One ship has been fully equipped; the second one will be also completed in Feb-March, he said.
According to Mr. Pillai, the shipyard conducts final works to prepare the frigate for trials. He also said that the new ships could launch BrahMos missiles both in the Baltic Sea and in the Indian Ocean when the first frigate arrives there from Russia. This issue is at the Russian Navy's option, said the executive director.
The shipbuilding contract for three frigates for Indian Navy was signed on July 14, 2007 in Delhi. Overall cost of the contract makes about $1.6 bln. This is the second export contract for Russian frigates tied with India. The first one cost about $1 bln and was signed in Nov 1997. Three ships were built and handed over to Indian Navy – INS Tabar (Axe), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Talvar (Sword).
Dimensions and navigability of the frigates currently built at Yantar will have no cardinal differences with those exported to India earlier. The changes are related to armament and onboard equipment. In particular, the new frigates are armed with Russian-Indian cruise missiles BrahMos.
As was reported, the first ship of new series – INS Teg (Saber) – was launched in Nov 2009, the second one – INS Tarkash (Quiver) – in June 2010.
Project 11356 guided missile frigates are designed for antisubmarine, antisurface, and antiaircraft defenses. The ship's length is 125 meters; beam is 15 meters; displacement is 4,000 tons; crew is up to 200; fuel range is 4,500 miles.
0 comments:
Post a Comment