Russia hands over frigate to India

MOSCOW, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Russia handed over a frigate to the Indian Navy, the United Shipbuilding Corporation said Friday.

The frigate was handed over to India at a ceremony at the Yantar Baltic Shipyard.

"Frigate Tarkash is the second in the three Project 11356 ships built by the Yantar Shipyard under a Russian-Indian contract," United Shipbuilding Corporation spokesman Alexei Kravchenko told reporters.

The first frigate, the Tag, was handed over to India in April 2012. It has successfully launched a Russian-Indian Brahmos supersonic cruise missile during tests in October.

Yantar Shipyard, located in the western Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, currently builds the third frigate of the same project, the Trikand. The vessel is to be delivered in 2013.

Project 11356 frigates were developed by the Severnoye Design Bureau. The ships carry first-strike missile systems equipped with Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles with a range of 290 km.

Russia also has been redesigning an aircraft carrier Vikramaditya for India with completion scheduled for mid 2013. The carrier's reconstruction has been repeatedly hampered by various technical problems.