The Talwar-class frigates or Project 11356 are a class of stealth guided missile frigates designed and built by Russia for the Indian Navy. The Talwar-class guided missile frigates are the improved versions of the Krivak III-class (Project 1135) frigates used by the Russian Coast Guard. The design has been further developed as the for the Russian Navy. Six ships were built in two batches between 1999 and 2013.
Designed by Severnoye Design Bureau, the first batch of ships were built by Baltic Shipyard and the second batch by Yantar Shipyard.Preceded by the Brahmaputra-class frigates, the Talwar-class frigates are said to have semi-stealth features and better armament. The Indian Navy currently has six of these ships and 4 more are under construction including 2 in an Indian shipyard, for which Goa shipyard was selected.[1]
On 17 November 1997, Russia and India signed a $1 billion contract, for three Krivak III-class multi-purpose frigates. The Indian Navy wanted to fill the gap created by the decommissioning of the s until the Project 17-class frigates entered service.
After the signing of the contract, Severnoye Design Bureau began a detail design layout and the shipbuilder, Baltisky Zavod of St. Petersburg, began preparations for their construction. The project involved around 130 suppliers from Russia, India, Britain, Germany, Denmark, Belarus, Ukraine and other countries including over 30 St. Petersburg-based naval design organizations and institutes.
The first frigate, INS Talwar was delivered in May 2002. The second, INS Trishul, was delivered in November 2002 and the third, INS Tabar, in May 2003. The Russian firm delayed the delivery of three frigates by 13 months, 7 months and 11 months respectively. The contract stipulated the levy of liquidated damages for the delays and the same worked out to the equivalent of 38.5 million. This was yet to be recovered as of December 2005.
The Government of India signed a follow-on contract for the purchase of three additional frigates on 14 July 2006. These ships will be built at Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad. The first frigate was scheduled for delivery in April 2011. These ships will feature BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missile instead of the Klub-N/3M54TE missile system which was provided to the Talwar, Trishul and Tabar frigates.
In July 2012, India Today reported the start of talks about purchasing three additional Talwar-class frigates (No.7 to No.9).[2] In March 2016, it was reported that India and Russia are still negotiating the purchase of the additional ships.[3] [4]
In September 2016, it was reported that India would acquire two s from Russia and remaining two will be built in India.[5] These frigates are based on the Talwar class and were to be commissioned into the Russian Navy, but after the Ukrainian Conflict, Ukraine refused to supply any more engines for the Russian ships. As of then, only two of the six have been commissioned by Russia.[6] In August 2017, the Indian Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared a proposal of Rs 490 crore to buy two gas turbines from Zorya-Mashproekt in Ukraine for the s being built in Russia.[7] [8]
In October 2018, Indian Ministry of Defence signed a deal for for procuring two s, Admiral Butakov (renamed INS Tushil) and Admiral Istomin (renamed INS Tamala).[9] [10] [11] [12] The two frigates was scheduled to be delivered to Indian Navy by 2022.[13] [14] The last frigate, the former Admiral Kornilov, is to be sold abroad. (Total: 3 ships built for the Russian Navy, 3 ships under construction for sale abroad).[15]