India state-controlled shipyard Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) recently hosted a keel-laying ceremony for the Indian Navy’s second Project 1135.6 Talwar-class frigate. The Indian Navy currently has six of these ships and 4 more are under construction including 2 in an Indian shipyard, for which Goa shipyard was selected. The first ship would be delivered in 2026 and second ship subsequently after six months. Keel Laying is a major milestone activity in the construction of any ship symbolising formal commencement of the construction process.
The Talwar-class frigates or Project 11356 are a class of stealth guided missile frigates designed and built by Russia for the Indian Navy. The Talwar-class guided missile frigates are the improved versions of the Krivak III-class (Project 1135) frigates used by the Russian Coast Guard. The design has been further developed as the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate for the Russian Navy. Six ships were built in two batches between 1999 and 2013. Designed by Severnoye Design Bureau, the first batch of ships were built by Baltic Shipyard and the second batch by Yantar Shipyard.
Preceded by the Brahmaputra-class frigates, the Talwar-class frigates are said to have semi-stealth features and better armament. The ships under construction at Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) are part of indigenous shipbuilding program being executed under Inter Governmental Agreement with Russian Side for construction of two advanced frigates for the Indian Navy. The contract was signed on 25 January 2019 between Ministry of Defence and Goa Shipyard Limited.
Talwar-class frigate are armed with a new 3M-54E Klub-N attack anti-ship system with a vertical missile launcher, Shtil-1 multi-channel medium-range surface-to-air missile system (an export version of the SA-N-12 “Grizzly”), two Kashtan air defence missile and artillery system, a 12 barreled RBU-6000 ASW rocket launcher, two twin 533 mm DTA-53-11356 fixed torpedo tube launchers and Puma-Universal artillery system. The follow-on order of INS Teg, Tarkash and Trikand are fitted with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile
