Another Talwar Class Frigate to be Delivered to India in 2013

India is scheduled to received its sixth Talwar class frigate in the summer of 2013 after completion of contractor trials by the INS Trikand. The ship was build at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia and will now prepare for state sea trials.

The INS Trikand is the third and last of the second batch of 3 frigates ordered from Russia by India in a 2006 contract worth $1.6 billion. The other two, the INS Teg and INS Tarkash were both delivered to the Indian Navy in 2012.

The second batch of the Talwar class differ from the first batch in the following:

• The second batch are armed with 8 Brahmos supersonic cruise missile instead of the 3M-54 Klub missile.
• The second batch lacks the Kashtan Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) and is only fitted with 2 AK-630M guns. Presumably, the Israeli Barak-1 will be added to the ships in the future similar to the Shivalik class.

All 6 units of the Talwar class are also equipped with:

• one 100 mm A-190 dual purpose gun
• the Shtil system with 24 9M317 surface-to-air missiles
• two dual 533 mm torpedo launchers

There is a hangar for a single helicopter such as the Kamov Ka-28. The Talwar class is based on the Krivak III class and is referred to in Russia as the Project 11356 class frigate based on the Krivak class.

There have been negotiations with Russia concerning a third batch of 3 Talwar class frigates to India despite the fact that some issues had to be resolved regarding the second batch. However, no final contract has so far been signed.


http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130315/180042579/Russian-Frigate-Built-for-India-Completes-Sea-Trials.html