Russia Ready To Provide Additional Talwar Class Frigates To India

Russia is ready to provide three additional Talwar class frigates to India after the latter sent a request, Tass reported today.

Russia has supplied India with two sets of three Project 11356 Talwar frigates, with the last one being the INS Trikand.

“Negotiations on the third set of three frigates have been taking place with the Indian side since this spring. India sent us a request and we presented a proposal in response,” Vladimir Spiridopulo, the general director working on this project at the Northern Design Bureau was quoted as saying.

He did not specify which shipyard will get the order.

“Negotiations are underway for the modernization of the first three frigates, but the contract for the modernization program is still not signed,” he said.

“The Northern Design Bureau is helping to install combat information and control system on the Indian Kolkata class frigates. The system has already been installed on the third ship of the project,” he said.

India might look at equipping next frigates with BrahMos missiles. The existing project 11356 Talwar class frigates are not BrahMos-equipped as the designing happened before naval variant of BrahMos was developed.

The ships are designed to carry and operate one heavy duty early warning helicopter which can provide over-the-horizon targeting. The frigates can also have the indigenously built Dhruv light combat helicopter.

Its combat data system independently generates combat missions based on situation analysis, determines optimal number of missile firings, displays information on the state of ship-borne weaponry and transmits data to protection systems.