from keel laying to commissioning — to enter the Russian fleet after a spate of delays.

One naval expert contacted by USNI News indicated a purchase of Chinese surface ships by Russia would be a serious admission of its own manufacturing deficiencies.

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