The war in Ukraine has caused further delays to the delivery of two Krivak or Talwar-class stealth frigates under construction for the Indian Navy in Russia. They are now expected to be delivered by May and October 2024 respectively, according to Alexey Rakhmanov, Director-General of the United Shipbuilding Corporation of Russia.
“The ship is in the final stages of development; in two months time, it will go for sea trials,” Mr. Rakhmanov said, in response to a question from The Hindu at Russia’s ongoing Army 2023 military expo. The supply of some equipment has seen delays, he said, adding that some equipment has “made sort of a round-the-globe trip” to reach Russia due to the Western sanctions. Payment delays has also played a part, he said. These two frigates were originally supposed to have arrived in mid-2022, but COVID-19 disruptions caused the initial pushback of delivery dates.
On wider cooperation with India, Mr. Rahkmanov said that his State-owned company was in talks with the Indian Navy to construct at least five or six different vessels, but declined to go into the specifics.
Also read: Explained | Strains on India-Russia defence cooperation
Frigate deal
In October 2016, India and Russia signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement for four stealth frigates, after which a $1-billion deal was signed for direct purchase. The basic structures of the first two frigates were lying at the Yantar shipyard in Russia, and are now being finished. In November 2018, the Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) signed a $500 mn deal with Russia’s Rosoboronexport for material, design and specialist assistance to locally manufacture the other two frigates, and in January 2019, the contract was signed between the Indian Defence Ministry and GSL.
These two stealth frigates are currently under construction at the GSL and deliveries will be fixed according to the payment schedule, Mr, Rakhmanov said. According to the original schedule, GSL was scheduled to deliver the first ship in 2026, and the second one six months later.
The Indian Navy already operates six of these frigates weighing around 4,000 tonnes each. All the ships are powered by engines from Ukraine’s Zorya Nashproekt.
Payment difficulties
As The Hindu has earlier reported, with Russia being shut out of the global SWIFT system for money transfers, India and Russia are now trying to settle payments through a Rupee-Rouble arrangement. However, given the trade imbalance, rupees are accumulating, causing issues. With several big-ticket deals under implementation, including the S-400, there is a large volume of payments to be made.
The Central banks of the two countries had extensively discussed this issue, and while small payments have been resumed, larger payments are still stuck. Officials stated that modalities to undertake larger payments are being worked out.
(The writer was at the Army 2023 expo on the invitation of Rubin Design Bureau of Russia.)
