India, Russia Likely to Sign BrahMos-equipped Frigate contract

India and Russia are likely to sign a contract for the supply of four Russia-designed Project 11356 frigates which will be equipped with the BrahMos missile, during the upcoming bilateral summit in Delhi later this week.

“The deal is ready for signing during the Indo-Russian summit in Delhi. All the technical details were finalized in 2017,” an industry source familiar with the developments told Defenseworld.net.

“The price should remain at around $2 billion for all 4 ships; two ships are to come from Russia and two more to be built at the Goa Shipyard. A significant feature of these ships will be that instead of the Klub missile system of Russia as in earlier Russian frigates they will get BrahMos missiles produced in India. Once the contract is implemented, the transfer of the ships could be swift since two hulls of the ships at the Kaliningrad shipyard in Russia are almost ready,” the source said.

These ships are designed to destroy enemy surface combatants, submarines and air attack assets. India has 6 project 11356 (Talwar-class) frigates supplied by Russia from 2003 to 2013. These are the first Indian ships to integrate stealth features and vertical launch missile launchers. However, the new ships would have stronger stealth features.

The 11356 frigates have roll stabilization, reduced secondary radar, infrared and electromagnetic signatures, low underwater noise and interference with the organic sonar system and can be operated in a range of climatic conditions.

In October 2016 an Intergovernmental agreement was signed between India and Russia envisaging the implementation of 2+2 scheme in order to supply the Indian Navy with four more frigates. This means that two ships will come from Russia (being built at Yantar Shipyard) while the other two will be built in India at Goa Shipyard.