Sea-Launched BrahMos cruise missiles delivered to Indian navy frigates.

BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles will replace Klub-N anti-ship missiles as the Talwar-class’ primary weapon system, Franz-Stefan Gady reports on The Diplomat.

Talwar-class frigate of the Indian navy (Picture source: Wikipedia)

The Indian Navy has begun receiving sea-launched BrahMos anti-ship cruise missiles for the service’s Talwar (Project 1135.6)-class frigates, the CEO of BrahMos Aerospace. The first three Talwar-class missile frigates will be equipped with a new eight-cell vertical launch system (VLS) and a shipborne control unit for launching the BrahMos missiles, which will replace the Russian-made 3M-54E Klub-B anti-ship missile as the surface combatant’s primary weapon system.

The Indian Navy has started repair and modernization of the Talwar Project 1135.6 type ships that were built at the Baltic Shipyard. These platforms will have their Klub-N strike missiles replaced by the BrahMos SLCM (sea-launched cruise missile). It is unclear when the retrofitting will be completed. Russia built six Talwar-class frigates for the Indian Navy between 2003 and 2013. All six warships are homeported in Mumbai.

The SLCM variant of the BrahMos can reportedly fly 3-4 meters above the sea to avoid detection and is capable of traveling at speeds of up to Mach 3.0, making it one of the world’s fastest cruise missiles.

Four upgraded Talwar-class warships — Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 1135.6P/M) guided-missile frigates — will also be equipped with the BrahMos SLCM. Work on the first two upgraded Talwar-class ships has reportedly already begun at the Yantar shipyard, part of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), in Kaliningrad.

Sea-launched version of the Russian-Indian BrahMos cruise missile (Picture source: Navy Recognition)