India's new frigate INS Teg to be inducted April 27

New Delhi, April 20 (IANS) To give a boost to its naval warfare capability, India will induct on April 27 a new warship into its fleet, when INS Teg, built in Russia, is handed over to its crew, a senior Indian Navy officer said here Friday.

"The first of the three Teg-class frigates will be inducted into the Indian Navy April 27," Chief of Material Vice Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan said here.

INS Teg is the first of three guided missile frigates of the modified INS Talwar-class that India commissioned Russian shipyard Yantar to build.

INS Teg will be followed by induction of INS Tarkash and INS Trikand in the next one year or so.

Russia had taken out INS Teg for sea trials earlier this year in the Baltic Sea and completed the tests between March 5 and April 7 this year.

The Yantar shipyard had said earlier this month that all on-board systems on INS Teg including armaments were tested in the presence of Indian Navy officers and the frigate proved to be fully ready for final stage of acceptance trials.

The three Teg-class frigates have modern technologies on board, Mahadevan said, noting that these warships have been modified from the original three-ship Talwar class.

Talwar, Trishul and Tabar are the three first modified Krivak-III class frigates that India ordered from Russia and these three ships have been doing service, having made a mark during the anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and achieving "kills" of pirate mother ships.

India's order for the Talwar-class ships was placed with Russia in 2006 for $1.6 billion.

INS Teg was laid down at Yantar in 2007. INS Tarkash and INS Trikand are at various stages of construction.