The Indian Navy is slated to get the stealth frigate INS Teg by early 2012 as Russia has initiated the sea trials of the warship in the Baltic Sea. INS Teg is the first of the three stealth frigates of the Talwar Class which was ordered by India in 2006 under the $ 1.5 billion deal with Russia. Russia is building three Project 11356 Talwar Class (Krivak IV) guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy at the Yantar shipyard in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.
While Indian Navy already operates three Talwar Class frigates, namely INS Talwar, INS Trishul and INS Tabar, the current batch of frigates being developed in Russia are part of a repeat order to boost the strength of Indian Navy’s fleet. While INS Teg will be delivered in the beginning of 2012, it will be followed by the INS Tarkash in the same year and finally INS Trikand in 2013. The Yantar Shipyard has assured the delivery of these frigates by 2013 despite the delays caused due to inconsistencies in its operations.
The delivery of INS Teg in 2012 will signal the beginning of the second series of the three Project 11356 Talwar Class stealth guided missile frigates to be followed by INS Tarkash and INS Trikand. All of the new frigates will be armed with BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile systems and not the Club-N/3M54TE missile system, which was installed on previous frigates. The Talwar Class frigates are modified Krivak Class frigates with deadweight of over 4,000 metric tons and a speed of 30 knots. These stealth frigates are capable of accomplishing a wide range of maritime missions, primarily targeting and destroying large surface ships and submarines.
INS Teg stealth frigates will bolster Indian Navy’s growing blue-water warfare capabilities. These warships are the topmost priority of the Indian Navy for the maintenance of combat worthy abilities and organizational ability to deploy warships at immediate notice. Indian Navy is optimistic about the capabilities of these frigates as they are packed with sensors, weapons and missile systems and their stealthy nature due to highly-reduced radar, infra-red, noise, frequency and magnetic signatures to beat enemy detection systems. Each warship will also be equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil air defence system, two Kashtan air defence gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo tubes, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter. The Talwar class frigates have impressed the Indian Navy with its high weapon and sensor density.
The Indo-Russian deal for the stealth frigates and the follow-on order for the same have reflected a new level of India-Russia strategic partnership and defence cooperation. The joint development and construction of advanced and frontline defence system and platform is expected to make India-Russian defence cooperation more substantial in the coming years. |