The first of three modified Krivak III Class guided-missile frigates currently being built for the Indian Navy will be floated out on 27 November 2009 by Yantar Shipyard in Russia.

The shipyard spokesman Sergei Mikhailov said the post-construction work on the frigate was still to be carried out and the sea trials would begin in 2010.

The Yantar Shipyard in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad is scheduled to deliver all the three ships to India between 2011 and 2012.

Yantar Shipyard director Igor Orlov said the company was currently in talks with Russia’s Vnesheconombank on a $60m loan to complete the construction of the three frigates for the Indian Navy.

The 4,000t Krivak III or Talwar Class frigate can cruise at a speed of 30kt and can undergo a wide range of naval missions including hunting down and destroying large surface ships and submarines.

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All three new frigates will be armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, a 100mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defence gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.

Russia has already delivered three Talwar class frigates for India, the INS Talwar, the INS Trishul and the INS Tabar.