India Receives Third INS Trikand Frigate From Russia

Russia has delivered the third and final frigate built for the Indian Navy, Rosoboronexport officials said.

The Trikand missile frigate was handed over to the Indian crew at the Yantar shipyard in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad yesterday.

“During the ceremony, the Russian and Indian officials signed an acceptance act, and an Indian navy flag was hoisted on the ship,” Rosoboronexport said.

Russia and India signed a $1.6 billion contract on the construction of three modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for India in 2006.

The first frigate, INS Teg, joined the Indian Navy on April 27, 2012, while the second, INS Tarkash, arrived at the port of Mumbai in India on December 30, 2012.

The frigates are each armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, jointly developed by Russia and India.

They are also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defense gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers and an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.

Russia built three Talwar class frigates for India - INS Talwar (Sword), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Tabar (Axe) under a previous contract.