Sourced : Russia & India Report
By Alexander Korablinov
Goa Shipyard Ltd will collaborate with Russia’s United Ship Building to build guided-missile stealth frigates for the Indian Navy, the Times of India reported on Mar. 7. The Project 11356 frigates are likely to be armed with BrahMos missiles, according to the paper.
“The Russian specialists from Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad checked our infrastructure and R&D facilities,” Goa Shipyard Managing Director Shekhar Mital told the paper. “They looked around the facility and our audits and they seem impressed.”
The frigates are being built under a $4 billion deal signed between Russia and India during the 2016 bilateral summit in Goa. One frigate will be built at the Yantar shipyard, while three others will be manufactured under the “Make in India” model.
The frigates will be handed over to the Indian Navy in six years.
“It is a very complex project,” Mital told the Times of India. “It is in collaboration with the Russians and it is going to be long negotiations and tough discussions. It is going to be hard work for the next two years. It is a little too early to say anything. We have just been nominated for the project.”
India operates six Talwar-class frigates, which are the Project 11356 predecessors developed for exports. The Indian warships entered service in 2003-2004 and 2012-2013.