India to soon get 2nd advanced stealth frigate built in Russia

Time of India

05-05-2025

NEW DELHI: India will soon get its second powerful warship built in Russia, a multi-role
stealth frigate
packed with weapons and sensors, which will follow its sister ship INS Tushil commissioned in Dec last year.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
With India flexing its naval muscles in the Arabian Sea amid the heightened tensions with Pakistan, the Navy and DRDO on Monday also successfully undertook
combat firing
-- with reduced explosives -- of the indigenously developed underwater 'multi-influence ground mines' designed to destroy enemy submarines and stealth warships. "The system will further enhance
undersea warfare
capabilities of the Indian Navy," defence minister
said.
The new 3,900-tonne frigate, which will be commissioned as
INS Tamal
, in turn, is likely to be handed over to the Indian Navy at Kaliningrad after the completion of all its crucial trials, including firing of weapons, in a month or so. "The frigate will then be commissioned and set sail for India," an officer said on Monday.
India in Oct 2016 had inked an umbrella agreement with Russia for four upgraded
Krivak-III class frigates
, with the first two to be imported for around Rs 8,000 crore.
The other two, Triput and Tavasya, in turn, are being built at the Goa Shipyard with transfer of technology at an overall cost of around Rs 13,000 crore.
The first frigate, the 125-metre-long INS Tushil, reached her home port of Karwar from Russia on Feb 14. These four new warships will add to the six such Russian frigates, three Talwar-class and three Teg-class warships, already inducted in the Navy from 2003-2004 onwards.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Designed for blue water operations across the spectrum of naval warfare in the four dimensions of air, surface, underwater and electromagnetic, these frigates are armed with a wide array of advanced weapon systems.
The weapons include the Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles, whose strike range has been extended to 450-km from the original 290-km, the vertically-launched Shtil surface-to-air missiles with enhanced ranges, and anti-submarine torpedoes and rockets, among others.
Capable of achieving speeds of over 30 knots, the frigates can also carry the upgraded anti-submarine and airborne early warning helicopters, the Kamov-28 and Kamov-31, which are force multipliers in themselves. "High degree of automation and stealth features, across radio, infrared, and acoustic spectrums, further enhance their combat capability and survivability," the officer said.