Yantar shipyard will launch two frigates for India till the end of 2010

12.01.2010 Source: RIA Novosti, photo: First frigate for Indian Navy (shipbuilding.ru)

Baltic shipyard Yantar plans to launch next two frigates for Indian Navy by the end of 2010; currently, basic equipment is being installed on the ships, reported Monday RIA Novosti citing the shipyard's official.

"We're planning to launch two frigates made for India by the end of 2010; hulls have been already completed. Presently, basic equipment is being installed on the ships; in particular, one of them is being loaded with armament", said the shipyard's representative.

The contract on construction of three Project 11356 frigates was signed in Delhi on July 14, 2006; the contract value is about $1.5 bln. Three ships obtained the names of Teg (Sabre), Tarkash (Quiver) and Trikand (Bow).

First frigate (Teg) was launched late Nov 2009.

Present-day frigate is multipurpose intermediate tonnage ship designed for conducting warfare against surface ships and submarines in ocean and sea regions, and also for repelling aerial attacks.

Basic characteristics of Project 11356 frigate: length is 125 meters; beam is 15 meters; extreme draft at full displacement is 7 meters; total displacement is 4,000 tonnes; operational range at 14 knots with maximum fuel load is 5,000 miles; full speed is 32 knots.

"Generally, about 1,500 - 2,000 shipwrights are engaged in various construction phases of the ships", noted the interviewee.

The shipyard is supposed to deliver the whole series of three frigates to the orderer in 2011-2012, specified the source.

"We intend to deliver frigate Teg as soon as 2011; Tarkash and Trikand will be also delivered by terms provided by the contract", added Yantar's representative.

The ships will be armed with eight supersonic antiship cruise missiles BrahMos and 24 vertically launched Shtil SAM missiles. Artillery armament of the ships will include 100-mm gun mount and two Kashtan anti-aircraft gun/missile systems. Frigates will be also equipped with ASW helicopter and 533-mm torpedo tubes.

Yantar shipyard was established after WW2 in 1945 on the basis of Koenigsberg branch of Schihau shipyard; it is specialized in various classes of naval and civil vessels with launching weight up to 10,000 tonnes, and in ship repairs as well. Through its life, the shipyard built over 150 warships, 100 large and more than 400 small civil craft, repaired over 430 naval and civil vessels.

Yantar is the only Russian shipyard located in the southeast Baltic, close to largest industrial centers of Europe.

Kaliningrad is Russian ice-free port at the Baltic Sea and the capital city of Russia's westernmost region enjoying the status of a special economic zone and possessing advanced transport infrastructure.