Completion of work on two ships of project 11356 is expected in the coming months
The next two guided missile frigates of Project 11356 are being completed afloat and are preparing for mooring tests. Having entered service, "Tushil" (Tushil) and "Tamala" (Tamala) will become the 10th and 11th ships of this type.
As previously reported by Rossiyskaya Gazeta (issue dated January 11, 2022), according to the terms of the contract, the transfer of ships to the customer – the Navy of the Republic of India - is scheduled until the end of 2023. It is impossible, however, to exclude some kind of "correction to the right", in which the buyer will accept the order a little later than the deadline.
At the same time, there is no doubt that both ships will be completed and operational. Their high technical readiness was visible when the hulls were launched in October 2021 and February 2022, respectively. Indian Ambassador to Moscow Venkatesh Varma, who spoke at the launch ceremony of the Tishula, stressed that these ships "are evidence of long-term friendship, as well as the result of long-term military cooperation and reflect strategic relations" between our countries.
Today, the number of operating FR URO project 11356 is nine units. The Indian Navy operates six ships, and the remaining ones are part of the Russian Navy. Two of them – Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen – are located in the Black Sea. The Admiral Grigorovich of the same type operates in the Mediterranean, while it is also part of the 30th Division of surface ships of the Black Sea Fleet (Black Sea Fleet) The Russian Navy (see "The Fleet needs a "Smart" approach", HBO of 21.09.23).
FR URO project 11356 was developed by the Northern Design Bureau (SPKB) in St. Petersburg. Technical documentation for the ship appeared in the last years of the last century, when the SPKB was headed by General Director Vladimir Spiridopulo. The chief designer Vilior Perevalov was directly involved in the topic of the export frigate.
The well-proven project 11351 "Nereus" of the border patrol ship (PSKR) was taken as a basis. In total, from 1981 to 1993, eight such ships were built at the P.E. Butoma Gulf shipyard in Kerch.
While maintaining the overall dimensions, the hull was redesigned taking into account the requirements for reducing radar visibility. As a result, FR URO project 11356 has a superstructure with large angles of wall blockage, integrated with the main body.
From its predecessor, the frigate inherited the main power plant (GEU) of two afterburners and two mainline gas turbines. At the same time, only one turbine can operate on both propellers at low speeds. This achieves significant (up to 25%) savings in fuel and engine life of the GEU.
Also, a hydroacoustic station located in the bulbous nose fairing, as well as a towed one, was taken from the project 11351 PSCR.
At the same time, the frigate of project 11356 received a new powerful weapon – the Club-N missile system developed by the Novator Design Bureau in Yekaterinburg, created specifically for export, taking into account all international restrictions in force at that time. It was the first domestic strike complex with a vertical launch of several types of missiles.
All of the above changes led to an increase in displacement: standard increased from 3170 to 3840 tons, full – from 3540 to 4035 tons. The maximum speed was reduced to 30 knots, and the economic course was still maintained at 14 knots.
THREE THREES
The first three ships under project 11356 were built by the Baltic Plant in St. Petersburg. The laying of two buildings took place in 1999, the third – in 2000. The customer accepted "Talwar" (INS F40 Talwar) and "Trishul" (INS F43 Trishul) in the fall of 2003, and "Tabar" (INS F44 Tabar) – in the spring of 2004.
During the tests, there were no questions about the hulls and mechanisms, but the integration of the new weapon into a single well-functioning complex required effort. The topic of electromagnetic interference was serious – various radio and radar systems interfered with each other's work. Also, a lot of effort had to be spent on fine-tuning the artillery of the main caliber.
The ships were well received by Indian sailors, and in general the customer liked them. Therefore, in the summer of 2005, he initiated negotiations on an additional batch. At the same time, the foreign buyer asked to improve the conditions of the crew's habitability and to revise the composition of weapons. A new draft design, taking into account the comments and suggestions made, was approved in 2007.
Instead of the Baltic Plant, the second troika of the FR URO project 11356 for the Indian Navy was assembled at another enterprise – the Baltic Shipbuilding plant "Yantar" in Kaliningrad.
In the autumn of 2007, the hulls of the future frigates "Tag" and "Tarkash" were laid there, and in the summer of the following year – "Trikand". Upon commissioning of the Indian Navy, they became known as F45 Teg (April 2012), F46 Tarkash (November 2012) and F50 Trikand (May 2013).
Then Yantar released three more frigates according to the improved project 11356R (apparently, the letter "R" stands for "Russia"), and officially they are classified as "patrol ships" (TFR). Among Russian sailors, they are known as the "admiral series".
The hull of Admiral Grigorovich was laid at the end of 2010, Admiral Essen – in the summer of 2011, Admiral Makarov - in early 2012. The ships entered service in 2016-2017.
rockets
The nine ships built to date under the 11356 project differ from each other in the composition of armament. The offensive armament of "Talvara", "Trishula" and "Tabara" is the Club–N complex with a 3S14 type vertical launcher (VPU) with 8 cells for 91RE anti-submarine missiles, 3M-54E anti-ship missiles and 3M-14E strike missiles. But "Tag", "Tarkash" and "Trikand" instead of subsonic missiles of the above three types carry supersonic PJ-11 developed and produced by the Russian-Indian joint venture BrahMos Aerospace.
"Grigorovich", "Essen" and "Makarov" have the aforementioned VPU 3C14, but the complex itself is called differently – "Caliber-NK", since it includes missiles without the letter "E" (this is how the export modification is designated). International restrictions on the non-proliferation of missile technologies do not apply to it. According to the statements of Russian officials, the maximum launch range of the long-range cruise missile 3M14 of the sea-land class exceeds 1.5 thousand km.
In addition to the 3M54 type anti-ship missiles, Russian ships can take supersonic "Onyx" similar in design to the BrahMos PJ-11.
Defensive weapons are also different. The first three ships of project 11356 are equipped with an anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) "Calm-1" (rotary installation with one guide) with an ammunition of anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM) 9M317E, as well as an artillery-missile complex "Chestnut" (two installations, on the right and left sides of the helicopter hangar).
The export "Calm-1" was created on the basis of the "Hurricane" air defense system that was previously installed on the destroyers of the project 956. For its part, the Hurricane was a naval version of the Buk-M1 air defense system from the air defense of the Ground Forces, where the 9M38M1 missile was also used. That's just the launcher (PU) was different: specifically for shipboard use, the PU 3S-90 was created with a rail for one missile defense system.
The second three Indian frigates are deprived of the "Chestnut" (instead of it there is a pair of rapid-firing AK-630M anti-aircraft guns with a six-barrel 30 mm cannon), and carries a more advanced modification of the "Calm" air defense system with a VPU for 24 ZUR 9M317M.
The Admiral Series carries anti-aircraft weapons like the second Indian Troika, except that the missiles are made without export restrictions.
CANNONS, TORPEDOES AND BOMBS
In addition to 30-mm submachine guns, all frigates of Project 11356 carry one A-190 artillery mount with a 100-mm cannon for firing 80 rounds per minute at air, sea and ground targets. The 5P-10 Puma control system provides search, capture and tracking of targets in automatic mode, the effective range of fire damage reaches 20 km.
All frigates carry a pair of twin-tube torpedo tubes of 533 mm caliber, such as anti–ship 53-65K and anti-submarine SET-65. Note that by now both Russia and India have developed more modern types of torpedoes in this caliber, and their use is also possible.
In addition to the SET-65 torpedoes and 91RE missiles, the anti-submarine weapons of the Project 11356 ships also include the RBU-6000 ("Jet–bombing installation - 6000"). It has 12 tubular guides of 213 mm caliber for rocket projectiles (RS), which are known as "RGB-60 depth charges". RS are fired at a range of up to 5 km and are detonated at a given depth with a UDV-60 fuse. This weapon affects both enemy submarines and enemy torpedoes attacking the protected ship.
It was reported about the deep modernization of the RBU-6000 into the Zapad anti-submarine missile system (RPK-8) with a range of about 4 km, which uses 90P anti-submarine missiles with a 90SG gravity projectile equipped with a fuse with a mechanical installation or induction method.
THE FOURTH THREE
In 2010, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation placed an order for the second three TFR project 11356R for the Black Sea Fleet. The buildings were laid in July ("Admiral Butakov"), November ("Admiral Istomin") and December 2013 ("Admiral Kornilov"). However, adjustments had to be made during the construction process.
As a result of the 2013 coup d'etat, power in Kiev ended up in the hands of pro-Western political forces. They set a course to break off mutually beneficial cooperation with Moscow and gave the command to the Nikolaev machine builders to stop all deliveries to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Thus, our fleet has lost the traditional supplier of the main power plants.
After the refusal of the nationalist regime in Kiev to comply with Ukraine's earlier commitments to supply Zorya-Mashproekt products to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Moscow decided to offer unfinished buildings to India. The negotiation process took several years, after which the government in Delhi announced its decision. The customer undertook to purchase turbines for the ships directly in Ukraine, since the Kiev regime has not established any obstacles in the line of military-technical cooperation with India.
The Indian government expressed its readiness to purchase Butakov and Istomin as they were on Yantar, and allocate the necessary funds for completion under the new names Tushil and Tamala, with a deadline of 2023.
Moscow and Delhi signed a corresponding intergovernmental agreement in 2016. They also provided for the construction of two more FR URO under project 11356 at the Goa Shipyard Limited with the technical assistance of Russian enterprises. If by joint efforts this part of the agreements can be implemented in practice, the number of frigates of project 11356 in the Indian Navy will reach 10, and taking into account the three Black Sea frigates – 13.
Vyacheslav Ivanov
Vyacheslav Viktorovich Ivanov is a military expert and historian.
