MOSCOW, August 23 (Itar-Tass) —— Cooperation in testing combat ships being built by Russian shipyards for India was discussed at a meeting between the Russian Baltic Fleet commanders and an Indian Navy delegation on Wednesday, August 22.

Acting Baltic Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Viktor Kravchuk met with Indian Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dhowan Rabinder Kumar, the press service of the Western Military District told Itar-Tass.

The Indian vice admiral inquired about how crews were selected and trained in the Baltic Fleet for testing ships built for the Indian Navy. Kravchuk assured him that the crews were selected from among the most experienced and skilled specialists and that all tests would be run as scheduled.

All ships built for the Indian Navy by the Baltic Shipyard are tested by naval personnel on the Baltic Fleet’s testing grounds. They test all of the ship systems and mechanisms, including weapons, in the presence of the customer’s representatives. This includes missile, artillery and anti-ship firing, air defence exercises, flying over the ships aboard the Baltic Fleet’s planes, testing of all systems, machinery and mechanisms to be transferred to India.

Earlier this year, the frigate Teg, the first in a series of three Project 11356 ships under construction at Yantar Shipyard since 2007, was turnover over to India. Its officials noted the high quality of the ship and thanked all the specialists who had built and tested it.

A month after the transfer of the frigate, Yantar started sea trials of the Tarkash, the second ship in the series in June. The sea trials are scheduled to be completed by the end of August so that the ship could be handed over to the Indian Navy in November of this year. The third frigate Trikand is in the final stage of construction and should start sea trials this year. It will be transferred to India in the summer of 2013.

The Baltic Shipyard Yantar is the only Russian shipbuilding yard located in the South-Eastern part of the Baltic Sea in proximity to Europe's largest industrial centres.

The shipyard has at its disposal its own territory and modern facilities, which allow it to construct vessels with the deadweight of up to 20,000 tonnes.

In addition to warships, the shipyard also launched more than 100 large and about 400 small civilian vessels in 1945-2010, including dry cargo vessels, ice-breaking ferry boats, rescue tugboats of ice-class Project 843 and harbor tugboats Project 04983, self-propelled river cargo barges, and an environmental protection vessel.

As part of military technical cooperation, Yantar is building for a series of Project 11356 Frigates developed by Severnoye Design Bureau for the Indian Navy.