KALININGRAD. May 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The Talwar, first frigate of Project 11356, has completed sea trials in the Baltic Sea, a spokesman for the Baltic Fleet headquarters said on Wednesday.
The vessel, built at the Baltiysky Zavod shipyard at an order from the Indian Navy, is en route to St. Petersburg at the moment, the spokesman told Interfax-Military News Agency. It carries a Russian acceptance commission and over 300 Indian sailors who arrived at the town of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region last week to accept the ship.
According to the spokesman, some components and assemblies of the frigate will be prepared for commissioning at the St. Petersburg-based Severnaya Verf shipyard. After that, documents will be signed for the transfer of the frigate to the Indian Navy. The signing is scheduled for the first half of June.
The Talwar is expected to take part in the traditional Kiel Week en route to India. The event will begin in the German port of Kiel on June 16.
State tests of the Talwar frigate took place at the Baltiysk naval base and ended on March 15. After that the vessel was put on the berth of Baltiysky Zavod for a check of its machines and mechanisms. When the check was over, the Talwar put out to sea for acceptance tests carrying the Indian crew.
The second vessel of the series named Trishul was placed in a dock for painting of its hull on May 7. The frigate carries a Russian Navy crew that will also control the ship during factory performance trials, which are to begin in June.
The third frigate named Tabar is still under construction. It is to be handed over to the customer in May 2003.
An interstate contract for the supply of three frigates to the Indian Navy was signed on November 17, 1997. Baltiysky Zavod started building the first ship in March 1998. It was set afloat in May 2000.
Project 11356 was developed by the Severnoye projecting and design bureau. It is an export-oriented variant of a Russian guard ship. The frigate has a displacement of 4,000t and speed of 30 knots and is capable of accomplishing a wide scale of missions in the ocean, primarily, finding and eliminating submarines and large surface ships.
The frigate is armed with a new Club attack anti-ship system with vertical launch of missiles, as well as with the RBU-6000 jet bomb launcher, Shtil-1 multi-channel medium-range surface-to- air missile system, Kashtan anti-aircraft missile and artillery system and Puma-Universal artillery system. The frigate can carry an anti-submarine helicopter as well.
More than 130 Russian enterprises are involved in the production of the frigates. They are joined by a few Indian companies that supply component parts, in particular, hydro- acoustic equipment.