INS Trikand (F50), the Indian Navy’s third Talwar-class warship, has started final state sea trials in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, Russia, Yantar shipyard spokesman Sergei Mikhailov has said.
Mikhailov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying that INS Trikand had successfully completed workup trials in March and the final sea trails is expected to run through the end of this month.
In July 2006, a $1.6bn contract was awarded by the Indian Ministry of Defence to Russia to build three additional Project 1135.6 Talwar-class frigates, INS Teg (F45), INS Tarkash (F46) and INS Trikand (F50).
The three additional frigates will be deployed with existing warships of the same class, INS Talwar (sword), INS Trishul (trident) and INS Tabar (axe), to support Indian Navy operations.
INS Teg, the first frigate of the class, was deployed in June 2012 while the second ship, INS Tarkash, was handed over to India on 30 December the same year.
Launched in May 2011, the INS Trikand is scheduled to be delivered to the navy in June 2013, Mikhailov said.
Powered by combined gas turbine propulsion systems, the modified version of the Krivak III-class frigates are 126m-long, capable of cruising at a maximum speed of 30k and can accommodate a crew of 313.
The Talwar-class ships are armed with AK-190 100mm naval gun, Shtil-1 medium-range surface-to-air missile system and 12 barrel RBU-6000 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) rocket to fire 212mm 90R ASW rocket or RGB-60 depth charges.
The Yantar Shipyard-built frigate is also armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, Kashtan Air Defence close-in weapon systems and twin 533mm DTA-53-11356 fixed torpedo tube launchers firing SET-65E/53-65KE torpedoes.
Image: Indian Navy’s Talwar-class frigate conducting mission at sea. Photo: courtesy of Indiannavy.nic.in.
