The Indian Navy commissioned its eighth Project 11356 or Talwar-class stealth frigate during a ceremony in the Russian city of Kaliningrad on Tuesday, July 1.
INS Tamal and her sisters are upgraded variants of the Project 1135 or Krivak-class frigates that were introduced into service with the Soviet Navy in the 1970s.
Tamal and sister INS Tushil, which was delivered to India earlier this year, are themselves upgraded follow-on ships to the six original Talwar-class frigates. They were designed and built in fulfilment of a 2016 contract between the Indian Government and Russian state-owned military materiel exporter Rosoboronexport.
The two new frigates were originally built as additional examples of the Project 11356R or Admiral Grigorovich-class for the Russian Navy, but the decision was made to supply the ships to India instead.
Although built in Russia, the newer Talwars have at least 25 per cent Indian content, which includes some of the weaponry, communications gear and target detection sensors.
Capable of blue water operations, the frigates will perform missions that include anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and electronic warfare.