The Russian Ministry of Defense's press office announced that the Yakov Balyayev, a Project 12700 minesweeper, will be launched at a ceremony on January 24 at the Sredne-Nevsky shipyard. The event will be attended by senior officials in the Russian Navy. The Navy had noted last month that "the work of forming the hull and outfitting it with systems and mechanisms was completed aboard the ship," making it ready for launching.

The crew of the minesweeper are presently completing training at a Russian Navy facility located in St. Petersburg.

Following launching, the minesweeper will have its maritime systems installed and then begin dockside trials. It will progress from there to factory sea trials and then to state trials, after which it will be commissioned.

It is presently assumed that Yakov Balyayev will be commissioned either in late 2020 or early 2021.

Yakov Balyayev, laid down in December 2017, is the fifth minesweeper in the Project 12700 line of vessels, which are 62 meters long and displace nearly 900 tons. Three vessels have been commissioned -- the fourth, Georgiy Kurbatov, is scheduled for commissioning later this year -- and two more have been laid down, making for seven vessels in the Navy in the next few years. In a Navy press statement last month, Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov was quoted as saying, "There are plans to build several dozen Project 12700 ships. They have no rivals in the world by their characteristics."

Source:  FlotProm
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Source Language: Russian

Initial construction of the first ship began with a steel-cutting ceremony in June 2018, but a full construction contract to finish the ship is expected in spring 2020.

The new class is using an off-the-shelf ship design from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada. The long-delayed effort will replace Canada's former supply ships, HMCS Preserver and HMCS Protecteur (the new class will reuse the names of the old auxiliaries). The replacement effort was originally launched in 2004, but the initial attempt was canceled in 2008 because of high costs. The original Preserver and Protecteur were removed from service ahead of schedule in 2014, leaving a capability gap that has been filled through agreements to utilize foreign logistics ships and the conversion of a container ship into an interim supply ship.

JSS delivery dates have been pushed back multiple times. At one point, the first ship was expected to arrive by 2020, but delivery will not take place until 2023. The second ship is not expected to arrive until 2025.

In October 2019, Navamar was awarded a CAD11.7 million contract for five ship-to-shore connector craft that will eventually be used by the JSS fleet.

Source:  DND
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Author: S. McDougall, Defense Analyst 

The goal of the Mid-Life Upgrade project is to secure the service life of the vessels until 2030’s and to extend the vessels’ independent operation time. The project will also develop the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and the surface defense capabilities with new features

Source:  Patria
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