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INS Talwar commissioned

By Vladimir Radyuhin

INS Talwar berthed at the Baltiysky shipyard in St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG JUNE 18. The first of three high-tech stealth frigates built by Russia for the Indian Navy was commissioned today in St. Petersburg. The Indian Naval Chief, Admiral Madhavendra, took delivery of INS Talwar at a colourful ceremony at the Baltiysky Zavod Shipyard, where the frigate was constructed.

Speaking at the ceremony attended by India's Ambassador to Moscow, Krishnan Raghunath, and Russia's naval chief, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, Admiral M. Singh praised INS Talwar as a ``magnificent'' warship, and said it would be ``the sharpest sword in the Indian Navy.''

INS Talwar was delivered more than a year behind schedule, due to technical problems with the mutual integration of several newest weapons, which are not even in the Russian inventory yet. The 4,000-tonne state-of-the-art Krivak-class frigates, specially designed for India, are said to be superior to any other warship in its class.

Packed with an array of formidable weapons, some of which are not to be found on any other warship in the world, the frigates would be more than a match for Pakistani warships, and would give the Indian Navy an edge over the Chinese navy, armed with Russian-built Sovremenny-class frigates of older design.

``Talwar boasts of weapons and sensors with a far greater range than what the Indian Navy has at present,'' Admiral M. Singh said. The ship's main attack weapon is the vertical-launch ``Club-N'' missile system, which can engage surface vessels and submarines at ranges between 10 to 220 km. The ``Shtil-1'' medium-range, multi-target missile system provides all-round protection for naval task forces and convoys against attacks by anti-ship missiles and aircraft.

Each frigate is also armed with two ``Kashtan'' rocket-cum-artillery guns and 100-mm automatic guns firing 80 rounds per minute and effective against aerial, seaborne and land-based targets. The warships can accommodate one heavy-duty helicopter like the Kamov-28 Helix-A anti-submarine warfare or a KA-31 reconnaissance chopper.

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