Kaliningrad, Apr 6: The last in a series of three frigates that Russia is building for India has started final trials, a shipyard spokesman said.
The Trikand frigate is being built at the Yantar shipyard in Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. The Trikand carried out workup trials March 14 and was cleared for final state trials April 4, spokesman Sergei Mikhailov said.
The trials will last through the end of April.
The frigate is due to be handed over to the Indian Navy this June, Mikhailov said.
In 2006, Russia and India signed a $1.6 billion contract on the construction of three modified Krivak III class (also known as Talwar class) guided missile frigates for India.
The first frigate, INS Teg, joined the Indian Navy April 27, 2012, and the second, The Tarkash, arrived at the port of Mumbai in India Dec 30, 2012.
The frigates are each armed with eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles.
They are also equipped with a 100-mm gun, a Shtil surface-to-air missile system, two Kashtan air-defence gun/missile systems, two twin 533-mm torpedo launchers and an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter.
