BrahMos Missile to be Fitted on ‘Project 1135.6’ Stealth Frigates

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave approval for the procurement of BrahMos Missiles for two of the vessels to be built in Russia.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave approval for the procurement of BrahMos Missiles for two of the vessels to be built in Russia.

As has been reported by FE earlier, as a follow up of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in October for the procurement of four Grigorovich-class ‘Project 1135.6’ frigates, will be equipped with BrahMos Missiles system instead of 3M-54E Klub-N anti-ship missiles and advanced sensors.

The world’s fastest missile has supersonic speed of Mach 2.8, a very low-cruising altitude of 10 metres at terminal phase and pin-point accuracy, and is expected to make the frigates of the Indian Navy more deadly. This missile has been in with the Indian Navy since 2005.

At Saturday’s meeting the DAC gave approval for acquisition of defence equipment worth Rs 3000 crore, these include the BrahMos missiles for the Indian Navy frigates.

The indigenously designed BrahMos missile an Indo-Russian joint venture is a tested and a proven supersonic cruise missile and will form the primary weapon on board these vessels.

Recently, deal for the Grigorovich-class ‘Project 1135.6’ frigates, between Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) and the Russia’s state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport was inked in New Delhi for two frigates which will be built at Yantar shipyard, Kaliningrad in Russia, at a cost of $ one billion ($ 500 million each).

The deal was actually expected to be inked in October in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, however, due to commercial and technical issues was inked in November.

Known as Project 1135.6 – the frigate is a class of guided-missile frigates designed and built by Russia for the Indian Navy, as modified Krivak III-class frigates (the class that is also the basis of the Russian Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate), with a number of systems of Indian design and manufactured here.

As has been reported by FE earlier, BrahMos is a short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia and the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India. They have formed BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited to make the missile. The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.

The new frigates once commissioned in the Indian Navy will add more strength in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). There is already a shortage of 10 frigates out of the 24 that the navy needs. According to the Indian Navy, presently it is operating six of the Talwar-class frigates, and the new ones when they come will be more advanced technologically. It may be recalled that the 3,620-ton Admiral Grigorovich-class is an upgraded variant of the six Talwar-class frigates that Russia built for the Indian Navy between 2003 and 2013. The first of three frigates, INS Teg and INS Tarkash were delivered to the Indian Navy in 2012 and the INS Trikand was delivered in 2013.

Source: FE

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