KALININGRAD, December 9. /TASS/. The Kaliningrad-based Yantar shipyard, a subsidiary of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation, will officially hand over the INS Tushil, a guided-missile frigate, to the Indian Navy, a shipyard official told TASS.
"A handover ceremony for the first in a new series of four frigates being built for the Indian Navy is scheduled to take place on December 9," the official said.
The construction of Project 11356 frigates has been underway since 1999. Originally there were plans for six Project 11356 frigates for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, but those plans were changed after Ukraine refused to supply turbines for the project. As a result, the Black Sea Fleet has commissioned three such frigates.
Each Project 11356 frigate built for the Russian Navy carries eight Kalibr-NK and/or Oniks cruise missiles, while frigates built for India carry Russian-Indian made BrahMos anti-ship cruise missiles. Earlier, the Yantar shipyard and the Baltic shipyard built six 11356 project frigates for the Indian Navy.