Sea trials of frigate INS Teg have been successfully finished in the Baltic Sea; the ship was built for Indian Navy by Yantar Shipyard (Kaliningrad, Russia), reports ITAR-TASS.
According to the shipyard’s press secretary Sergei Mikhailov , all shipboard systems including BrahMos missile system operate normally. To complete state trials, frigate INS Teg has to perform only one sortie scheduled in Jan 2012.
Indian crew will start training onboard the ship late in Jan 2012. The frigate is to be handed over to Indian Navy in Apr 2012.
INS Teg was laid down at Yantar in 2007 and became the first of three Project 1135.6 ships built for Indian Navy. Other two frigates – INS Tarkash and INS Trikand – are being currently completed. They are planned to join Indian Navy in 2012 and 2013 respectively. The contract signed in 2007 in New Delhi cost $1.6 bln.
According to ITAR-TASS, new Project 1135.6 frigates have almost same technical characteristics as three ships of the same project – INS Tabar, INS Trishul, and INS Talwar – delivered to India under the contract of 1997. Mostly, differences are about armament. For instance, new frigates are equipped with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles in contrast to the preceding trio armed with antiship missiles Club-N.
Displacement of Project 1135.6 frigates is 4,000 tons; length is 124.8 meters; max speed is 30 knots; operating range is 4,500 miles.
[mappress] World Maritime News Staff, December 28, 2011; Image: bharat-rakshak