Defence Minister to Commission 'INS Tushil' Stealth Frigate in Russia This December

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Russia in early December to commission the INS Tushil, a cutting-edge stealth frigate, and engage in discussions with his Russian counterpart.

This visit, initially slated for November, was rescheduled at Moscow's request, highlighting the ongoing cooperation between the two nations amidst global challenges.

INS Tushil is the first of two advanced stealth frigates being constructed at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad under a $2.5 billion contract signed in 2016 and finalized in 2018.

This deal, a follow-on from the Talwar-class vessels, stipulates the construction of two frigates in Russia and two at Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) in India with Russian technical collaboration.

The commissioning of INS Tushil marks a significant step in modernizing the Indian Navy. Based on the Russian Krivak III-class design, these new frigates are a more advanced version of the Talwar-class, boasting enhanced stealth capabilities, upgraded sensors, and the capacity to deploy sophisticated weaponry.

Notably, they will be equipped with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, a product of Indo-Russian joint venture, replacing the older 3M-54E Klub-N anti-ship missiles and significantly boosting India's offensive capabilities.

The project faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, payment complications between India and Russia, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Despite these hurdles, INS Tushil is now in its final stages of preparation, with approximately 200 Indian Navy personnel stationed in Russia to oversee the process and conduct acceptance trials.

These trials are expected to conclude by mid-September, paving the way for the formal handover of the vessel. The second frigate, INS Tamal, is anticipated to be delivered by early next year.

Interestingly, these frigates will be powered by M90FR gas turbines procured directly from Ukraine, manufactured by Zorya-Mashproekt. This procurement underscores India's commitment to acquiring critical defence technology despite geopolitical complexities. The engines will be fitted onto the frigates at GSL.

During his visit, Defence Minister Singh will also review the broader defence partnership between India and Russia, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the timely delivery of crucial defence systems. This includes addressing delays in the delivery of S-400 missile systems.

 

[Abhishek Kumar]

my question is we have already built kolkata, vishaka classes. Why do we need russian help at the cost of 2+ billion why?

 

[sanket]

Russia still manages to deliver /commission while US is not directly involved in war But Fail to deliver Apache choppers plus GE-404 Engine

 

[Anant]

my question is we have already built kolkata, vishaka classes. Why do we need russian help at the cost of 2+ billion why?

Essentially speaking, this was a matter of convenience.

The Navy needed mid-sized frigates, and the first idea was to build a few ships in MDL and/or GRSE. However, there was a challenge with that. At this time, MDL was working on the Kalvari-class submarines, Visakhapatnam-class destroyers and Nilgiri-class frigates, while GRSE was busy with the Kamorta-class corvettes and Nilgiri-class frigates. There wasn't enough space or capability left at either yard to build frigates. CSL was busy with the Vikrant, and was starting work on what would become the ASW-SWC corvettes. HSL and L&T were busy with the Arihant-class submarines, and were starting work on the HSL-class fleet support ship and the P-75I offering (respectively).

That meant that the four large shipyards in the country couldn't build the required mid-sized frigates. This only left the fifth major yard, which was GSL. However, GSL had only built OPVs for the Coast Guard up until this point in terms of large ships, and so some expertise transfer was needed.

Putting up GSL as a yard capable of constructing mid-sized surface combatants would also help with the strategy of having two yards (MDL and GRSE) capable of building large surface combatants, having CSL focus on carriers, getting HSL and L&T to work on auxiliary ships, nuclear submarines, and coastal vessels, and having GSL (and some other yard eventually) capable of building mid-sized frigates and large corvettes.

As a result, with domestic resources unavailable to transfer expertise to GSL, it was decided to approach a foreign yard. As it so happened, Russia still had the latter three Grigorovich-class frigates laid up incomplete due to a lack of engines following their annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russia was very much interested in helping out provided India purchased the frigates, and proposed a 3+3 model (that is, India would buy the three frigates from Russia, and Russia would in turn provide expertise to GSL to build three more frigates, and develop the capability to build other such ships). After some negotiations, this was brought down to 2+2.

The idea with this project is that GSL will be capable of maintaining and building mid-sized surface combatants after this project is done. That will then put them in good stead for projects like the NGC corvette and the future mid-sized frigate program (that will eventually replace the Talwar Batch 2 and Shivalik-class frigates).

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

Essentially speaking, this was a matter of convenience.

The Navy needed mid-sized frigates, and the first idea was to build a few ships in MDL and/or GRSE. However, there was a.........

Reading this makes me think that the Navy thinks very deeply about procurement and thinks long term. It is so much better than IAF and Army procurement thinking.

 

[PKPRS]

my question is we have already built kolkata, vishaka classes. Why do we need russian help at the cost of 2+ billion why?

we are building two more locally in similar class, these two ships were already built in Russia for them and were originally supposed to have Ukraine's M90FR gas turbine engines, Since Ukraine banned engine sales to Russia after 2015, these were lying around without engines while Russia was building a replacement engine for Ukraine's engine, so Russians asked Indians if they wanted these two ships, as we can still buy M90FR gas turbine engines from Ukraine, we agreed to this deal, at that time we were also in urgent need of these kind of ships, so we made use of this deal .

 

[Dredd]

Essentially speaking, this was a matter of convenience.

The Navy needed mid-sized frigates, and the first idea was to build a few ships in MDL and/or GRSE. However, there was a challenge with that.....

I think these frigates were forced by Russians as a combined deal with S-400 systems,
These were original Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates which were stuck in limbo due to ukraine conflict (2014 Crimea) and refusal of engines by Ukraine, Russian offered india to get these semi built frigates along with 2 build in GSL by TOT, India took the deal and acquired these engines separately from ukraine.
India had capability to build the better frigates but accepted the offer to help Russians

 

[Anant]

I think these frigates were forced by Russians as a combined deal with S-400 systems,
These were original Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates which were stuck in limbo due to ukraine conflict (2014 Crimea) and refusal of engines by Ukraine, Russian offered india to get these semi built frigates along with 2 build in GSL by TOT, India took the deal and acquired these engines separately from ukraine.
India had capability to build the better frigates but accepted the offer to help Russians

Well, there was definitely some pressure from the Russians to free up the money locked in the frigates. The problem for them was that the ships were designed to take the ZM gas turbines, and alternative systems would not fit in without major redesign. Hence, when India came knocking, it became a mutually beneficial deal: India got its two Russian-built and two Indian-built frigates and a yard capable of building similar ships, and Russia managed to get the money locked in two of the ships.

Interestingly, they have kept pushing their friends to buy the last frigate. Of course, it is now very unlikely Ukraine will ever supply the gas turbines.

 

[Anant]

Reading this makes me think that the Navy thinks very deeply about procurement and thinks long term. It is so much better than IAF and Army procurement thinking.

Agreed. The thing there is that the Navy has pretty much been asked to do a lot with a small amount of money. As a result, they have grown to become very pragmatic as far as these things go.

It is no secret that defence equipment imports are very expensive. Therefore, the Navy started building ships in India fairly early on. Now that that part is done, they are working to progressively indigenise more and more subsystems and the like.

Vice Adm. G. M. Hiranandani put it excellently in his book on the official history of the Indian Navy when talking about the ingenuity the Navy showed with the later ships of the older Nilgiri-class and their successors: "The reason the Navy could accomplish so much was because the Navy always sat with the shipbuilders and the designers as a stakeholder. They were involved in all aspects of the process. On the other hand, the Army and Air Force took the approach of being buyers when it came to procurement. The Navy was happy to get an Indian Leander if it was Indian. The Army and Air Force would take an Indian fighter if it was better than a T-72 or a MiG-21. If not, they'd shrug off and just buy the foreign equipment."

That says a lot, methinks.

 

[Oleg Olkha]

​

"Stealth frigate" hm... His radar screen had lighted up like a Christmas tree. Аnd without radar too...

 

[Kira]

That meant that the four large shipyards in the country couldn't build the required mid-sized frigates. This only left the fifth major yard, which was GSL. However, GSL had only built OPVs for the Coast Guard up until this point in terms of large ships, and so some expertise transfer was needed.

I don't see a mid size frigate existing as a category in the future,as newer frigates are approaching destroyer sizes, while the latter themselves are well beyond even cruiser tonnage.
Corvettes will be the new frigates in the future.

 

[desigandu]

Good, but these should be the last Indian Navy ships/subs built outside Bharat…
Also can we convince Russia to sell us 100 zircon hypersonic cruise missile? For our lead ships for precision strike land attack, while we keep working on Brahmos-2 and project Vishnu…

 

[Sandeep]

It’s good that the ship is ready and it will be commissioned in a few months. We got a really good deal in buying the half constructed ship at a cheaper price. This will bolster our naval strength very quickly and we will be using the latest technology which is a very important to hunt down our enemies.

 

[Anant]

I don't see a mid size frigate existing as a category in the future,as newer frigates are approaching destroyer sizes, while the latter themselves are well beyond even cruiser tonnage.
Corvettes will be the new frigates in the future.

Yes and no, I'd say. Multiple Navies are pivoting towards larger frigates, but a number of Navies are also retaining mid-sized frigates (the Type 31, Daegu-class, Mogami-class, FDI, etc.). Regardless, as you well point out, you can just as well have a large corvette. The difference there can be marginal besides the name.