Three frigates being built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad for the Indian navy have been named by the Indian president, a shipyard spokesman said on Wednesday.
Russia is building three Project 11356 modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for the Indian Navy under a $1.6 billion contract signed in July, 2006.
"Three frigates for the Indian navy, which are being built at our shipyard, have been given names - the Teg [Saber], the Tarkash [Quiver], and the Trikand [Bow]. Indian President Pratibha Patil has personally named the ships," Sergei Mikhailov said.
"All three hulls have been completed... The first frigate in the series is expected to float out in October. The shipyard should be able to deliver all three vessels to the customer in 2011-2012," the official said.
Yantar's director Igor Orlov earlier said the shipyard had previously taken out a $110 million loan from Russian national development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) but has now been forced to seek an additional $60 million loan due to "financial constraints."
The Talwar class frigate has deadweight of 4,000 metric tons and a speed of 30 knots, and is capable of accomplishing a wide range of maritime missions, primarily hunting down and destroying large surface ships and submarines.
Russia has previously built three Talwar class frigates for India - INS Talwar (Sword), INS Trishul (Trident), and INS Tabar (Axe).
All of the new frigates will be armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles rather than 3M-54E Klub-N anti-ship missiles, which were installed on previous frigates.
They will be also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil air defense system, two Kashtan air defense gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo tubes, and an anti-submarine warfare helicopter.
