By RIA Novosti
Moscow : The Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, has started building a second frigate for the Indian Navy.
A spokesman of the shipyard said this is the largest contract so far. The first of the three frigates was laid down on July 27, and two parts of the ship’s frame have already been completed.
The contract to build three frigates was signed in New Delhi July 14, 2006. The ships are to be commissioned in 2012.
This is the second contract for the delivery of Russian frigates to the Indian Navy. The first such contract, worth about $1 billion, was signed in November 1997 for the construction of the Tabar, Trishul and Talwar frigates.
The new frigates will differ mainly in their armament and equipment. In particular, they will be armed with the BrahMos multi-role supersonic cruise missiles (MRCM) created by the Indian-Russian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace.