Article Posted on : - Apr 08, 2013

INS Tarkash. An Indian Navy photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): The third and final Talwar-class guided missile frigate, INS Trikand, being built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia, has started final trials in the Baltic Sea.

According to a Ria Novosti report, the trials will last through the end of April.

The frigate carried out workup trials on 14 March and was cleared for final state trials on 4 April, the report quoted shipyard spokesman Sergei Mikhailov as saying.

INS Trikand is the last in a series of three frigates that Russia is building for India. The frigate is scheduled to be handed over to the Indian Navy in June this year.

The Yantar shipyard was awarded a $1.6 billion contract in 2006 to build three modified Talwar class (also known as Krivak III class) guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy.

India received the first frigate, INS Teg on 27 April 2012, and the second, the Tarkash, on 30 December.

All the three frigates are equipped with BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missiles as the prime strike weapon.

They are also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defence gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers and an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.

The Talwar class frigates have been designed to accomplish a wide range of missions, primarily finding and eliminating enemy submarines and large surface ships.