India Signs $960M Deal to Procure 2 Russian-built Admiral Grigorovich Frigates

India and Russia have signed an agreement to purchase two Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) frigates for $960 million for the Indian Navy.

According to the deal signed last week after price negotiations, two frigates of the Project 11356 class will be bought directly from Russia and a contract to build two more at an Indian yard is likely to be signed at a later stage, Indian media and sources close to Defenseworld.net said.

The final clearances from the Cabinet committee of security for the project came before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India earlier this month.

In October 2016 an Intergovernmental Agreement was signed envisaging the implementation of 2+2 scheme in order to supply the Indian Navy with four more frigates. This means that two ships will come from Russia (being built at Yantar Shipyard) while the other two will be built in India at Goa Shipyard.

The Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates also designated Upgraded Krivak III frigates are advanced Talwar-class frigates will be fitted with the naval version of the Indo-Russian BrahMos missile system instead of 3M-54E Klub-N anti-ship missiles.

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.

The sanctions already enforced against Russian entities will mean that Indian entities cannot use the US banking system to remit payments for Russian arms. Both countries are expected to find a way out of the situation by using the rupee-rouble route  to make the payment.