Ghazala Wahab

Kaliningrad/ St Petersburg, Russia: In some places, history has such a pervasive presence that either the modern is permeated by the gravitas of the past, or remains stymied by it. In the two Russian cities of Kaliningrad (Königsberg of the past) and St Petersburg, which between them hold the maximum shipbuilding capability of the country, it is the past that calls the shots — in glorious tales, architecture, culture and pace of life. The only place where it has allowed modernity to creep in is technology. But, as in the case of Yantar Shipyard of Kaliningrad, it has been more of an evolution, than revolution.

“Our plant is older than the Kaliningrad region,” general director of the Yantar Shipyard, Eduard Efimov told the visiting journalists from India. This was the first ever visit by foreign journalists to the shipyard in the border town captured by Russia from Germany during World War II. Yantar powered the German Navy, and after its capture, the Russian war efforts in World War II. While the bombing by the Russians razed most of Königsberg to ground, the shipyard stood firm. Partly because of its formidable structure, and partly because of its complicated share-holding which included British stakes!

However, most likely it was the former which ensured that the yard stood its ground. Even today, despite on-going modernisation, several buildings are of early 20th century vintage; some even older. Even more remarkably, some of the machines at Yantar shipyard are as old as 1920s! This speaks volumes for the German endurance and Russian maintenance.

While a walk-through the Yantar shipyard was an add-on, the primary purpose of the visit was to talk about the three frigates of the Grigorovich class which were parked on the assembly rig as empty hulls. In late June, it was almost certain that the Indian Navy was likely to turn the agreement for the procurement of four Russian frigates of the Grigorovich class (based on the proven design of INS Talvar) into firm orders by the end of 2017. It was this confidence (plus the anticipation of the submarine programme) that encouraged United Shipbuilding Corporation (an umbrella organisation of all shipyards) to invite a group of Indian journalists to not only interact with the general director (Russian equivalent of a chief operating officer) of the Yantar Shipyard, but also to visit the shop floors and the under construction frigates.

These frigates were ordered by the Russian Navy to meet an urgent shortfall caused by the delay in the development of the futuristic vessels, combining greater stealth with higher agility and weapons profile. The new modular frigates with conformal superstructure were being built by the St Petersburg-based Northern Shipyard, considered the most advanced centre for the construction of surface ships of all sizes in Russia. Since it was a new and complex design, it was taking longer than expected. Hence, in the interim, the Russian Navy placed the order for six of the Grigorovich class, which were based on the proven Krivak class. Six of these ships were bought by the Indian Navy as Talvar and Teg classes.

Yantar had built the latter three (Teg, Tarkash and Trikand) of these vessels, with the Baltic Shipyard (based in St Petersburg) having built the first three (Talwar, Trishul and Tabar). Hence, Grigorovich was expected to roll off the yard smoothly and quickly. The only snag in this assumption was Russia’s geopolitical ambitions; the power plant for the vessels came from Ukraine. Hence, when President Vladimir Putin marched into Crimea, pushing the already tenuous relations with Ukraine to a breaking point, the programme hit a road-block. Ukraine refused to supply the engines. As a result, while the first three ships have been delivered (with the third one undergoing trials), the next three are parked in the Yard in various states of construction.

It was at this stage that the Indian Navy approached Russia for four frigates under the scheme of two plus two. Under the programme, two would be bought off-the-shelf and two would be built at a designated shipyard in India. Russia offered these three. Several options were discussed with the Russians, including the possibility of India buying the engines directly from Ukraine and supplying it to Russia. Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL), which so far had only built offshore patrol vessels in addition to other smaller vessels, was designated as the Indian shipyard for this programme. Yantar was asked to help modernise GSL for the construction of the frigates.

“I visited GSL earlier this year in March,” said Efimov. “I did an assessment of the shipyard. I saw its modernisation plans, which includes building new workshops and facilities for specialists. They also need to create more jobs for specialists in different areas, including weapons integration. I told them that with modernisation, GSL would be able to build the new frigates.” Efimov added for good measure that once the contract is signed, Yantar would be more than happy to train Indian specialists. “We have a long history of working together and training Indian specialists in Russia,” he said.

However, even as these confabulations were carrying on with the Indian Navy, Russian engine company, NPO Saturn, under the United Engine Corporation (UEC), was tasked by its ministry of defence to develop an engine for the frigate. Despite the keenness of the shipyard to sell the under construction frigates to the Indian Navy and get the ships off its outfitting rig, the Russian Navy, owing to its own shortfalls, has been opposed to the idea. A little before International Maritime and Defence Symposium (IMDS) 2017, which FORCE attended, NPO Saturn claimed to have developed the engine and a model of it was displayed at the show in St Petersburg.

During the visit of the Indian media team, general director, Northern Shipyard, Igor Ponomarev had said that, “The NPO Saturn engine combines diesel and gas turbine. It consumes less fuel and it is more reliable than the Ukrainian engine. It will also have a longer lifespan.” Once validated, these engines will also power the new class of stealth frigates and corvettes being built at Northern Shipyard.

Subsequently at IMDS, president, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), Alexei Rakhmanov confirmed the development of the engine and added that, “The test-bed for the engine is ready. First test of the engine will be done on the test bed, then on the frigate at Northern Shipyard. We are hopeful that the first prototype will be out by the end of this year.”

Perhaps, this was the reason, Russian Navy’s deputy commander for armaments, Vice Admiral Viktor Bursuk told the Russian defence portal Mil.Today during the Show that, “The second trio of Project 11356 (Grigorovich) frigates, Admiral Istomin, Admiral Butakov and Admiral Kornilov, will be completed for the Russian Navy… the Russian Navy does not consider any form of sale of the unfinished frigates to India.”

Yet, interestingly, in an interaction with the Indian journalists at IMDS, Rakhmanov said, “We are hopeful of signing the contract for the frigates with the Indian Navy in the beginning of the last quarter of this year.” According to him, only some technical issues remain unresolved. For instance, the Indian Navy wants to install some indigenous systems. Since the hulls of all the three ships are ready, Yantar and GSL will have to work on the technicalities. As of now, Yantar would ship two hulls, 5th and 6th of the class (Admiral Butakov and Admiral Kornilov respectively) to GSL. The remaining two vessels will be built by GSL.

“Whether they will be built from the scratch at GSL or only assembled there will be decided later,” said Rakhmanov.

Interestingly, the media visit to Yantar coincided with the visit of a high level delegation from GSL. “I had visited Goa Shipyard in March earlier this year and had invited my counterpart to visit Yantar. I am happy that they accepted the invitation at this time,” Efimov said. So, what exactly was the GSL team doing at Yantar? “I think the best word to describe their visit is familiarisation,” said Efimov. Hence, while the industry is willing, the Russian Navy is resisting. Only end of the year would tell who would prevail.

However, USC’ interests and confidence in the Indian market stems from several other reasons and straddles both surface and sub-surface vessels. Hence, the press tour across two cities and including the naval show, involved visits to shipyards like Admiralty, Northern and Baltic. In addition to this were interactions with the design bureaus like Rubin and Nevskoe, as well as a repair yard, which is doing the midlife upgrade on the Kilo class submarine.

Interestingly, a few weeks after the press tour, the Indian Navy finally issued the much-awaited request for information for Project-75India submarine programme to six submarine-builders worldwide including Russia. A detailed report on the programme would be published in the next issue.