The Indian Navy's new Talwar-class guided-missile frigates compose the first new Russian-designed major surface combatant class to enter service in two decades, but they remain a compromise between modern weapons and sensors and a platform designed almost 40 years ago. In a program fraught with technical and management problems, delivery finally was made on two of the three 4,045-ton (full-load displacement) Project 11356 guided-missile frigates ordered from Russia on 17 November 1998 for $931.5 million. The program got off to a bad start when it was discovered that $64 million in advanced payment funding from India had been misappropriated. The first ship was delivered 14 months late by the Baltic Shipyard, St. Petersburg, after numerous problems with weapon system integration, poor performance by the Shtil-1 (NATO SA-N-7) surface-to-air missile system, and hull cracking experienced during sea trials in the Baltic.
Originally to have been named the Kashmir, Arunchal Pradesh, and Sikkim after disputed territories on India's frontiers, the trio were assigned the Russian names Dozornyy, Udarnyy, and SKR-4 for administrative purposes. (SKR means storozhevoy korabl'—guard ship—the Russian equivalent of frigate.) The final Indian Navy names are Talwar, Trishul, and Tabar, which respectively mean Shield, Trident, and Axe in Hindi. The Talwar was handed over on 18 June 2003 after frantic last-minute efforts to make the Shtil-1 system work fended off an Indian threat to cancel the entire program. The Trishul was delivered on 25 June; the Tabar began sea trials at the end of June and was to follow the other two into service this month or in October.
A great deal of armament and sensor equipment—perhaps too much—has been packed into the Talwar-class design's 411-foot-by-50-foot hull, which essentially is that of the 1960s-era Soviet Navy Krivak class, except for hull shaping above the waterline to reduce the radar signature. The Indian Navy refers to the design as having "partial stealth" features, although this may be overstating the case because the superstructure and masting are rife with corner reflectors. Because the hull form originally was intended to displace only 3,420 tons full load, the low free-board of the new Indian Navy variant (especially aft) may make the ships uncomfortably wet in moderate to heavy seas. The propulsion plant also duplicates that of the Krivak series: two 6,000 shaft-horsepower cruise gas turbines and two 21,642 shaft-horsepower boost turbines can be geared to the two shafts to provide a claimed 32-knot maximum speed. At 30 knots, the ship's range is only 700 nautical miles (nm), but at 18 knots on the cruise turbines, range is increased to a respectable 4,500 nm. Designed for a crew of 193, the ship has a 30-day operating endurance.
The armament and sensor suites are extensive. On the forecastle is the first seagoing example of the new Russian A-190E Puma 100-mm automatic dual-purpose gun system. With its 60 rounds-per-minute rate of fire and an effective range of 21.5 kilometers (km), the weapon normally is controlled through the new MR-221 rotating phased-array, track-while-scan radar director atop the pilot-house. It also can be controlled locally from the mount. Abaft the 100-mm gun is the ZR-90 single-armed launcher for the Shtil-1 surface-to-air missile system, with a magazine capacity of twenty-four 9M317 missiles. Two of the system's four OP-3 (NATO Front Dome) tracker-illuminator radars are installed abreast of the MR-221 set and two are atop the gas turbine air intake structure amidships.
At the forward end of the deckhouse forward of the bridge are hatches for eight ZS-14NE vertical launchers for the Klub-N (Type 3M-54TE) subsonic antiship missiles, 300-km-ranged weapons similar in appearance and capability to the retired antiship version of the Tomahawk. Also atop the deckhouse is the single 12-round launcher for the RBU-6000 antisubmarine rocket system, which has 60 Splav-90R rockets in its below-decks magazine. Cutouts in the hull sides at the forecastle deck level show the twin 533-mm torpedo tubes on either side; they can carry antiship and antisubmarine torpedoes.
Flanking the helicopter hangar are two formidable Kashtan close-in weapon systems (CIWSs), each mounting two 30-mm galling guns, eight 9M-311 (NATO SAN-11) surface-to-air missiles and the radar fire-control system. Target detection and designation for both CIWSs are handled by the MR-352 Pozitiv-E radar in the radome atop the hangar. Automatic reloading magazines below the Kashtan mounts can accommodate as many as 32 missiles each. Either one Kamov Ka-28 antisubmarine helicopter or one Ka-31 aerial surveillance helicopter—or later the Indian ALH helicopter—will operate from the stern flight deck.
Completing the radar suite are: one Russian MR-760MA Fregat-M2EM (NATO Top Plate) three-dimensional rotating phased-array radar, with its dual antenna array atop the lattice foremast; two MR-212/201 (Palm Frond) surface-search radar antennas on a platform lower on the foremast; one Decca Bridge Master-E ARPA navigational radar; and one Garpun-E (Plank Shave) surface target detection and tracking set.
Intercept and jamming arrays for the ASOR electronics warfare suite are mounted on the hull sides just below the bridge level, on the foremast, and atop the bridge superstructure. The expected eight 10-round decoy rocket launchers had not been installed at the time of the Talwar's voyage from the Baltic to India. Although the originally planned variable-depth sonar was not fitted, the ships have an Indian-manufactured hull-mounted sonar with a range of 6 km. The Trebovaniye-M combat data and control system can track as many as 250 targets simultaneously, and the ships are equipped with the Indian BEL-manufactured CCS (composite communications system) Mk 2 suite.
The Talwars offer an interesting comparison to the U.S. Navy's Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7) class, which is being stripped of its principal armament systems, even though some of the class are expected to operate until the end of the next decade. Both the original Krivak and the slightly newer Perry designs are about the same size and have roughly the same platform performance in terms of speed and endurance. The Talwars, however, show the continued emphasis being placed on heavy armament and a broad range of sensor systems common to most contemporary frigate designs worldwide. Although the Talwars are a far cry from the original Krivak class that entered service in 1970, adaptation of the original design to counter today's threat is a remarkable achievement. At the same time, the potential of the U.S. Navy's remaining Perrys is being squandered.
The Indian government is unhappy over the delays and numerous early problems with the Talwars and is seeking monetary compensation for their late deliveries. Nonetheless, negotiations reportedly are continuing toward an order for another three units of the class. As the Indian Navy's dependence on Russian naval technology grows, the first of an eventual 12 much larger variants of the design—the Shivilak—was launched on 18 April 2003.