Russia Builds Frigates for Indian Navy

The contract between India and Russia is evaluated in almost one billion dollars

The Talwar frigate, which has been built on the Russian ship-building company the Baltic Factory for the Indian Navy, will be handed over to the customer on June 18th in St.Petersburg. Presidential envoy in the North-West of Russia, Valentina Matviyenko, Russian and Indian naval commanders will be present at the ceremony too. This was said on Monday by a high-ranking source in the Russian defense industry.

It was said that the Talwar completed its test shootings in the Baltic Sea on June 15th. The latest series of tests showed that the frigate was ready to be handed over to the Indian customer, a spokesman for the defense industry said.

An anonymous official reminded that the contract between Russia and India for the delivery of three frigates of 11356 project had been signed in November of 1997. Up-to-date weapons and battle capacities of the Talwar frigate (Sword) make it one of the most perfect vessels of its class, experts believe. The Talwar is the first vessel that is being handed over to India within the scope of the contract. Specialists say that  the Russian-Indian contract is unique, because India will receive the battle ships, which had been projected especially for India. Even the galley was designed on the base of Indian meals peculiarities. To crown it all, the contract is evaluated in about one billion dollars.

The tonnage of new frigates is 3600 tons, their speed reaches 30 knots, but they possess very powerful battle capacities. The vessels are outfitted with 100-millimeter artillery emplacements, Klub-H missile emplacements, anti-aircraft emplacements, torpedo tubes and so on. In addition to it, there is a heliport on board each vessel. The Indian naval command wished to outfit the frigate with Indian hydroacoustics, navigation and communication means, Ukrainian turbines, German desalination stations and  refrigerators, and Dutch diesel generators.