India’s Goa Shipyard Launches ‘Triput’ First of Two Follow-on Talwar class frigates – Naval News

India already operates six 1135.6 frigates, ordered in two batches of three each as the Talwar-class and Teg subclass. Four 1135.6 frigates are currently under order for the Indian Navy, two at Yantar shipyard in Russia while another two are at GSL for an estimated project cost of $2.5 billion. The delivery of the two ships built in Russia is currently delayed, with the first frigate Tushil expected to be delivered by September 2024 and the second ship Tamal by February 2025.

India had concluded an Inter-Government Agreement (IGA) with the Russian Federation to construct two additional Project 1135.6 frigates in India on October 15, 2016. The Ministry of Defence awarded GSL with the contract to build the two additional frigates on January 25, 2019. The keel for the first ship was laid by GSL on 29th January 2021 followed by the second ship on 18th June 2021. Triput will be delivered in 2026 and the second ship in the following 6 months. GSL has traditionally built patrol vessels and is making complex frontline warships such as a frigate for the first time. GSL is thus acquiring the capability to build such large vessels, enabling India to build more complex ships in less time.

Compared to the original six frigates, the entire hull of the ships are being built using Indian steel. Multiple major equipment are being substituted with indigenous equivalents including the Combat Management System, Surface Search Radar (SSR-4), Electronic Countermeasure System (Shakti) and Hull Mounted SONAR (HUMSA NG). Unlike the previous ships in the class featuring 100mm A-190E and two twin 533mm torpedo launchers, the Triput subclass will feature 76mm SRGM and two indigenous Triple Torpedo Launchers (ITTL) for 324mm lightweight torpedoes. The four frigates of Triput and Tushil subclasses will feature 24 vertically launched Shtil-1 surface-to-air missiles in place of the arm launcher Sthil-1 in the Talwar and Teg classes with a magazine capacity of 24.

Triput at Goa Shipyard during its launch ceremony (via GoI official)

The Indian Navy has been upgrading its Talwar and Shivalik class frigates with the Indian 8-cell UVLM for BrahMos, replacing the Russian UKSK module previously in use. The new ships will also feature the UVLM for BrahMos. The UVLM will also accommodate the subsonic LR-LACM being developed by DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).

Currently, eleven frigates are under various stages of construction for the Indian Navy: seven P-17A Nilgiri class and four P1135.6 frigates. As reported earlier by Naval News, the Indian Navy plans to order 7-8 additional frigates under Project-17 Bravo, a follow-up of P-17A, at a cost of approximately ₹70,000 crore INR ($8.33 billion).

Triput class specifications:

Displacement – 3,600 tons

Length – 124.8m

Beam – 15.2m

Draft – 4.5m

Speed – 28 knots

Range – over 4000 nautical miles

Crew – 250

The author would like to thank @Adm_Kenobi for their inputs.

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