INDIA, RUSSIA TO HAMMER OUT STEALTH FRIGATES DEAL

NEW DELHI: India and Russia will on Tuesday hammer out a $500 million contract to build two stealth frigates in Goa that are expected to be delivered by 2027, two officials familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity.

Russia’s state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport and India’s Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) will sign the contract in New Delhi to build the Grigorovich-class ‘Project 1135.6’ frigates with technology transfer from Russia, which is India’s top arms supplier.

The deal comes just weeks after the two countries inked a nearly $1 billion deal to import two other such warships from Russia. Those ships are being built at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad and are expected to be delivered to the Indian Navy by 2022-23. A government official said the warships being built in India will eventually cost a lot more than $500 million, which is only the upfront value of the deal. “The $500 million is for the foreign content in the vessels including material, design and specialist assistance. The frigates will cost more factoring in the indigenous content. That cost is being worked out,” he said. GSL is expected to deliver the first frigate in 2026 and the second a year later, a second official added.

The frigate deal comes a month-and-a-half after India signed a ₹39,000-crore deal with Russia for the supply of Russian S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems to India, brushing aside Washington’s concerns about the purchase. HTC