Russia, India prepare contract for four project 11356 frigates.

The deal to build four project 11356 frigates for India is to be completed in June, a military-diplomatic source told TASS. The Izvestia daily writes about one of the largely produced post-Soviet warship.

Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy, INS Teg, during sea trials in Russia.

The framework intergovernmental agreement to build a new series of project 11356 frigates for India was signed in October 2016. It stipulated that two warships would be built in Russia and two in India with partial localization of production.

India has been ordering project 11356 warships for nearly 20 years and is currently operating six of them. The Baltic shipyard began to build the first troika of Talwar-class frigates in 1999 and commissioned them in 2003-2004. The order for the second troika was handed over to Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad. The frigates were laid in 2007-2008 and built in 2012-2013.

Project 11356 frigate was designed on the basis of border guard cruiser of project 11351 which in its turn developed from project 1135.

The previously antisubmarine warships became multirole. They are armed with powerful missiles, including antiaircraft Shtil and eight-cell vertical launchers 3S-14E which can fire antiship missiles Club 3M-54E (export option of Kalibr). The air defense was armed with Kashtan missile guns, but the second troika had them replaced by standard six-barrel AK-630 guns.

The second troika was armed with antiship BrahMos missiles fired from the same 3S-14E vertical launchers. BrahMos is an Indian missile produced jointly with NPO Mashinostroeniya according to P-800 Onix missile (export option Yakhont).

Hulls of the Project 11356 frigates "Admiral Istomin" and "Admiral Kornilov" under construction at PJSC "Baltic Shipyard Yantar". Picture taken on 14.11.2017 (c) kaliningradblog.livejournal .com

According to the logic of the Russian surface fleet buildup in the 2000s, project 22350 frigates (the Admiral Gorshkov) had to comprise its backbone. The lead ship was laid in 2006. It was armed with Poliment-Redut antiaircraft missile complex which controlled all air defense means in a single contour. The warships have not been commissioned yet because of long delays in streamlining new armaments. Therefore, the military began to look for a replacement.

In 2010 they decided to order Yantar shipyard to build three project 11356 frigates with minimal changes. The main one was an antiaircraft complex (export version Shtil-1) with vertical launchers instead of rail. In 2011 an order for another three warships arrived. All the six frigates had to join the Black Sea fleet.

The first troika has been handed over to the customer. The Admiral Grigorovich and the Admiral Essen are operating in the Black Sea fleet and engaged in the Russian operation in Syria. The Admiral Makarov is still in the Baltic Sea mostly because of continuing trials of a new antiaircraft 9M317MA missile with an active homing warhead.

Two frigates of the second troika were laid in 2013 - the Admiral Istomin and the Admiral Butakov. The third one, the Admiral Kornilov, has not been officially laid so far.
The new contract rules out the use of already laid hulls, according to the source. The uncompleted second troika of frigates for the Russian Navy is still at Yantar shipyard due to the conflict with Ukraine over Crimea and Donbass in 2014. Gas-turbine power plants for the warships were produced by Ukrainian Zorya-Mashproekt in Nikolayev, which was the center of competence in the former Soviet Union. Kiev blocked turbine supplies for the Russian military in 2014.

Russia is currently developing its own gas turbines at an accelerated pace at the Rybinsk facility of Saturn Company. It will also produce power plants for project 22350 frigates which also suffered from politics.
The contract for the second troika for the Russian Navy has not been terminated, but suspended. The military numerously stated the frigates will be completed with Russian-made engines as they appear and become operational. The deadline depends on the readiness for serial production of the equipment. The Yantar shipyard has already mastered rhythmical production of the warships.

The power plants for the Indian deal can be purchased in Ukraine via New Delhi. Anyway, the Indian commission for defense procurement appropriated 76 million dollars to buy two gas turbines. They will be handed over to Russia for the construction of the first pair of frigates by a new contract, the Izvestia writes.

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