On March 22, 2025, the Indian state shipbuilding enterprise Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) in Goa hosted the launching ceremony of the second Tavasya frigate of the Russian project 11356 (Talwar type) with construction number 1259, which is being built there with Russian assistance for the Indian Navy.
Launching at the Indian state shipbuilding company Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) of the second Tavasya frigate of the Russian project 11356 (Talwar type) with construction number 1259, which is being built with Russian assistance for the Indian Navy. Goa, 03/22/2025 (c) Government of India
On October 15, 2016, the Governments of India and the Russian Federation signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of two frigates of Project 11356 for the Indian Navy from among those originally built for the Russian Navy at the Baltic Shipyard Yantar in Kaliningrad, and on the construction of two additional subsequent ships of Project 11356 in India at Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).
On November 20, 2018, Rosoboronexport JSC signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) worth about $500 million to assist in the construction of two frigates of the Russian project 11356 at GSL for the Indian Navy, with the transfer of licenses and technologies by the Russian side. This contract is complementary to the $1.2 billion contract signed by Rosoboronexport in October 2018 for the construction of two Project 11356 frigates for the Indian navy in Russia at the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad.
The two frigates contracted for construction at the Yantar shipyard were originally scheduled to be transferred to the Indian Navy in 2022 and 2023. In fact, under this contract, two unfinished frigates of this type were built for the Indian Navy at the Yantar shipyard, which were suspended during construction for the Russian Navy - Admiral Butakov (serial number 01360), which received the Indian name Tushil, and Admiral Istomin (serial number 01361), which received the name Tamala. The first of these frigates, the F 70 Tushil, was refloated in Kaliningrad on October 28, 2021. The ship began factory sea trials on March 5, 2024 and was transferred to the Indian Navy on December 9, 2024. On February 14, 2025, the Tushil frigate arrived in India at the Karwar home base. The second Tamala frigate is currently at the State Testing stage, and its delivery to the Indian Navy is now scheduled for June 2025.
In turn, on January 25, 2019, the Government of India signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for the construction of the next two frigates of Project 11356 for the Indian Navy there. The ships, which are being built with Russian assistance and with partial technology transfer from Russia, are scheduled to be transferred to the Indian Navy in June 2026 and December 2026, respectively.
The first of two contracted Indian frigates Triput ("arrow" in Sanskrit) with construction number 1258, it was laid down at GSL on January 29, 2021 (the first steel cutting ceremony for it took place on August 20, 2020) and was launched on July 23, 2024. The second frigate Tavasya (the mace of the legendary warrior Bhima from the Mahabharata) with construction number 1259, it was laid down at GSL on June 18, 2021 and has now been launched.
All four frigates of Project 11356 ordered by India should be equipped with their own standard gas turbine main power plants of the M7N series produced by the Mykolaiv State Enterprise NPKG Zorya - Mashproekt (Ukraine), which are supplied to the Indian side by Ukroboronprom Group of Companies. Two sets of EU M7N.1E for ships completed for India in Kaliningrad were delivered in 2020.
Two GSL frigates under construction in India are to receive modified M7H2 EU, the contract for the manufacture and supply of which was html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">signed by the Indian side with NPKG "Zorya"-"Mashproekt" in September 2021. According to the contract, the delivery dates for the first set of ECS for the frigate with construction number 1258 were set for December 2022, and the second set for the frigate with construction number 1259 for July 2023. However, according to known information, due to the war in Ukraine, the EC kits from Nikolaev were not delivered on time. Nevertheless, judging by the fact that the Indian side continues to build both frigates at GSL, it is confident in supplying them with EU from Ukraine, although, apparently, the contractual deadlines for the delivery of the ships will be disrupted.
The Indian Navy has previously commissioned six Project 11356 frigates (of the Talwar type), the first three of which (F 40 Talwar, F 43 Trishul, F 44 Tabar) were built at JSC Baltiyskiy Zavod in St. Petersburg (were transferred to the Indian Navy in 2003-2004), and three more (F 45 Teg, F 50 Tarkash, F 51 Trikand) - at the Yantar shipyard (they were transferred to the Indian Navy in 2012-2013). Thus, taking into account the additional four frigates under the 2016 agreement, the Indian Navy will have ten ships of this project.
Launching at the Indian state shipbuilding company Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) of the second Tavasya frigate of the Russian project 11356 (Talwar type) with construction number 1259, which is being built with Russian assistance for the Indian Navy. Goa, 03/22/2025 (c) Government of India
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