Abingdonboy
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It's a question of capacity, the Indian shipyards are overbooked for the next ten years so buying off the shelf from the Russians is the only viable choice.With Shivalik class matured and plenty of private players waiting for orders,this may just turn out to be a pipe dream of Russia.
Vikramditya was a whole different kettle of fish. Yes the Russians have royally screwed India with the past Talwars as they took India's cash to upgrade the Yanter shipyard. However now that shipyard is churning out Talwar class frigates for the Russian navy every year so they would now produce upgraded Talwars on time and on budget.With the fiasco of Vikramaditya and growing interest in indigenous production,such a large scale order outside India for a product possible within is highly improbable.
But if this route is to be pursued these Talwars need to be massively improved particularly on the sensor front, fit them with the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR, a new generation VSR and the Barak-8.
The additional Talwars will in NOW WAY affect the P-17A buy and this is still going on but because of capacity issues their construction is being stalled right now.Its nothing new.just a rebranded Talwar class with some minor cosmetic variation and a major price rise.Better to go for P-17A or more Shivalik class than this piece of crap.
Then the right thing to do would be to increase the capacity of our shipyards, and also build more shipyards. That's an investment that will bring a lot of returns, both from naval as well as merchant vessel construction.
Investments to augment capacity are going on right now but will take 3-4 years to see the results.
The IN needs to expand across the fleet, additional frigates are part of the IN's long term force augmentation plans and if they feel they need more frigates to meet their future needs then who are we to question that?Is the IN desperately short of frigates? Dwindling submarine fleet and dwindling squadron strength of the AF are pressing issues. I don't think frigates are.
The subs and SQD strength are separate issues and being tackled independently.
The destroyers (P-15A and B) are the main anti-air escorts of the IN's future CBGs. The frigates are for augmenting anti-air but more as all rounders mainly focusing on ASW and ASuW.@ayesha.a The frigates are for air defense. If you have 2 CBGs you will need more anti air assets. these ships are for enhancing the survivability to cruise and air attacks.