INS Trishul launched in Russian waters

By Vladimir Radyuhin

SAINT PETERSBURG, NOV. 24. A hi-tech warship built by Russia for the Indian Navy was launched on the Neva River in St. Petersburg on Friday. The INS Trishul is the second of the three Krivak- class frigates ordered by India to hit the Neva waters.

The first one, Talwar, was launched last May and is to be delivered to India in April 2002, to be followed by the other two at six-month intervals. Under a $931.5-million contract signed in 1997, India also reserved an option of building another three Krivak-class frigates domestically.

The 4,000-tonne frigates being built for the Indian Navy by the Baltiyski Zavod shipyards are an improved version of the Project 1135 frigate designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare and air defence of warship task forces. It is equipped with stealth technology, has facilities for onboard helicopters and carries a powerful array of weapons, including missiles, to neutralise surface, aerial and sub-surface targets.

The chief designer of the frigate, Mr. Vladimir Yukhnin, is on record that the warship is superior to any foreign-built battleship in its class.

Construction of warships for India is a thrust area of Indo- Russian defence cooperation. Russian media reports said that apart from the three frigates, Russia is building a fourth- generation Amur-class submarine for India and upgrading two Kilo- class submarines to give them a missile-firing capability. Talks are also under way on the conversion of the Admiral Gorshkov aviation cruiser into an aircraft carrier.

A drastic overhaul of the Russian arms trade system ordered by the President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, earlier this month has raised fears that it could disrupt arms deliveries to foreign customers, including India. Mr. Putin decreed the creation of a new arms trade monopoly, Rosoboronexport, which will replace the two previous agents, Rosvooruzhenie and Promexport, and will be accountable to the Defence Ministry and the President.

However, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Ilya Klebanov, recently wrote to the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, to assure him that the Russian reform will not hamper defence cooperation with India, defence sources said. Mr. Klebanov, who co-chairs the Indo-Russian joint commission on military-technical cooperation, is understood to have informed Mr. Vajpayee of the mechanism of transition to a new arms trade system that should guarantee timely fulfilment of Indian defence orders and the signing of new deals.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Gore in no mood to concede defeat
Next     : Sectarian violence on the rise in Pak.