NEW DELHI: India is all set to add another swift but silent lethal punch to its blue-water arsenal by inducting a new stealth frigate with weapons and sensors for three-dimensional warfare.
The 3,970-tonne INS Teg frigate , armed with the 290-km BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles among other weapon systems , will be commissioned into the Indian Navy at Yantar shipyard at Kaliningrad in Russia on Friday morning.
Taking its name from the short, single-edged curved swords traditionally used by the Sikhs, INS Teg will be inducted in the presence of Southern Naval Command chief Vice-Admiral K N Sushil. Commanded by Captain Rakesh Kumar Dahiya, the frigate will sail with a crew of 24 officers and 229 sailors.
The other two stealth frigates, INS Tarkash and INS Trikand, ordered from Russia under a $1.15-billion contract inked in 2006, will follow in September, 2012, and July , 2013, said sources.
With an operating range of 4,500 nautical miles, these Teg class frigates can handle many threats in all the three dimensions – air, surface and underwater . These warships pack more power than the earlier three Talwar-class frigates inducted from Russia in 2003-04 , equipped as they are with BrahMos land-attack missiles, surface-to-air missiles , AK-630 close-in weapon systems , torpedoes, anti-submarine rockets and an upgraded multirole combat suite.
The 125-metre-long INS Teg, which can operate an anti-submarine or early-warning helicopter from its deck, has innovative design features to ensure reduction in its radar cross-section , infra-red , magnetic and acoustic signatures as well as radiated underwater noise to enhance its stealthy nature.
Powered by advanced gas-turbine propulsion plants for speeds of 30 knots, the warship is also equipped with complex automated systems for NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) defence and damage control. These three frigates and aircraft carrier INS Vikramditya (Admiral Gorshkov ), which will be inducted from Russia in early-2013 under a revised refit cost of $2.33 billion, are the only warships among the 50 ordered by the Navy that will come from abroad.
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