Of stealth frigates

The Navy continues to hone its war-fighting capabilities despite being stretched in coastal security and anti-piracy operations. The force is now on course to soon induct two more deadly stealth frigates to bolster its growing ‘blue-water’ warfare capabilities. Sources say the 6,200-tonne indigenous stealth frigate INS Satpura is likely to be commissioned in June-July, while the Russian-built 4,900-tonne INS Teg should finally be ready for induction by September-October. INS Satpura and INS Teg will boost combat capabilities, being packed with sensors, weapons and missile systems, coupled with their stealthy nature due to “vastly-reduced” radar, infra-red, noise, frequency and magnetic “signatures” to beat enemy detection systems. That’s not all. INS Satpura, the second of three indigenous stealth frigates built under the Rs 8,101-crore Project-17 at Mazagon Docks, will be followed by INS Sahyadri after six months. The first, INS Shivalik, was commissioned in April last year. Similarly, INS Teg is to be followed by its sister frigates, INS Tarkash and INS Trikhand, built under a Rs 5,514-crore project inked with Russia in July 2006, after gaps of six months each. Both the Indian and Russian projects, of course, have been dogged by huge time and cost overruns. The three warships from Russia are actually “a follow-on order” to the first three frigates, INS Talwar, INS Trishul and INS Tabar, inducted by India in 2003-04 for over Rs 3,000 crore. Though their induction was also delayed, the Navy is happy with the power the Talwar-class frigates pack.