A BrahMos supersonic cruise missile being flight test from stealth frigate INS TARKASH

The CCS approval comes after the price negotiations were completed

After getting Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), New Delhi and Moscow have signed agreement to buy two stealth frigates for $ 950 mn -- Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) or advanced Talwar-class frigates.

As has been reported by FE Online recently, these frigates will be more advanced technologically and will be fitted with the naval version of the Indo-Russian BrahMos missile system instead of 3M-54E Klub-N anti-ship missiles. The first two of the four frigates will come from directly from Yantar shipyard at Kaliningrad in Russia. The delivery will be spread over four years. Currently, the Indian Navy operates six of the Talwar-class frigates. The two new frigates are expected to add more strength to the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region.

A senior officer confirmed to FE Online, “Once the CCS gave its approval, the deal was inked recently.” The CCS approval comes after the price negotiations were completed.

“At the recently concluded India-Russia annual summit, the leaders of the two countries were mulling payments to be made through rupee-rouble route,” the source added.

The ships of the Admiral Grigorovich-class are powered by M90FR gas turbines designed and built by Zorya-Mashproekt in Ukraine, however, due to the crisis in Russia-Ukraine relations, the frigates will come to India without the engines.

As reported by FE Online earlier, Indian will get the propulsion directly from Ukraine and it will be fitted here at the Goa Shipyard (GSL). Russia is already working on indigenous engines for the Ukraine made turbine engines.

Agreement for building two frigates at the Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) as nominated by the government with technology transfer from the Russian shipyard is expected to be inked at a later stage. Those which will be built in India, indigenous equipment including sensors and communications will be put on board the vessels.

Earlier there were speculations that with the CAATSA a US federal law that imposed sanctions on Iran, North Korea and Russia, could be a major hurdle in the signing of the frigates deal. However, the Russian envoy to India Nikolay Kudashev, according to media reports had said that the CAATSA will not be an impediment to Indo-Russia defence deals. He was referring to the deals related to frigates and Kalashnikov assault rifles which were not signed during the summit.

The minimum requirement of the Indian Navy is 24 frigates; however there is a huge shortage and so far there are just 10 frigates in service. There are around 75 different vessels that are waiting to be procured by the navy to deal with the increasing the strength from 140 to 198 by 2027.

The 3,620-ton Admiral Grigorovich-class is an upgraded variant of the six Talwar-class frigates that Russia built for the Indian Navy between 2003 and 2013. The first of three frigates, INS Teg and INS Tarkash were delivered to the Indian Navy in 2012 and the INS Trikand was delivered in 2013.