By RIA Novosti,
Kaliningrad : A delegation of Indian military officials has visited the Yantar shipyard in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad to inspect the construction of three missile frigates for the Indian Navy, a company’s spokesman said on Tuesday.
“India’s deputy chief of the naval staff, Vice Adm. Raman P Suthan, was satisfied with the pace and the quality of the construction. He expressed hope that the future work will be carried out at the same high standard,” Sergei Mikhailov said.
India and Russia signed a $1.6 billion contract for the construction of an additional three Project 11356 Krivak IV-class guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy in July, 2006. Russia previously built three Krivak-class frigates – INS Talwar, INS Trishul and INS Tabar – for India, and delivered them all in late 2004.
The final vessel is due to be delivered to India by 2011-12. All of the frigates will be armed each with eight BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles instead of the Club-N/3M54TE missiles, which were installed on previous frigates.
The Krivak-class frigate has deadweight of 4,000 metric tons and a speed of 30 knots, and is capable of accomplishing a wide range of maritime missions, primarily hunting down and destroying large surface ships and submarines.