Delivery of Russian ships to India postponed again

26.08.2011 Russia delays delivery of the second trio of Talwar-class stealth frigates, said Indian defense minister A.K. Antony in the interview to Rajya Sabha.

Delivery date of three Russian frigates Tag ("Saber"), Tarkash ("Quiver"), and Trikand ("Bow") built for Indian Navy will be postponed for 12-14 months.

Construction of warships for Indian Navy has been carried out by Yantar Shipyard since 2006. Delivery lag of the second trio of Talwar-class frigates is attributed to lack of qualified staff to build several ships simultaneously, and problems with Russian suppliers.

According to Indian defense minister, Russian company Rosoboronexport indicated that delay period for the first frigate would be 12 months, for the second one – 11 months, and for the third one – 14 months.

Delivery term of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is also postponed till Dec 2012; the ship is being revamped by JSC Sevmash, reports Rajya Sabha.

The aircraft carrier would not be delivered on time due to the need to replace almost all onboard equipment and systems, hull structural elements, cables, use of new durable paintings, and drawing of detailed report of conducted mooring, sea, and flight development trials.

All issues regarding delivery protraction of Russian warships are controlled and considered by various bilateral organizations, such as Supervisory Council at the summit level and Indo-Russian Military Cooperation Intergovernmental Committee.

Recall that the first three frigates ordered by Indian Navy and built by JSC Baltiysky Zavod (St. Petersburg) since 1999 till 2004 were also delivered with a one-year delay due to technical problems.

The ships cost $1 bln. Frigate INS Talwar, INS Trishul, and INS Tabar proved themselves as quite effective and well-armed ships capable to perform wide range of tasks such as antisubmarine/antiaircraft defense and convoy escorting.

Reference

Talwar-class frigates are the first Indian Navy's ships built under stealth technology and equipped with missile vertical launch system. Having ascertained that the frigates have perfect combat and operational capabilities, Indian Navy command decided to reinforce the inventory with another 3-ship series. The $1.6-bln contract for three frigates was signed in summer 2005 and provided delivery in 2011-2012. The project was developed by Severnoye Design Bureau which is affiliate of JSC United Shipbuilding Corporation.

Second trio of frigates differs from the first one in armament. Antiship missile system Club-N was replaced with BrahMos system jointly designed by Russia and India; number of missiles remained the same. Also, hard-to-operate missile/gun air defense systems Kashtan were replaced with well-mastered gun mounts AK-630M.

Basic characteristics of Project 11356 frigates

Full displacement: 4,035 tons
Length: 124.8 meters
Beam: 15.2 meters
Draft: 4.2 meters
Full speed: 30 knots
Cruising range: 4,850 miles at 14 knots
Endurance: 30 knots
Main propulsion plant: 2 gas turbines M7H1, overall power 60,900 shp; 4 x 800 kW diesel generators
Armament: BrahMos antiship cruise missile launcher (8 missiles), one Shtil-1 SAM launcher (24 missiles), one 100-mm gun mount A-190E with Puma guided artillery system, two 30-mm gun mounts AK-630M with Vympel guided artillery system, eight Igla-1E SAM launchers, two coupled 533-mm torpedo tubes DTA-53-956, 1x12 depth-charge launcher RBU-6000 of RPK-8E Zapad system, one Ka-28 (or Ka-31) helicopter.
Radar facilities: general detection radar Fregat-M2EM, acquisition radar ZTSU-25E Kashtan, navigation radar MR-212/201-1, navigation radar Bridge-Master, navigation radar Nucleus-2-6000, electronic warfare system ASOR, sonar system Humsa and SSN-137
Crew is 200 including 18 officers.